News

Mourning the Loss of Chief Ogar

Chief Edwin Ogar

Today all of Snowchange is in shock. Chief Edwin Ogar of Ekuri in Nigeria has passed away earlier today. We join the family and community in mourning this remarkable leader.

Snowchange and the Ekuri have been collaborating for over a decade. The original connection was formed at the World Parks Congress in Australia in 2014. Over the years Snowchange has been supporting community-based conservation, research and efforts to highlight the life work of Chief Ogar and protection of Ekuri forest.

In 2020 he led efforts to argue for community-based conservation in One Earth science article. This research work has close to 100 citations in scientific literature. Chief Ogar was recognized with several global awards for his lifework.

Snowchange conveys our condolences to the Ekuri community and Chirf Ogars family at this time of great loss.

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Microplastics, Korppiaapa Peatland, Seining

Korppiaapa, an Arctic Circle peatland in Sodankylä, Finland

February has begun with a very large peatland-forest complex of Korppiaapa joining the Landscape Rewilding Programme. In other news microplastics work is in the news in the US, Tahltan Event Database is highlighted in the High North and seining continues. March will bring a Pacific tour.

Korppiaapa, a significant relatively intact peatland at the Arctic Circle region in Sodankylä, Finland joined the rewilding work in late January. It is a 347 hectare (850 acre) ecosystem significant for its biodiversity and other qualities. It will be one of the landscapes involved in the Climate Breakthrough work that commenced in January. Other important sites for January included peatlands in Sotkamo for support of the wild forest reindeer and Kuosku intact north boreal forest.

A set of news items has highlighted the science and Indigenous knowledge news – Mongabay the portal for environmental news recently summarized the microplastics work with the Skolt Sámi. High North News reported on the Tahltan Event Database.

Winter seining is under way in Puruvesi. In the Snowchange fisheries crew Karoliina Lehtimäki will assume leadership position from mid-February onwards. Looking towards rest of the winter and early spring, a tour of the Pacific will commence in March with visits across the region.

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January Sees the Release of Tahltan Database, Winter Seining Under Way

Tahltan leaders, a screenshot from the database.

January is here. We have a release of the much-anticipated Tahltan Database, winter seining is under way under prime ice conditions and rewilding work focuses on the Sub-Arctic Peatlands.

As a part of the Arctic Passion EU Horizon project the Indigenous Event Databases were released in June 2024 but two of them took a bit longer. Today the Tahltan Database has been released – a much anticipated source of knowledge of issues from the Stikine River basin and coastal Pacific area.

Tahltan homelands in BC.

The database includes observations of climatic, ecological and cultural change from the Tahltan Nation. Tahltan researchers from Tu’dese’cho Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Development and the Snowchange Cooperative worked on a new database of Tahltan observations of climate, ecological and cultural change in the Canadian sub-Arctic for over three years.

Drawing on oral histories from Tahltan elders, as well as Tahltan science, self-documented videos and photos, the database is a vital effort to centre on-the-land, lived experiences of climatic change in efforts to tackle climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.

A photo of the sign when arriving in the traditional village of Tahltan on Stikine.

Tahltan territory spans 93,728.26 square km, larger than Hungary, and has a border that runs for 1,644.9 km. It is a dynamic place with many unique land and water features, including 2,536 glaciers and 123 volcanoes. The Database has sections on Indigenous histories and colonial damages, observations of change, oral histories and videos and sections on revitalization of knowledge and training of younger generations to Tahltan culture and lands. The database can be accessed directly from here or through Arctic Seas portal as all databases.

In Finland winter seining is under way. It started 8th January. Ice conditions are at their prime and stocks look promising. The seining season is expected to last until mid-April. In the Landscape Rewilding Programme January brings new sites in Kemijärvi and Sodankylä totaling around 500 hectares of forests, rivers and Arctic Circle peatlands. We look forwards to an active restoration season.

Karoliina next to the seine.
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Merry Xmas and 2025 – Reindeer on the Way!

Wild Forest Reindeer. Antti Leinonen, 2024

Thanks to all partners, friends, allies, foes and alike for a massive year! We wish all the best for 2025 and a great holiday season. We are back in action in early January.

Please check out the story of the wild forest reindeer for holiday readings!

Snowchange

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Alttokangas: Sámi Conservation and Restoration ICCA

Stream in Alttokangas

The Sámi forest of Alttokangas, 72 ha in size, is located in the municipality of Inari and is the first ICCA (Indigenous and Community Conserved Area) in the Sámi Home Area.  ICCAs are protected by Indigenous Peoples and/or local communities themselves and contain important biodiversity. ICCAs can be found across the world. Now a new StoryMaps summarizes the conservation and restoration efforts in this first-ever ICCA for the Sámi in Finland.

The Sámi forest of Alttokangas  was approved as an ICCA  in 2024. In 2023 Finnish NGO  Snowchange Cooperative  got funding from the The Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation for a project titled: Snowchange Arctic Rewilding: Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge Rewilding of Boreal Forests in Finland.

In consultation with the local Sámi Alttokangas was chosen as one of the project sites. To-date the participating Sámi and Snowchange researchers are finding their integrated approach to conserving and restoring Alttokangas to be a meaningful new method. 

In 2023 questions about the conservation status of Alttokangas emerged. What mechanism could both protect the forest and safeguard Sámi rights, land-use and their role in protecting the biodiversity of the area. The Sámi families involved want to protect Alttokangas forest in a way that includes the traditional Sámi knowledge, land-use, history and observations.

As part of the cooperation in Alttokangas ecological restoration activities have started in the forest. Here we discuss the two major activities so far – fencing off small plots of land to monitor vegetation recovery, and a prescribed burn.

In just two years the project has achieved the establishment of the first ICCA site in the Sámi Home Area, launched a comprehensive ecological inventory and monitoring practice, and kick-started the practical restoration of this important Sámi site.

We share messages from this work in a new StoryMap in Sámi, Finnish, Swedish and English to advance the understanding of Sámi-led conservation and restoration in the European North

Old reindeer fence in Alttokangas
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