Date

Workshop Announcement
Snowchange 2005: Indigenous and Local Observations of Ecological and
Climate Change
End of September 2005
Anchorage, Alaska

For further information, please go to:
http://www.snowchange.org


The independent Snowchange Organization based in Finland is pleased to
offer this Pre-Announcement of "Snowchange 2005: Workshop on Indigenous
Observations of Ecological and Climate Change" at the end of September
2005 in Anchorage, Alaska. It follows the spirit and intent of the
previous Snowchange Conferences in Tampere, Finland (2002) and Murmansk,
Russia (2003). Over the next months, further information on programme,
travel, visa, and other issues will be available at:
http://www.snowchange.org

The purpose of this workshop is to highlight voices from communities in
the changing Arctic. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment of the Arctic
Council was released in November 2004 in Iceland. It confirms facts that
local and indigenous communities of the Arctic have witnessed over
several years - snow and ice, our worlds are changing and fast. The
message is out now. This workshop will go further by bringing people
together to share experiences with scientists, conservation
organizations, and other stakeholders.

Organizers are pleased to invite people of different cultures,
societies, and communities of the Arctic to join hands in finding
solutions to the problems at hand. Of special interest will be voices
from northeast Siberia where Snowchange worked with Even, Yukagir, and
other Indigenous groups as well as voices of change from Iengra, a
Siberian Evenki community. Organizers look forward welcoming delegations
from these regions, as well as other groups of the Arctic to this
special event. Limited travel support is available; priority will be
given to the Indigenous delegations from the Russian Federation.

Further information is available from:
Vickie Steere,
Head of the Preparatory Committee, Snowchange, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
E-mail: vsteere [at] alaska.net

Henry Huntington
Independent Researcher, Eagle River, Alaska, USA
E-mail: hph [at] alaska.net

Tero Mustonen
Project Manager, Snowchange, Finland
E-mail: tero [at] snowchange.org

Snowchange 2005 will be organized in cooperation with the WILD
Foundation (http://www.wild.org).