In a new interactive story, Gaia’s Finnish partner organisation the Snowchange Cooperative share their efforts to train young people in Finland’s ancient ice-fishing traditions, as the impacts of climate change deepen.

For the past 6-months, the Snowchange Cooperative’s Tero Mustonen has been training apprentice fisherman Lauri Hämäläinen in Finland’s ancient ice-fishing traditions.

As Finland and other arctic regions experience increasing destabilisation from climate change- expressed in melting ice and record winter temperatures- these traditions are more important than ever, says Tero:

“From the Mediterranean to the Arctic, small-scale fisheries tend to be ecologically sustainable, connected with local families and communities and contribute to the food security and environmental monitoring of freshwater and marine ecosystems. Supporting them is a win-win.”

As well as training a new generation of fishers steeped in traditional knowledge, Snowchange is leading the restoration of climate-critical water systems and peatlands in North Karelia and elsewhere across Finland.

As part of his education, Lauri has been supporting these re-wilding efforts, which have seen the return of rivers and wetlands to health, thousands of birds migrating back and the return of aquatic wildlife like brook lamprey to the Jukajoki River system.

Read the interactive story above, or by clicking here, to find out more.

Find out more

• Read about Gaia’s partnership with Snowchange
• Visit Snowchange’s website to find out more about their work.