Saami Council initiates project on increased Sámi participation in IPCAP
The Saami Council has hired Lasse Eriksen Bjørn from Romsa – Tromsø as a project manager in the Arctic and Environmental Unit of the Saami Council. Bjørn will be working with capacity building for Sámi youth in Environmental issues and also with increasing Sámi participation in IPCAP.
The Saami Council has hired Lasse Eriksen Bjørn as a project manager for the Arctic and Environmental Unit where he will be working with the project “Increased Sámi participation in the work of The Indigenous People’s Contaminants Action Program (IPCAP)”. Bjørn is from Romsa/Tromsø, but he also has family ties to the Sea Sámi community of Omasvuotna/Storfjord.
– I have been actively involved with organizations and projects connected to environmental and climate issues for the past six years, so these are issues I’m very committed to already, says Bjørn, who has been a board member of 2 years in Young Friends of the Earth Norway (Luondu ja Nuorat/Natur og Ungdom) – the largest environmental youth organization in Norway.
Implementing Alaskan indigenous environmental observation model to Sápmi
IPCAP is an expert group connected to the Arctic Council and was established in 2008 to identify and remove local resources of contamination and improve environmental conditions in indigenous communities. The IPCAP has built on the success of the Alaskan Native lead Local Environmental Observers (LEO) network in Alaska and has developed the foundation for a Circumpolar Local Environmental Observer (CLEO) Network.
– The Saami Council is seeking to increase the Sámi participation in the CLEO network, which is a network of local environmental observers and experts who apply indigenous knowledge, western science, and technology to document significant, unusual, or unprecedented environmental events in our communities. These changes can be observed in seasonality, plants, and wildlife, weather conditions as well as natural hazards including coastal erosion, flooding, droughts, wildfire, and other events that can threaten food security, water security, and community health. The purpose of the LEO Network is to increase understanding about environmental change so communities can adapt in healthy ways, says Bjørn.
