A non-profit cooperative working with Indigenous and local communities to restore peatlands, wetlands, forests, rivers and fish habitats. Its Landscape Rewilding Programme combines traditional and local knowledge with ecological science and community-controlled conservation.
Snowchange Cooperative – Community-Controlled Rewilding and Indigenous Knowledge
A Finnish cooperative places Indigenous and local knowledge at the centre of large-scale peatland, forest and river rewilding.
Transformation
Operating across the personal, practical and political spheres, Snowchange restores ecosystems alongside traditional knowledge, livelihoods and cultural identity. It challenges top-down conservation by placing local and Indigenous knowledge at the centre of restoration and co-management. Its work has contributed to protected areas, community-conserved areas and changes in national and international conservation practice.
Equity
Strengthens Indigenous and local authority, cultural recognition, land relationships and participation in conservation governance. It supports traditional fishing and other land-based livelihoods while enabling communities to document and control their knowledge.
Biodiversity
By 2026, the Landscape Rewilding Programme covered more than 8,500 hectares across 178 sites and reportedly influenced approximately 60,000 hectares. Restoration includes peatlands, wetlands, forests, rivers and habitats for fish, birds and wild forest reindeer, with ecological recovery monitored through species and habitat indicators.
