The Snowchange Project

26th to 28th August, 2010 celebrations are held across the country and events organised in Selkie Village

as the SNOWCHANGE COOPERATIVE (and previous incarnations) is 10 years old today.

The Indigenous Climate Change Project that begun in Tampere, Finland, Vancouver, Canada and Murmansk,

Russia in 2000 is now on its 10th Anniversary.

This weekend marks as well the 5th Anniversary since Snowchange became an independent cooperative,

a non-profit organisation based in Finland but with over 2,000 associates and members in the member

communities across the world as well as in Academia.

We look forwards to the next 10 years trying to better the work we do and learn more about the

changing north. 

The great Indigenous leader from the Even Nation in Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, Russia has passed on

in early July 2010.

The Indigenous Peoples Institute where he worked has prepared the following statement in his memory:

Snowchange is 10 years old. Summer recess is over and Snowchange Co-op activities are updated with more rigour again.

in June Georges and Miguel Siuoi from the Huron Nation, Canada visited and successful cooperation

talks were held in Äimälä and Selkie.

As well the ICE Conference and the visit to Unalakleet have fostered new cooperation steps for future.

Eastern Saami Atlas is being prepared for printers and it is expected to come out in November.

Another new project has been launched with the United Nations Alliance of Finland. A book will be

released in October in English about the impacts of the Lokka and Porttipahta Reservoirs to the

Vuotso Saami way of life in Finland. Co-author of this book is Pekka Aikio, the First President of the

Finnish Saami Parliament, from Vuotso himself.

Partnership with the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Assessment is proceeding. Sevettijärvi,

home community of the Skolt Saami is the pilot Arctic community and summer has been spent there

collecting traditional knowledge, by organising a traditional fishing camp on the Näätämö River and

preparing for the launching of the Eastern Saami Atlas. The community has started to develop

traditional knowledge database.

Solar panel project in Sakha-Yakutia proceeds to its final implementation. The solar batteries are

being delivered to tundra from India (Barefoot College) and over the Autumn we hope to see

first reactions.

The Selkie village in North Karelia, Finland has started to digitalize oral histories of the area. The

school project with Norya, Udmurtia and Unalakleet, Alaska, USA continues.

In early October Snowchange will participate in community-meetings and cooperation talks with

our British Columbian First Nations, in Alert Bay, in Victoria and in Vancouver.

This newsletter closes with sad news - two of the key community members from Sakha-Yakutia,

Russia have passed on - the Honorable Scientist of the Russian Federation from the Even Nation,

mr. Vasilii Robbek and reindeer herder, hunter Vladimir Kolesov from Iengra.

All the best wishes to the friends and families of the departed.

If questions please take contact.

Tero Mustonen

Tentatively Snowchange delegates will make a presentation on nomadic schools at the

12th ISE Conference in Tofino, BC, Canada in mid May. Visits to partner First Nations communities

will be made as well. After that a visit is planned to Inupiaq village of Unalakeleet, Alaska, USA

in the frame of the Selkie-Unalakleet school cooperation.

The Chukchi Assembly in Kolymskaya was held successfully in April 2010. 

As well progress was made on the solar electrification of the Turvaurgin brigades.

First panels are expected to reach the communities this summer.

Work on the Eastern Saami Atlas and Eastern Saami communities is under way

and progress will be reported here as it develops.

In June Snowchange will host the esteemed Professor Georges Sioui, Wendat Nation

with his son Miguel. Mr. Sioui is a Professor at the Aboriginal Studies Programme at the

University of Ottawa, Canada. The visit will take place from June 17th to 29th.

Contact us if any questions!

+++ NEW PUBLICATION AVAILABLE ABOUT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF SIBERIA +++

At the Gates of the Sun documents the life of Nizni-Kolyma and Neriungri uluses - two regions of Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, Russian Federation as seen by the visiting Finnish members of the Snowchange Cooperative. The photos in this book have been taken between 2004 and 2009 as a part of the joint project ”Traditional Knowledge of the Indigenous Peoples of the North of Sakha-Yakutia in the Context of Arctic Climate Change”. Partners in the project included the Evenki of Iengra, Institute of the Indigenous Peoples of North, Far East and Siberia, Northern Forum Academy as well as the obshchinas Nutendli and Turvaurgin in the Lower Kolyma. These pages portray a unique way of life in the Arctic – the two regions still maintain the nomadic reindeer herding. Rapidly proceeding arctic climate change, resource development and cultural change are issues which affect these peoples. Yet they maintain their core systems of knowledge and culture. They herd their reindeer in a free ranging seasonal cycles. This book documents traditional Eurasian reindeer herding using visual means to offer a view to a life on the land. 

This book is both in English and Russian. 140 pp. Hardcover and soft cover versions are available.

Please contact us for more information on ordering.

Greetings from Snowchange!

March and Spring are almost here! Here are updates to the work of Snowchange.

1. Arctic Biodiversity Assessment Work

Arctic Biodiversity Assessment work is on-going. We succesfully participated in the

Author Workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark in March 2010 to discuss TEK inclusion and

worked with scientists to make the report ready for July 2010.

2. Visit to Sakha-Yakutia and Chukchi Conference 2010

A large delegation from Finland will travel in March and April to Sakha-Yakutia.

Visits will be made to the reindeer camps of the Evenk brigade #4 in Iengra, as well

as new climate change and traditional knowledge work will begin in Taatta region 

in the Sakha village of Tuora Kel. The visit will culminate in 9th to 12th April with 

tundra visits and the Chukchi Conference to be held in Kolymskaya, Lower Kolyma.

3. Work on the Nomadic Schools and School Cooperation with Alaska

Tentatively Snowchange delegates will make a presentation on nomadic schools at the

12th ISE Conference in Tofino, BC, Canada in mid May. Visits to partner First Nations communities

will be made as well. After that a visit is planned to Inupiaq village of Unalakeleet, Alaska, USA

in the frame of the Selkie-Unalakleet school cooperation.

4. ++++NEW PUBLICATION: At the Gates of the Sun – A Snowchange Book of Images from Indigenous Nomadic Communities of Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Russia

has been published March 15th, 2010! See more here.

All the best

Tero