Local Environmental Observer Network
the eyes, ears and voice of environmental change
Our world is changing rapidly, and local observers can detect subtle changes in weather, landscapes and seascapes, and in plant and animal communities. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) developed the LEO Network in 2009, recognizing the value of local and traditional knowledge and the need for a tool to document and share environmental observations. The purpose was to increase awareness about vulnerabilities and impacts from climate change, and to connect community members with technical experts. LEO uses web-accessible Google Maps to display observations of unusual or unique environmental events which are then shared with LEO members. The maps contain event descriptions, photos, expert consultations and links to information resources. LEO has grown to include hundreds of participants and is helping to increase understanding about the emerging effects of climate change.
CIRCUMPOLAR LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVER NETWORK (CLEO)
Under the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council (AC), partners in the Council’s Arctic Contaminants Action Programme (ACAP) workgroup and its subsidiary Indigenous Peoples Contaminants Action Programme (IPCAP) are building on the success of the LEO network in Alaska and developing the foundation for a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer (CLEO) network. Using funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, ACAP IPCAP members are working with communities in western Canada to establish new LEO observer communities and regional hubs that would lead to a North American regional CLEO network.
Following the successful development of a CLEO chapter in North America, project partners will develop a framework for expanding the CLEO Network into other areas of the Arctic. In June 2016, communities in the Fenno-Scandinavian region will participate in the first workshop on expanding the CLEO beyond North America. Experienced observers and technical experts from North America will meet with communities from the Fenno-Scandinavian region, some who participate in observation networks in their region, to learn about the observer networks and to develop the framework for LEO expansion. The results of this workshop will summarize existing TEK/TLEK community based observation systems in both the US and Finland, mechanisms for connecting TEK to outside technical experts, and identify any gaps that the CLEO project could work to fill. The deliverables to Senior Arctic Officials and Ministers will be: the establishment of the first CLEO Hub in Canadian Arctic and the framework for expansion document that describes future opportunities to expand CLEO across the Arctic. The workshop will take place in Inari, Finland hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Finnish Ministry of Environment, the United States Department of State, and the Sami Cultural Center in Sajos.
CONTACTS:
AC CLEO Project US EPA Project Lead: Santina Gay, [email protected]
AC CLEO Project US EPA Project Leadt:
Patrick Huber, [email protected] For general questions about ACAP’s work and its CLEO Project: Hodayah Finman,
ANTHC Project Lead: Mike Brubaker [email protected]
ANTHC Project Lead: Desirae Roehl [email protected]
Primary funding for LEO Network has been provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
NEW LEO TECHNOLOGY
The LEO Network is excited to announce the launch of LEO Reporter, a new mobile app for handheld devices. LEO Reporter is a global map and data interface.
It allows observers to post observations through text, audio, and imagery that will be posted to the LEO network. LEO Reporter was designed and tested in rural Alaska to provide robust field reporting capabilities even in the most remote areas. With LEO Reporter, anyone can post an observation, anywhere in the world.
Observations taken from locations outside cell service, will automatically upload once service is re-established. The app includes interactive maps, a search engine to explore the LEO observation database and optional observations updates from the Network. You can also engage with topic experts and become part of a broader observer community. LEO Reporter puts powerful, user-friendly, mobile technology in the hands of the user, enabling real-time observations on the front lines of climate change. LEO Reporter follows the success of the LEO viewer mobile app, which allows users to experience the posts and observations of LEO users. The LEO Reporter is now available for the iPhone and Android phones.
CONSULTATIONS- BUILDING TEK and TLEK BRIDGES
Community experts provide the local and traditional knowledge component of a consult. There are two types of experts that provide consultations: community experts and technical experts. Community experts ground-truth observations and provide consults based on local and traditional knowledge. They monitor LEO observations locally and regionally, provide consults, and act as points-of-contact.
Tribal and community environmental managers participate throughout Alaska as community experts, as well as observers and often as technical experts.
Posts are selected for technical consults based on their importance as indicators of change, as well as relevance to trending topics or the need for technical assistance.
Observers receive a notice when their observation is selected for a consult.
LEO Hubs are the regional coordination centers for LEO Network. The Alaska hub is the Center for Climate and Health at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
It is also the nerve center for the broader LEO Network, where the maps and databases are housed. New regional hubs (in Canada and elsewhere?) will have the capacity to review posts, select posts for a formal consult, facilitate communication with community and technical experts and provide technical assistance. Hubs may also choose to provide other services such as hosting regional webinars, publishing e-journals and providing updates to LEO and other groups, organizations and networks.
Technical experts provide the science component of a consult. They are usually located in government agencies, academic institutions or organizations that are topic experts. Regional hubs provide leadership in identifying technical experts, based on topic expertise, and the interest and capacity of these organizations to participate. Consultations provided by community and technical experts are added to complete the map posts. The observers, community experts and technical experts participating in specific topic posts, become a ‘community of practice’ who can collaborate on monitoring, research, publications other types of outreach.
For more information, please visit www.leonetwork.org or email [email protected].
LEO observer in Western Alaska A LEO Network Map
REPORT FROM THE 2ND WORKSHOP ON THE CIRCUMPOLAR
ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVATION NETWORK (CLEO)
KIRUNA, SWEDEN 16-17TH OF JANUARY 2017
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of acronyms and abbreviations used in the report ... 2
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ... 3
1. Background ... 4
1.1. LEO - The Local Environment Observation Network in North America ... 4
1.2. Further development of LEO into CLEO - a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observation Network ... 4
2. Preparatory Activities for the 2nd CLEO Workshop in Kiruna ... 4
3. Presentations and discussions during the 2nd CLEO Workshop ... 5
3.1. Update from the 1st CLEO-workshop in Inari, Finland ... 5
3.2. Presentations on current environmental problems in Sápmi ... 5
3.3. Round table discussion about CLEO´s future - Examples of activities which can develop LEO to CLEO ... 7
3.4. Conclusions and Way Forward ... 9
4. Recommendations for Further Activities on CLEO in Sápmi ... 10
5. Next steps ... 11
APPENDICES ... 13
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List of acronyms and abbreviations used in the report
AACA S. 6
ACAP Arctic Contaminants Action Program,
CAFF S. 6
CLEO Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer Network
CLIFF S. 7
DNA S. 8
EPA s. 4
GPS S. 7
IBCC S. 6
ICT network S.6
IPCAP S. 4
LEO Local Environment Observation Network (in North America) LKAB Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Ltd (Swedish Mining Company) NGO:s Non-Governmental Organisation
Ottawa TK Traditional Knowledge in the Ottawa Declaration of the Arctic Council Swedish EPA Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
TEK Sid 4
UNESCO S. 7
WG meeting S. 4
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The LEO Network was developed by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) in 2009. They recognized the value of the traditional knowledge and since then started to realize the importance of the emerging effects of climate change. They began searching for a tool to register and exchange environmental observations, including potential contaminants.
The first steps of the Phase Two activities, which include an expansion to the Fenno-Scandinavian region, are underway. Two workshops have taken place, in Inari, Finland in June 2016 and in Kiruna, Sweden in January 2017. CLEO Network focuses on the areas above the Arctic Circle. The presentation on current environmental problems in Sápmi is based on the real-life living conditions. Other presentations discuss the need to combine traditional and scientific knowledge. We know that in the past the science has been misused against the Sami and the Sami traditional knowledge has been underestimated. But nowadays, the Ottawa TK gets more widely used, especially in the Arctic Council.
This is an important understanding which is discussed in the many Ministerial Declarations. Both CLEO workshops show us that the traditional Sami and the local knowledge are integrated and they could have a wider impact on the monitoring. The CLEO network can provide information by various methods including oral history. The observations can benefit both the Arctic indigenous people and science to build up a kind of monitoring system. The data is necessary to be used both on a community and government level to predict the future and avoid conflicts. The Arctic Council is a pioneer in using this traditional knowledge.
The Ottawa TK principles define traditional knowledge which combines biological, physiological, cultural and linguistic systems. The definition of how the reindeer herding terms are used is an example. The workshop reports clarify that the small details in the weather changes have a big impact in the ice condition, the grazing land and cause problems in the migration of the reindeer even in a safe season. The observation shows the need to find better tools, equipment and a monitoring system in the circumpolar region that is easy to use.
There are 24 different indigenous reindeer herding people in the circumpolar region spread among 10 different countries. The CLEO network hub could be developed in Sápmi and expanded across the Arctic. To deliver a framework for expansion in Sápmi we need to understand our potential: the historical background in order to understand how the reindeer herding land has been used across borders hundreds of years ago and how the climate change has influenced the social living conditions.
The reindeer, human and nature are closely connected with each other and they cannot be separated.
During the Second CLEO Workshop in Kiruna, it was concluded that there are many ongoing activities which could be used as a platform for further development of CLEO such as the Laponia World heritage, the International Reindeer Herder´s Association, Norwegian work on scientific-based monitoring incl. traditional local knowledge, Cooperation between Stockholm university and Laevas Sami village, pilot project in Finland on Local Arctic Environmental Observations by the Sami
Educational Centre and Finnish Environment Institute, “Snowchange’s” work on oral history and Sámi traditional, knowledge on environmental issues, activities in primary schools and municipalities and of course the existing network in North America.
Based on the outputs from the discussions and exercises made during the workshop, the following activities for further joint cooperation, were suggested:
• Access to the LEO experience (Lead: US EPA in Alaska?)
• Establish the CLEO Hub for Sápmi
• Identify and make available relevant Reports and Studies
• Identify and make available relevant Projects and Monitoring Processes
• Education Activities and Training of New Observers
• Capacity Building of the Hub and others involved in the CLEO work on long term
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1. Background
The Arctic region is facing rapid changes, and indigenous communities are usually the first to notice impacts of climate change and other developments in the region as they have lived in the area for centuries and have accumulated traditional ecological and local knowledge, TEK, which helps them to understand their environment.
1.1. LEO - The Local Environment Observation Network in North America
Based on these insights, the Arctic Contaminants Action Program, ACAP, decided to develop a Framework for a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer Network CLEO and fund the establishment of a North American chapter of the Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer Network among permanent participants (PPs) in the United States and Canadian Arctic. The ACAP project focuses on establishing the network to enhance use of TEK both generally and with respect to contaminants. CLEO Network can become a handy tool connecting the holders of this knowledge and eyewitnesses to different changes happening in the Arctic with scientists and policymakers to develop adaptation strategies that will benefit communities across the circumpolar north.
Members of the LEO Network established in Alaska and Canada (potentially CLEO Network) can document their observations with the help of a mobile app for handheld devices, called LEO Reporter. LEO Reporter is a global map and data interface that allows observers to post observations through text and imagery. LEO Reporter was designed and tested in rural Alaska to provide robust field reporting capabilities even in the most remote areas. Once an observation has been submitted, it is reviewed by a regional editorial team. If selected, it is published to LEO Map where it can be viewed by the entire network membership.
1.2. Further development of LEO into CLEO - a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observation Network
Building on the success of the Alaska-based Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network and its community-based monitoring network for rural areas, ACAP decided to promote the foundation for a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer (CLEO) Network.
The first CLEO workshop took place in Inari, Finland, on 1-3 June 2016. The main outcome of that meeting was a decision to continue cooperation on this project and develop a framework for the expansion of the LEO Network beyond North America and establishing a CLEO Network.
After the results of the 1st CLEO Workshop were reported at the ACAP WG meeting in Krasnoyarsk in September 2016, Sweden volunteered to arrange the 2nd CLEO Workshop in Kiruna during late 2016/early 2017.
2. Preparatory Activities for the 2
ndCLEO Workshop in Kiruna
The 2nd CLEO workshop was arranged by the Swedish EPA and allocated to the northernmost town of Sweden, Kiruna, through the intensive mining industry a well-known meeting point for as well traditional as modern life-styles.
In order to deepen the engagement of Swedish Sámi communities and thus try to build prerequisites for a more long term engagement in as well the CLEO issues as in IPCAP-work in general, the Swedish EPA decided to broaden the search for in particular indigenous representatives from the Swedish side in comparison with what had been possible till the first workshop. In order to reach continuity and build further on the Inari output, all the participants who attended the 1st CLEO Workshop were approached as well.
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The invitees were instructed to describe various aspects such as existing environmental problems, and/or existing and wanted environmental projects/monitoring processes as well as to address a wished development of the CLEO Idea. Having got the quite strong response from the former and new invitees, the programme was shaped, based on the topics that were raised. See the Programme List in Appendix 1 and Participant in Appendix 2.
3. Presentations and discussions during the 2
ndCLEO Workshop
Below short summaries of the presentations and related discussions are reflected. For full presentations, please see Appendix 3.
3.1. Update from the 1
stCLEO-workshop in Inari, Finland
Presentations from the 1st CLEO-Workshop in Inari in June 2016, were given according to the programme. For details, please see the presentations in the following appendices:
App. 3i - Introduction to LEO and CLEO (Santina Gay)
App. 3ii - Follow-up on CLEO workshop Inari (Henna Haapala) App. 3iii - Experiences of CBM and EcoRestoration (Tero Mustonen)
3.2. Presentations on current environmental problems in Sápmi
Agenda item 4i - The Sami Educational Centre does Local Arctic Environmental Observations. Mr Mika Aromäki made a presentation about the school and the reindeer students who focused on water monitoring by using local knowledge.
The project is aimed to train and demonstrate the local environmental observations together with the Sami Educational Centre and the Finnish Environment Institute. The participants in the project will learn from different activities on local observations and traditional knowledge, as well as utilize the different tools for local observations. The applications used are based on the national level system for local observations in order to enable long-term input of observations from the Arctic and the recognition of these observations by wider audience. The students had expert advice and they decided to do a special practical test designed by the Finnish Environmental Institute as a tool with several indicators which included measuring the water temperature below the surface, the oxygen and pH and observation on the water purity. A smart phone was used to collect the data and put it on the website diagram. The students even took photos of the water to see its quality. This is just a prototype of a small device which caused some problems. The device is approximately as big as a coffee-maker. Mr Mika Aromäki said that the experience showed the students wanted to learn more. The frozen water was a challenge and the ice was limiting the project work during the school year. The results show that the water temperature has dramatically changed over the year. The school media program was involved in monitoring observation. They interviewed people with traditional knowledge which has been used to describe the change and collected data of different ground changes. The environment has a big effect in the overall change. The water project became wider from its beginning with more data collected. Some projects have suddenly stopped for different reasons. The local reindeer herders inspired the participants to observe the environmental changes and the problems they caused, for example, the sudden heavy rains.
Agenda item 4ii - Mr Anders Oskal represents the Norwegian Sami in The International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry - the organization which has been an observer to the Arctic Council since the year 2000.
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This organization discusses different aspects of traditional knowledge, as they call it community-based monitoring. There are 24 indigenous reindeer-herding peoples in the circumpolar region spread among 10 different countries. The observation is based on the nomadic way of living - a system in which the human being, animal and nature are intertwined. Other types of interests, has started to be identified and defined such as lifestyle and research in the Barrens area.
Mr Oskal said the Ottawa TK principles define traditional knowledge which is a combination of biological, physiological, cultural and linguistic systems. This knowledge is universal. For example, the knowledge of snow was defined with 318 different terms by a reindeer-herder with a PhD in linguistics.
This knowledge-based approach can be used to improve the understanding in the Arctic Council which has been a pioneer using this knowledge. The IBCC report is about combined use of scientific and traditional indigenous knowledge which is highlighted, especially in the Arctic Council. In the long run, the focus is on the capacity building for the locals who are most dependent on climate, nature changes and globalization on top. Small details in the weather conditions can have a big impact, for example, the ice condition which caused a problem for the migrating reindeer even in a safe season which could be unsafe. The food security is another concern. Historically, the Sami have been a research object but now the Sami themselves have PhD – a degree they could never have before. It is important to find how to bridge the gap between these knowledge systems. Mr Oskal’s suggested trans-boundary institutions. He informed the participants about the most important meeting arena, arranged every 4th year – the next World Reindeer Herder’s Congress which is going to be held in Jokkmokk in August 2017.
Agenda item 4iii - Environmental Issues in Kiruna and how they are managed. Presentation by Åke Jönsson Environmental Inspector, Kiruna City and Municipal Administration
Mr Jönsson who works as an Environmental Inspector at the Environmental Office in Kiruna Municipality gave some information about Kiruna Municipality and the main professions in the area, including the reindeer herding. The company LKAB is the biggest pollutor and its mining activities affects everybody.
One part of the Office job includes doing tests on the food and the environment but Mr Jönsson also works for the city transformation. He explained the new plan of moving the city which included cleaning of the polluted soils before building on the land. The soil tests and the cleaning are very expensive.
Agenda item 4iv - Mr Niila Inga, Chair of Laevas Sami community and Professor Gunhild Ninis Rosqvist from Stockholm University who work together on a project informed about the monitoring of climate change by Laevas Reindeer Herding Community and Tarfala Research Station.
Laevas Sami area stretches from Kiruna in the east to the Norwegian border to the west. The Tarfala Research started in 1946 by collecting a wide range of data valuable today. Earlier, nothing monitored benefitted the local population. Laevas and the research started to communicate about cooperation that had a meaning for the reindeer herders. Nowadays, the herders can participate into the monitoring. The reindeer are followed by a GPS which is put on their neck, and the reindeer behavior according to the weather is indicated on a cell phone.
Since 2005, the temperature is getting warmer and the snow conditions have been bad for the reindeer which causes different problems. One day of raining can affect the reindeer for a long time.
Mr Inga said it was a good thing they had the data about everything already to see the full impact by monitoring the climate change and other factors destroying the grazing land. In the big view, competing industries, windmill parks, predators, tourists and other disturbances can have a big impact on the reindeer herding.
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The research in Laevas Sami village includes the society with collaborators in Nuuk in Greenland, and hopefully a place in Russia in the future. The scientific paths discuss the multiple pressures on Arctic landscapes. Professor Rosquist represents a kind of hub that benefits Laevas Sami village and the science. She emphasizes there is a lack of this knowledge which is interesting for both people and the media. The conflicts of land use were also part of the discussion. Mr Inga said it was necessary to find new techniques and equipment for the herders to handle the daily data observed and to see the change themselves.
3.3. Round table discussion about CLEO´s future - Examples of activities which can develop LEO to CLEO
Agenda item 5i - Mrs Åsa Nordin Jonsson, the Head of the Management Organisation in Laponia, talks about the World Heritage Area, the head centre and the visitor centre which had 10 000 visitors last year.
Laponia is an organization, not an authority. Laponia Heritage, a World Heritage since 1996, consists of 9 Sami villages and two National Parks which are established in 1909 and are the oldest in Sweden.
The area became a World Heritage because of the Sami culture and the nature. But in 1912 a part from the National park was taken for a hydro-electric power project.
UNESCO demanded that the local Governance should include the Sami people into the management of the area and the Sami people to be the majority of the Board. The Municipality of Gällivare accepted the idea of consensus agreement according to which all the different parts should stand behind their decisions. (This was totally new in Sweden.) Laponia has a visitor centre, regular Board Meetings, working groups following the management plan and three concepts used in everything: the value of nature, the reindeer herding, Sami culture and the traces of the earlier users. It continues working with the Arbediehtu (traditional knowledge to do good management work), Savvinlatnja (a kind of learning concept to learn from each other) and Addedeapmi (invitating the local people to inform and discuss what we are doing). These have been successfully used as working tools. Everybody in the society is involved in the meetings – men, young people, women and professionals who regularly use the land.
Different ways and methods are used to integrate the local knowledge into the monitoring system.
Without listening to the local people and their knowledge which provides a good support and observation, it is not possible to know anything about the fish changing and migration in the area in the overall history. Laponia works also with languages, giving back the original names to different places in the area used before, organizing different Sami groups.
Reflections after the presentation
Mr Oskal commented on the Laponia project and said: “This is the best case in the Arctic establishment, involved actively and driven by indigenous people.“
Mrs Santana from LEO network explained: “This is exactly the kind of information that the CLEO members can benefit from.“
Mr Åke Mikaelsson concluded: “The environmental project needs to train the people involved and express their concerns about the monitoring as well as use young people’s curiosity.”
Agenda item 5ii - Mr Nils Vasara-Hammare from Kiruna School Administration is the principal of two schools in the northernmost part of Kiruna municipality: Karesuando and Övre Soppero. He presented the environmental observations of Övre Soppero school project.
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The primary school in Övre Soppero is multicultural, up to the 6th class. Most of school children come from Övre Soppero, belong to reindeer-herding families and grow up in a versatile socio-cultural environment. The school project was to learn about the salmon and to fish in the Laino river. The children went to Jårkastaka which is a popular tourist fishing area but found a lot of waste in nature and contacted Kiruna municipality which replied it was not the school’s responsibility to clean the environment. From this answer, it continued as an environmental school project to clean up the nature in the area. Mr Vasara-Hammare’s conclusion from this project is it is good for the children to know how to protect nature but it is not the children’s responsibility to clean the environment. The main issue raised in this project is whose responsibility is the environment protection. Mr Vasara-Hammare is asking himself if the distance between Kiruna and Jårkastaka is so big, that Kiruna Municipality cannot reach out to clean. The authority gives the permission to use the fishing areas and the land but they do not take responsibility over their protection. Mr Vasara-Hammare mentioned only that it is in the typical fishing areas and in the well-known salmon river.
Mrs Santina Gay suggested the school to take part in the CLEO network and do observations with others in nature. LEO has signed up schools in Alaska with a different curricula shared with other schools to be part of the network. The teachers and the adults are involved in the study of changing the climate, nature and resourcing. The students learn how to make observations, they reinforce what they have learned and they continuously study to be part of nature. It is about the context of the observer and connecting students together.
Agenda item 5iv - Mr Nils Vasara-Hammare, also the Chairman of the Könkemä Sami Community talked about transboundary work of the Reindeer Pasture Commission.
The reindeer herders used the land and migrated across the border areas for many hundreds of years according to a convention which regulated the regular migration across the border and its time. But now this convention does not exist and there is a process towards its renewal. It is important to know how the land was divided and regulated. Könkemä district has the summer graze in the mountains of Norway where reindeer calf marking is done. In autumn, spring and winter the land in Sweden, near Karesuando is used. Almost all the Sami grazing lands are in Norway.
Mr Vasara-Hammare gave a short European history lesson about the border agreement and he clarified that the coders’ main points from 1751 regulated how the reindeer cross-border land was used hundreds of years ago. The history also shows also the cross-border migration to Finland which was a part of the Empire of Russia from 1809. He talked also how the coders of the 1751 convention were applied from 1905 again at the same time when Norway became an independent state after the union with Sweden from 1814 to 1905. Not long after 1905, the Sami were considered to be a lower race and this fact had a wide influence on the convention coming into force in 1919. From this time on, the Sami could not use the land in Norway and the islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The movement of the reindeer herding has changed since then. The main issue is still who has the rights to keep the reindeer in certain areas and it is still a problem. Nowadays, we also understand that the environmental issues, the impact of the climate change, the social living conditions how to use the land need to be taken into consideration. In brief, the reindeer, human and nature are closely connected with each other and they cannot be separated.
Agenda item 5iii - Mrs Vigdis Johnson, County Governor of Finnmark and a member of IPCAP expert group presented the feasibility study about CLEO Network in Norway.
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Mrs Johnson discussed the environmental monitoring project in Norway. The scientific-based monitoring can be strengthened by the traditional local knowledge but there is lack of tools and standard methods how to implement the traditional local knowledge. Today, there is no network in Norway monitoring climate changes.
Mrs Johnson said the CLEO project applied for funding at the Ministry of Climate and the Environment.
When the project starts more information will be given about the CLEO network to different organizations and the locals via the local newspapers. It is necessary to anchor the local Norwegian interest to start a small pilot project, to get feedback from institutions and to find partners. According to her, the advantages of the CLEO network are that it is a great way of communicating, a possibility of meeting different knowledge systems and identifying a few Norwegian hubs. Scientific observation of the Arctic tundra has already been done. This includes a school project.
Norwegian legislation in brief: The Nature Diversity Act which is a new act to protect the biological, geological and landscape diversity came in 2009. Environmental conservation and sustainable use are the main issues. It says, for example, that the authorities should attach importance based on experience of many generations, especially the Sami traditional use of the land.
There was a positive response from the audience. The Governor of Finnmark, Norway made an invitation to Mrs Johnson to go and make a wider presentation about the CLEO network in the CAFF meeting in Kautokeino.
A question raised during the discussion by Post Doc Camilla Brattland regarded the translation into the Sami languages, so the information about the CLEO network could reach everyone.
Agenda item 5v - Joint Exercise on Sámi Traditional Knowledge and Oral Histories in Environmental Issues Case studies: (Mr Tero Mustonen, Snowchange)
Based on four case studies – one from each of the four Sámi countries Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia – various examples of distorsions to Sámi life due to infrastructure or larger man-made processes were described in a training material prepared by Mr Tero Mustonen and used as base for practical discussions on aimed at highlighting the use of oral history also as method for describing and solving environmental issues.
The four cases are listed below and can be found in Appendices 5v:
a) Large reservoirs in Vuotso, Finland,
b) Detection and assessment of climate impact, Kola Peninsula, Russia, c) Hydropower in Jokkmokk, Sweden,
d) Restoration and monitoring of habitats in Näätämö/Neiden basin, Finland and Norway.
3.4. Conclusions and Way Forward
As an attempt to use the fact of having gathered a rather large group of engaged people with good knowledge on the Sámi community and environmental issues, a workshop was held at the end of Day 2, in which the participants were asked to discuss and write down their ideas on the possible
According to § 8 the authorities shall attach importance to knowledge that is based on many generations of experience acquired through the use of and interaction with the natural environment, including traditional Sami use, and that can promote the conservation and sustainable use of biological, geological and landscape diversity.
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continuation of the CLEO concept in Sápmi. The result of the exercise, led by Åke Mikaelsson, is presented in the Appendix 6i.
4. Recommendations for Further Activities on CLEO in Sápmi
In follow of the conclusions and suggestions that were expressed during the workshop in the afternoon of the 17th of January, the Swedish EPA elaborated the following recommendations for further activities for the launching of a CLEO – Network in Sápmi (Please comment and propose any changes you deem necessary!).
Activity 1 – Access to the LEO experience (Lead: US EPA in Alaska?)
a) Select relevant outreach materials produced by LEO and make it available to the Sápmi community [US EPA Alaska – Ms Santina Gay + others?]
b) Translate the selected LEO-Outreach material into Sámi languages as well as into Finnish/Norwegian/Swedish/Russian languages. Use funds for translation at the Arctic Council Secretariat. [Appointed translators to relevant languages]
c) Define a broad Target Group (potential users) within the Sàmi communities, incl. Sámi villages, Sámi associations, Sámi schools etc, using the relevant of the ordinary contact channels used within the community. Define lists with contact persons with address etc. [All partners together with “the Hub”?]
d) Conduct an Outreach Activity to the Target Group – Announcing activities and inviting to test and comment the LEO-Outreach material. (This could be made as well as a web-based activity as a set of physical meetings at relevant places and occasions). [“the Hub”?]
e) Invite the respondees to the Outreach activities to join LEO and give input to the new CLEO to be built up. [“the Hub”?]
Activity 2 – Establish the CLEO Hub for Sápmi* (International Reindeer Herding Centre?)
a) Define how the North American Hub(s) are organized. What tasks are included? How do they work? How is the data validation and data security arranged? What adaptations are needed in Sápmi for the first stage? For more long term operations? [Ms Santina Gay + IRHC + others?]
b) Elaborate a draft “Terms of References” for the Sápmi Hub, based on/referring to the North American experience but with necessary amendments. [Ms Santina Gay + IRHC + others?]
c) Align the ToR also with the perquisites and activities set in the Norwegian LEO Project d) Start up the Hub! [Ms Santina Gay + IRHC + others?]
e) Take on board the LEO Outreach materials selected and translated in Activity 1a-1b and link to LEO web-site. [“the Hub”]
f) Conduct the Outreach activity in Activity 1d – 1e and invite also CLEO members! [“the Hub”]
g) Establish platforms for “own materials” from the Sápmi area, see Activity 3 – 5. [“the Hub”]
h)
Activity 3 – Identify and make available relevant Reports and Studies (Sámi Educational Center &
Snowchange?)
a) Select or produce materials from reports and other knowledge sources deemed relevant for the CLEO platform such as Wikijärvi, Atlas on Community Based Management, videos, links to relevant Arctic Council reports (Snow, Water, Ice, Permafrost in the Arctic, Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic, Arctic Reslience Report and Circumpolar Biodiversity Reports (marine, terrestrial, freshwater, coastal) [ all stakeholders]]
b) Work out the technical interoperability between the national citizens observation systems and with LEO-network to share the data (both from national to CLEO system and from CLEO to national) [LEO operator in US + national operators (like SYKE) in other countries]
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c) Make the necessary (pedagogical etc.) adaptations and translations. [Sami Educational Center & Snowchange?] Sámi Education Institute is currently carrying out activities related to observations within their educational program and delivering this issue also in their
cooperation projects with Sami youth over the Sapmi area
Activity 4 – Identify and make available relevant Projects and Monitoring Processes (Swedish EPA) a) Identify, adapt and make available relevant parts of National Environmental Monitoring
Programmes [Swedish EPA + others]
b) Identify, adapt and make available relevant parts of the work in Laponia [Laponia adm.]
c) Identify, adapt and make available relevant parts of the Laevas Project [Laevas + Sthlm Univ.]
d) Identify, adapt and make available relevant parts of ……
Activity 5 – Education Activities and Training of New Observers
a) Identify pilot primary schools and pilot secondary schools for environmental education and observation training (schools each in NO/SE/FI/RU) [Nils Vasara-Hammare + Mika Aromäki? + others] This work is now on-going in one secondary school in Finland, in the Sámi Education Institute. This education is based on the work and systems already created in Finland (at SYKE) for the Citizens observations.
b) Identify eight pilot Sámi communities and eight pilot NGO:s (nature protection associations, fishers, hunters and hikers, etc.) in NO/SE/FI/RU for environmental education and
observation training [???]
c) Elaborate and conduct training exercises on various topics (Climate, Biodiversity,
Infrastructure) for the pilot primary and pilot secondary schools, the pilot Sámi communities and pilot NGO:s, aiming at attracting new reporters to CLEO and using various methods incl.
oral history
d) Elaborate and conduct campaigns for the general public (through newspapers, web, regional TV, etc.), aiming at attracting new reporters to CLEO
Activity 6 –Capacity Building of the Hub and others involved in the CLEO work – LONG TERM!
a) Elaborate and conduct trainings in Environmental Monitoring, Data Analysis, Reporting etc.
b) Elaborate and conduct trainings in Data Security and verification issues c) Elaborate and conduct trainings in Archive Methodology
d) …
The recommendations above may be seen as a first draft to a Work Plan for the implementation of CLEO in Sápmi. Its refinement and official adoption should be settled jointly at a later CLEO meeting but could be discussed by the participants of the 2nd CLEO Workshop (and others) and be re-edited into refined drafts till a later CLEO meeting.
5. Next steps
In order to get the proposed activities discussed and hopefully formalized into an Operative Work Plan for further CLEO-implementation, the following steps of actions are proposed:
“Can we find a safe, ethical and trustworthy network in the CLEO before starting up a hub?”
“Are the Sami locals interested to be observed or to be the observer themselves?”
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• Discussion and refinement of this Draft Report via e-mail, with focus on Section 5, until the end of March 2017.
• Telephone meeting with the participants in the CLEO I and II workshops in order to Agree on this first CLEO Implementation Work Plan and distribution of tasks etc by appointing task forces, steering committees, or whatever is deemed necessary for getting the things done.
• Conduct a 3rd CLEO Workshop, possibly in adjacy to the planned Meeting of the International Reindeer Herders in Jokkmokk in August 2017.
Further steps (to be determined by the CLEO group)
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APPENDICES
A. Participant List B. Programme C. Presentations
3i - Introduction to LEO and CLEO (Santina Gay)
3ii - Follow-up on CLEO workshop Inari (Henna Haapala) 3iii - Experiences of CBM and EcoRestoration (Tero Mustonen) 4i - Local Arctic Env Observations (Mika Aromäki)
4ii - Environment Mgm in Kiruna (Åke Jönsson)
4iii - ITK and CommunityBasedMonitoring (Anders Oskal) 4iv - ClimateMonitoring in Laevas SamiCom (Niila Inga) 5i - Laponia Wolrd Heritage (Åsa Jonsson Lundin) 5iii - FS on CLEO Network in Norway (Vigdis Johnsen) 5v Guidance to Case studies (Tero Mustonen) 5va) Vuotso Case (Tero Mustonen)
5vb) Kola Sami Case (Tero Mustonen) 5vc) Jokkmokk Case (Tero Mustonen) 5vd) Neiden Case (Tero Mustonen)
6i - Conclusions and Way Forward (Joint Workshop Outputs)
REPORT FROM THE 2ND WORKSHOP ON THE CIRCUMPOLAR
ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVATION NETWORK (CLEO)
KIRUNA, SWEDEN 16-17TH OF JANUARY 2017
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of acronyms and abbreviations used in the report ... 2
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ... 3
1. Background ... 4
1.1. LEO - The Local Environment Observation Network in North America ... 4
1.2. Further development of LEO into CLEO - a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observation Network ... 4
2. Preparatory Activities for the 2nd CLEO Workshop in Kiruna ... 4
3. Presentations and discussions during the 2nd CLEO Workshop ... 5
3.1. Update from the 1st CLEO-workshop in Inari, Finland ... 5
3.2. Presentations on current environmental problems in Sápmi ... 5
3.3. Round table discussion about CLEO´s future - Examples of activities which can develop LEO to CLEO ... 7
3.4. Conclusions and Way Forward ... 9
4. Recommendations for Further Activities on CLEO in Sápmi ... 10
5. Next steps ... 11
APPENDICES ... 13
2
List of acronyms and abbreviations used in the report
AACA S. 6
ACAP Arctic Contaminants Action Program,
CAFF S. 6
CLEO Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer Network
CLIFF S. 7
DNA S. 8
EPA s. 4
GPS S. 7
IBCC S. 6
ICT network S.6
IPCAP S. 4
LEO Local Environment Observation Network (in North America) LKAB Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Ltd (Swedish Mining Company) NGO:s Non-Governmental Organisation
Ottawa TK Traditional Knowledge in the Ottawa Declaration of the Arctic Council Swedish EPA Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
TEK Sid 4
UNESCO S. 7
WG meeting S. 4
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The LEO Network was developed by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) in 2009. They recognized the value of the traditional knowledge and since then started to realize the importance of the emerging effects of climate change. They began searching for a tool to register and exchange environmental observations, including potential contaminants.
The first steps of the Phase Two activities, which include an expansion to the Fenno-Scandinavian region, are underway. Two workshops have taken place, in Inari, Finland in June 2016 and in Kiruna, Sweden in January 2017. CLEO Network focuses on the areas above the Arctic Circle. The presentation on current environmental problems in Sápmi is based on the real-life living conditions. Other presentations discuss the need to combine traditional and scientific knowledge. We know that in the past the science has been misused against the Sami and the Sami traditional knowledge has been underestimated. But nowadays, the Ottawa TK gets more widely used, especially in the Arctic Council.
This is an important understanding which is discussed in the many Ministerial Declarations. Both CLEO workshops show us that the traditional Sami and the local knowledge are integrated and they could have a wider impact on the monitoring. The CLEO network can provide information by various methods including oral history. The observations can benefit both the Arctic indigenous people and science to build up a kind of monitoring system. The data is necessary to be used both on a community and government level to predict the future and avoid conflicts. The Arctic Council is a pioneer in using this traditional knowledge.
The Ottawa TK principles define traditional knowledge which combines biological, physiological, cultural and linguistic systems. The definition of how the reindeer herding terms are used is an example. The workshop reports clarify that the small details in the weather changes have a big impact in the ice condition, the grazing land and cause problems in the migration of the reindeer even in a safe season. The observation shows the need to find better tools, equipment and a monitoring system in the circumpolar region that is easy to use.
There are 24 different indigenous reindeer herding people in the circumpolar region spread among 10 different countries. The CLEO network hub could be developed in Sápmi and expanded across the Arctic. To deliver a framework for expansion in Sápmi we need to understand our potential: the historical background in order to understand how the reindeer herding land has been used across borders hundreds of years ago and how the climate change has influenced the social living conditions.
The reindeer, human and nature are closely connected with each other and they cannot be separated.
During the Second CLEO Workshop in Kiruna, it was concluded that there are many ongoing activities which could be used as a platform for further development of CLEO such as the Laponia World heritage, the International Reindeer Herder´s Association, Norwegian work on scientific-based monitoring incl. traditional local knowledge, Cooperation between Stockholm university and Laevas Sami village, pilot project in Finland on Local Arctic Environmental Observations by the Sami
Educational Centre and Finnish Environment Institute, “Snowchange’s” work on oral history and Sámi traditional, knowledge on environmental issues, activities in primary schools and municipalities and of course the existing network in North America.
Based on the outputs from the discussions and exercises made during the workshop, the following activities for further joint cooperation, were suggested:
• Access to the LEO experience (Lead: US EPA in Alaska?)
• Establish the CLEO Hub for Sápmi
• Identify and make available relevant Reports and Studies
• Identify and make available relevant Projects and Monitoring Processes
• Education Activities and Training of New Observers
• Capacity Building of the Hub and others involved in the CLEO work on long term
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1. Background
The Arctic region is facing rapid changes, and indigenous communities are usually the first to notice impacts of climate change and other developments in the region as they have lived in the area for centuries and have accumulated traditional ecological and local knowledge, TEK, which helps them to understand their environment.
1.1. LEO - The Local Environment Observation Network in North America
Based on these insights, the Arctic Contaminants Action Program, ACAP, decided to develop a Framework for a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer Network CLEO and fund the establishment of a North American chapter of the Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer Network among permanent participants (PPs) in the United States and Canadian Arctic. The ACAP project focuses on establishing the network to enhance use of TEK both generally and with respect to contaminants. CLEO Network can become a handy tool connecting the holders of this knowledge and eyewitnesses to different changes happening in the Arctic with scientists and policymakers to develop adaptation strategies that will benefit communities across the circumpolar north.
Members of the LEO Network established in Alaska and Canada (potentially CLEO Network) can document their observations with the help of a mobile app for handheld devices, called LEO Reporter. LEO Reporter is a global map and data interface that allows observers to post observations through text and imagery. LEO Reporter was designed and tested in rural Alaska to provide robust field reporting capabilities even in the most remote areas. Once an observation has been submitted, it is reviewed by a regional editorial team. If selected, it is published to LEO Map where it can be viewed by the entire network membership.
1.2. Further development of LEO into CLEO - a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observation Network
Building on the success of the Alaska-based Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network and its community-based monitoring network for rural areas, ACAP decided to promote the foundation for a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer (CLEO) Network.
The first CLEO workshop took place in Inari, Finland, on 1-3 June 2016. The main outcome of that meeting was a decision to continue cooperation on this project and develop a framework for the expansion of the LEO Network beyond North America and establishing a CLEO Network.
After the results of the 1st CLEO Workshop were reported at the ACAP WG meeting in Krasnoyarsk in September 2016, Sweden volunteered to arrange the 2nd CLEO Workshop in Kiruna during late 2016/early 2017.
2. Preparatory Activities for the 2
ndCLEO Workshop in Kiruna
The 2nd CLEO workshop was arranged by the Swedish EPA and allocated to the northernmost town of Sweden, Kiruna, through the intensive mining industry a well-known meeting point for as well traditional as modern life-styles.
In order to deepen the engagement of Swedish Sámi communities and thus try to build prerequisites for a more long term engagement in as well the CLEO issues as in IPCAP-work in general, the Swedish EPA decided to broaden the search for in particular indigenous representatives from the Swedish side in comparison with what had been possible till the first workshop. In order to reach continuity and build further on the Inari output, all the participants who attended the 1st CLEO Workshop were approached as well.
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The invitees were instructed to describe various aspects such as existing environmental problems, and/or existing and wanted environmental projects/monitoring processes as well as to address a wished development of the CLEO Idea. Having got the quite strong response from the former and new invitees, the programme was shaped, based on the topics that were raised. See the Programme List in Appendix 1 and Participant in Appendix 2.
3. Presentations and discussions during the 2
ndCLEO Workshop
Below short summaries of the presentations and related discussions are reflected. For full presentations, please see Appendix 3.
3.1. Update from the 1
stCLEO-workshop in Inari, Finland
Presentations from the 1st CLEO-Workshop in Inari in June 2016, were given according to the programme. For details, please see the presentations in the following appendices:
App. 3i - Introduction to LEO and CLEO (Santina Gay)
App. 3ii - Follow-up on CLEO workshop Inari (Henna Haapala) App. 3iii - Experiences of CBM and EcoRestoration (Tero Mustonen)
3.2. Presentations on current environmental problems in Sápmi
Agenda item 4i - The Sami Educational Centre does Local Arctic Environmental Observations. Mr Mika Aromäki made a presentation about the school and the reindeer students who focused on water monitoring by using local knowledge.
The project is aimed to train and demonstrate the local environmental observations together with the Sami Educational Centre and the Finnish Environment Institute. The participants in the project will learn from different activities on local observations and traditional knowledge, as well as utilize the different tools for local observations. The applications used are based on the national level system for local observations in order to enable long-term input of observations from the Arctic and the recognition of these observations by wider audience. The students had expert advice and they decided to do a special practical test designed by the Finnish Environmental Institute as a tool with several indicators which included measuring the water temperature below the surface, the oxygen and pH and observation on the water purity. A smart phone was used to collect the data and put it on the website diagram. The students even took photos of the water to see its quality. This is just a prototype of a small device which caused some problems. The device is approximately as big as a coffee-maker. Mr Mika Aromäki said that the experience showed the students wanted to learn more. The frozen water was a challenge and the ice was limiting the project work during the school year. The results show that the water temperature has dramatically changed over the year. The school media program was involved in monitoring observation. They interviewed people with traditional knowledge which has been used to describe the change and collected data of different ground changes. The environment has a big effect in the overall change. The water project became wider from its beginning with more data collected. Some projects have suddenly stopped for different reasons. The local reindeer herders inspired the participants to observe the environmental changes and the problems they caused, for example, the sudden heavy rains.
Agenda item 4ii - Mr Anders Oskal represents the Norwegian Sami in The International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry - the organization which has been an observer to the Arctic Council since the year 2000.
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This organization discusses different aspects of traditional knowledge, as they call it community-based monitoring. There are 24 indigenous reindeer-herding peoples in the circumpolar region spread among 10 different countries. The observation is based on the nomadic way of living - a system in which the human being, animal and nature are intertwined. Other types of interests, has started to be identified and defined such as lifestyle and research in the Barrens area.
Mr Oskal said the Ottawa TK principles define traditional knowledge which is a combination of biological, physiological, cultural and linguistic systems. This knowledge is universal. For example, the knowledge of snow was defined with 318 different terms by a reindeer-herder with a PhD in linguistics.
This knowledge-based approach can be used to improve the understanding in the Arctic Council which has been a pioneer using this knowledge. The IBCC report is about combined use of scientific and traditional indigenous knowledge which is highlighted, especially in the Arctic Council. In the long run, the focus is on the capacity building for the locals who are most dependent on climate, nature changes and globalization on top. Small details in the weather conditions can have a big impact, for example, the ice condition which caused a problem for the migrating reindeer even in a safe season which could be unsafe. The food security is another concern. Historically, the Sami have been a research object but now the Sami themselves have PhD – a degree they could never have before. It is important to find how to bridge the gap between these knowledge systems. Mr Oskal’s suggested trans-boundary institutions. He informed the participants about the most important meeting arena, arranged every 4th year – the next World Reindeer Herder’s Congress which is going to be held in Jokkmokk in August 2017.
Agenda item 4iii - Environmental Issues in Kiruna and how they are managed. Presentation by Åke Jönsson Environmental Inspector, Kiruna City and Municipal Administration
Mr Jönsson who works as an Environmental Inspector at the Environmental Office in Kiruna Municipality gave some information about Kiruna Municipality and the main professions in the area, including the reindeer herding. The company LKAB is the biggest pollutor and its mining activities affects everybody.
One part of the Office job includes doing tests on the food and the environment but Mr Jönsson also works for the city transformation. He explained the new plan of moving the city which included cleaning of the polluted soils before building on the land. The soil tests and the cleaning are very expensive.
Agenda item 4iv - Mr Niila Inga, Chair of Laevas Sami community and Professor Gunhild Ninis Rosqvist from Stockholm University who work together on a project informed about the monitoring of climate change by Laevas Reindeer Herding Community and Tarfala Research Station.
Laevas Sami area stretches from Kiruna in the east to the Norwegian border to the west. The Tarfala Research started in 1946 by collecting a wide range of data valuable today. Earlier, nothing monitored benefitted the local population. Laevas and the research started to communicate about cooperation that had a meaning for the reindeer herders. Nowadays, the herders can participate into the monitoring. The reindeer are followed by a GPS which is put on their neck, and the reindeer behavior according to the weather is indicated on a cell phone.
Since 2005, the temperature is getting warmer and the snow conditions have been bad for the reindeer which causes different problems. One day of raining can affect the reindeer for a long time.
Mr Inga said it was a good thing they had the data about everything already to see the full impact by monitoring the climate change and other factors destroying the grazing land. In the big view, competing industries, windmill parks, predators, tourists and other disturbances can have a big impact on the reindeer herding.
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The research in Laevas Sami village includes the society with collaborators in Nuuk in Greenland, and hopefully a place in Russia in the future. The scientific paths discuss the multiple pressures on Arctic landscapes. Professor Rosquist represents a kind of hub that benefits Laevas Sami village and the science. She emphasizes there is a lack of this knowledge which is interesting for both people and the media. The conflicts of land use were also part of the discussion. Mr Inga said it was necessary to find new techniques and equipment for the herders to handle the daily data observed and to see the change themselves.
3.3. Round table discussion about CLEO´s future - Examples of activities which can develop LEO to CLEO
Agenda item 5i - Mrs Åsa Nordin Jonsson, the Head of the Management Organisation in Laponia, talks about the World Heritage Area, the head centre and the visitor centre which had 10 000 visitors last year.
Laponia is an organization, not an authority. Laponia Heritage, a World Heritage since 1996, consists of 9 Sami villages and two National Parks which are established in 1909 and are the oldest in Sweden.
The area became a World Heritage because of the Sami culture and the nature. But in 1912 a part from the National park was taken for a hydro-electric power project.
UNESCO demanded that the local Governance should include the Sami people into the management of the area and the Sami people to be the majority of the Board. The Municipality of Gällivare accepted the idea of consensus agreement according to which all the different parts should stand behind their decisions. (This was totally new in Sweden.) Laponia has a visitor centre, regular Board Meetings, working groups following the management plan and three concepts used in everything: the value of nature, the reindeer herding, Sami culture and the traces of the earlier users. It continues working with the Arbediehtu (traditional knowledge to do good management work), Savvinlatnja (a kind of learning concept to learn from each other) and Addedeapmi (invitating the local people to inform and discuss what we are doing). These have been successfully used as working tools. Everybody in the society is involved in the meetings – men, young people, women and professionals who regularly use the land.
Different ways and methods are used to integrate the local knowledge into the monitoring system.
Without listening to the local people and their knowledge which provides a good support and observation, it is not possible to know anything about the fish changing and migration in the area in the overall history. Laponia works also with languages, giving back the original names to different places in the area used before, organizing different Sami groups.
Reflections after the presentation
Mr Oskal commented on the Laponia project and said: “This is the best case in the Arctic establishment, involved actively and driven by indigenous people.“
Mrs Santana from LEO network explained: “This is exactly the kind of information that the CLEO members can benefit from.“
Mr Åke Mikaelsson concluded: “The environmental project needs to train the people involved and express their concerns about the monitoring as well as use young people’s curiosity.”
Agenda item 5ii - Mr Nils Vasara-Hammare from Kiruna School Administration is the principal of two schools in the northernmost part of Kiruna municipality: Karesuando and Övre Soppero. He presented the environmental observations of Övre Soppero school project.
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The primary school in Övre Soppero is multicultural, up to the 6th class. Most of school children come from Övre Soppero, belong to reindeer-herding families and grow up in a versatile socio-cultural environment. The school project was to learn about the salmon and to fish in the Laino river. The children went to Jårkastaka which is a popular tourist fishing area but found a lot of waste in nature and contacted Kiruna municipality which replied it was not the school’s responsibility to clean the environment. From this answer, it continued as an environmental school project to clean up the nature in the area. Mr Vasara-Hammare’s conclusion from this project is it is good for the children to know how to protect nature but it is not the children’s responsibility to clean the environment. The main issue raised in this project is whose responsibility is the environment protection. Mr Vasara-Hammare is asking himself if the distance between Kiruna and Jårkastaka is so big, that Kiruna Municipality cannot reach out to clean. The authority gives the permission to use the fishing areas and the land but they do not take responsibility over their protection. Mr Vasara-Hammare mentioned only that it is in the typical fishing areas and in the well-known salmon river.
Mrs Santina Gay suggested the school to take part in the CLEO network and do observations with others in nature. LEO has signed up schools in Alaska with a different curricula shared with other schools to be part of the network. The teachers and the adults are involved in the study of changing the climate, nature and resourcing. The students learn how to make observations, they reinforce what they have learned and they continuously study to be part of nature. It is about the context of the observer and connecting students together.
Agenda item 5iv - Mr Nils Vasara-Hammare, also the Chairman of the Könkemä Sami Community talked about transboundary work of the Reindeer Pasture Commission.
The reindeer herders used the land and migrated across the border areas for many hundreds of years according to a convention which regulated the regular migration across the border and its time. But now this convention does not exist and there is a process towards its renewal. It is important to know how the land was divided and regulated. Könkemä district has the summer graze in the mountains of Norway where reindeer calf marking is done. In autumn, spring and winter the land in Sweden, near Karesuando is used. Almost all the Sami grazing lands are in Norway.
Mr Vasara-Hammare gave a short European history lesson about the border agreement and he clarified that the coders’ main points from 1751 regulated how the reindeer cross-border land was used hundreds of years ago. The history also shows also the cross-border migration to Finland which was a part of the Empire of Russia from 1809. He talked also how the coders of the 1751 convention were applied from 1905 again at the same time when Norway became an independent state after the union with Sweden from 1814 to 1905. Not long after 1905, the Sami were considered to be a lower race and this fact had a wide influence on the convention coming into force in 1919. From this time on, the Sami could not use the land in Norway and the islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The movement of the reindeer herding has changed since then. The main issue is still who has the rights to keep the reindeer in certain areas and it is still a problem. Nowadays, we also understand that the environmental issues, the impact of the climate change, the social living conditions how to use the land need to be taken into consideration. In brief, the reindeer, human and nature are closely connected with each other and they cannot be separated.
Agenda item 5iii - Mrs Vigdis Johnson, County Governor of Finnmark and a member of IPCAP expert group presented the feasibility study about CLEO Network in Norway.
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Mrs Johnson discussed the environmental monitoring project in Norway. The scientific-based monitoring can be strengthened by the traditional local knowledge but there is lack of tools and standard methods how to implement the traditional local knowledge. Today, there is no network in Norway monitoring climate changes.
Mrs Johnson said the CLEO project applied for funding at the Ministry of Climate and the Environment.
When the project starts more information will be given about the CLEO network to different organizations and the locals via the local newspapers. It is necessary to anchor the local Norwegian interest to start a small pilot project, to get feedback from institutions and to find partners. According to her, the advantages of the CLEO network are that it is a great way of communicating, a possibility of meeting different knowledge systems and identifying a few Norwegian hubs. Scientific observation of the Arctic tundra has already been done. This includes a school project.
Norwegian legislation in brief: The Nature Diversity Act which is a new act to protect the biological, geological and landscape diversity came in 2009. Environmental conservation and sustainable use are the main issues. It says, for example, that the authorities should attach importance based on experience of many generations, especially the Sami traditional use of the land.
There was a positive response from the audience. Prof. Svein Mathiesen wanted a presentation about CLEO network in the CAFF meeting in Kautokeino.
A question raised during the discussion by Post Doc Camilla Brattland regarded the translation into the Sami languages, so the information about the CLEO network could reach everyone.
Agenda item 5v - Joint Exercise on Sámi Traditional Knowledge and Oral Histories in Environmental Issues Case studies: (Mr Tero Mustonen, Snowchange)
Based on four case studies – one from each of the four Sámi countries Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia – various examples of distorsions to Sámi life due to infrastructure or larger man-made processes were described in a training material prepared by Mr Tero Mustonen and used as base for practical discussions on aimed at highlighting the use of oral history also as method for describing and solving environmental issues.
The four cases are listed below and can be found in Appendices 5v:
a) Large reservoirs in Vuotso, Finland,
b) Detection and assessment of climate impact, Kola Peninsula, Russia, c) Hydropower in Jokkmokk, Sweden,
d) Restoration and monitoring of habitats in Näätämö/Neiden basin, Finland and Norway.
3.4. Conclusions and Way Forward
As an attempt to use the fact of having gathered a rather large group of engaged people with good knowledge on the Sámi community and environmental issues, a workshop was held at the end of Day 2, in which the participants were asked to discuss and write down their ideas on the possible
According to § 8 the authorities shall attach importance to knowledge that is based on many generations of experience acquired through the use of and interaction with the natural environment, including traditional Sami use, and that can promote the conservation and sustainable use of biological, geological and landscape diversity.