Circumpolar Musings: Greenland

Arctic resource row brings down Greenland government

Amanda Graham — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:18:56 GMT

( Duncan Geere/Wired.co.uk, 16 March 2013) -- Greenland's government has fallen in the wake of an argument in the country over the extent to which foreign oil and mining countries should be allowed to operate in the Arctic. The left-leaning government of the Prime Minister, Kuupik Kleist was rejected by voters in the Arctic country, which has a population of 56,000 that is 89 percent Inuit. The election was dominated by a debate over foreign investors working in Greenland. Speculation that a company called London Mining was planning to use 2,000 Chinese workers to build a vast iron ore mine to serve steel mills in Beijing, and the activities of Cairn Energy who drilled for oil off the Greenland coast in 2011 divided opinion. The election was won in the end by the Siumut party, which secured 42% of the vote, allowing it to form a coalition government, led by Alequa Hammond. She pledged to increase royalties on mining operations, and be more critical of foreign investments. "We are welcoming companies and countries that are interested in investing in Greenland," she told the BBC. "At the same time we have to be aware of the consequences as a people. Greenland should work with countries that have the same values as we have, on how human rights should be respected. We are not giving up our values for investors' sake."

Greenland walrus spotted in Scotland

Amanda Graham — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 08:22:12 GMT

(IceNews, 7 March 2013) -- Scottish residents discovered the presence of a rare northerly visitor at the weekend. Thirty-two-year-old birdwatcher Mark Warren from Orkney came across the massive mammal at a beach in North Ronaldsay on Saturday 3 March. But when he told his 28-year-old wife Fleur that he had just spotted a walrus, she had a hard time believing him. According to a report published by the UK news agency the Daily Record, there haven’t been any Walrus sightings in the region for more than two-and-a-half decades. Mrs Warren tod the paper, “I thought Mark was joking at first. It’s just amazing that he has turned up here. He seems happy enough and gives out a grunt. We would not like to get too close, because even though he’s young, he’s still a big animal.” Experts say the visitor is a young male thought to have made its way all the way from Greenland. “I would guess he is about eight or nine years and ready to breed,” said Ross Flett from Orkney Seal Rescue. However, he added, “I doubt he will find love here. It’s bad enough for humans on North Ronaldsay. There’s only about 70 people on the island – and now one lonely walrus too. It may be the search for a mate brought him here but he is certainly disorientated and off course.” The last confirmed sighting of a Walrus on in the area was in 1986, when a walrus managed to end up on a shore in Eynhallow.

Dimensions of oil and gas development in Greenland

Amanda Graham — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 00:24:21 GMT

(Andreas Østhagen/The Arctic Institute, 19 December 2012) -- The prospect of offshore oil and gas activity in the waters around Greenland constitutes a highly contentious issue in the larger debate on Arctic petroleum development. Given Greenland’s special status as a part of the Danish Realm, with a high degree of self-governance and a majority Inuit population, oil and gas drilling there has engaged actors with a wide range of interests. Arctic oil and gas development is often generalised into a two-sided conflict between those who emphasise the protection of the environment and those who seek potential profits, with the interests of local communities variably used in favour of one or the other depending on the area of the region under question. Some of the dimensions that seem to determine much of the actual development are often lost in this dichotomy, to the dismay of those in favour of an informed debate. Taking into account that Greenland is just one of the many parts of the Arctic that is experiencing this development, with its own unique characteristics, this article sets out to shed light on the importance of internal political and commercial factors when discussing petroleum development around the island.

Greenland weighs in for Oscar with ‘Inuk’ film

Amanda Graham — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 23:06:27 GMT

(IceNews, 11 October 2012) -- Greenland’s Oscar Committee has nominated Inuk as the Danish territory’s contender at this year’s Academy Awards in California. The film, which depicts the life of troubled 16-year-old Nuuk resident, will compete with films from around the world for the category of Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th edition of the Academy Awards, officials said on Monday. The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will select five final nominees for the category’s Oscar; their selections will be revealed on 10 January while the award ceremony will take place in Hollywood on 24 February. Inuk has already gathered substantial critical acclaim and has taken home more than 20 awards at various international film festivals. Filmmakers said the production was shot on location amid Greenland’s typical frigid conditions and casting agents commissioned local teenagers from an area children's home as well as area hunters as actors. As reported by Nuntasiaq Online, Inuk co-producer and co-writer Jean-Michel Huctin describes the film: “Created as an original road-movie on the sea ice, Inuk is both an authentic story of Greenland today and a universal story about the quest for identity, transmission and rebirth after the deepest of wounds.” Inuk’s producers are currently amid negotiations for the film’s general release in the US, Canada and Australia, and the full-length feature is already scheduled for an early 2013 release in Germany, South Korea, Switzerland and Austria.

Greenland glacier acceleration levels less than originally feared

Amanda Graham — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:28:14 GMT

(University of Washington and Ohio State University press releases via redOrbit, 4 May 2012) -- Some of Greenland’s glaciers are moving approximately 30% faster than they were a decade ago, contributing to the rising sea level but not reaching worst-case speed levels that experts once feared, a new study published in Friday’s edition of the journal Science has discovered. According to Reuters reporter Deborah Zabarenko, researchers at the University of Washington (UW) and Ohio State University (OSU) studied satellite data from 2000 to 2011. They focused on more than 200 glaciers and discovered that their acceleration levels were not increasing as rapidly as earlier projections had feared. Previously, scientists analyzing the issue had presented a scenario in which the Greenland glaciers would double their velocity between 2000 and 2010, then stabilizing in terms of speed, as well as a second scenario in which their speeds would increase tenfold before stabilizing. Under the first scenario, the sea level would rise by approximately four inches by 2100, and under the second, it would increase by nearly 19 inches by that time, the University of Washington said in a May 3 press release. However, as they point out, those researchers “had little precise data available for how major ice regions, primarily in Greenland and Antarctica, were behaving in the face of climate change.” For the new study, lead author Twila Moon, a University of Washington doctoral student in Earth and space sciences, and co-authors Benjamin Smith of the UW Applied Physics Laboratory and Ian Howat, an assistant professor of earth sciences at OSU, recorded annual, wintertime changes in the outlet glaciers by using data from the Canadian Space Agency‘s Radarsat-1 satellite, Germany’s TerraSar-X satellite and Japan’s Advanced Land Observation Satellite, and discovered lower-than-anticipated increased in velocity. “’Glacial pace’ is not slow anymore,” Moon told the Associated Press (AP). That said, she added that, “some of the worst-case possibilities that we had imagined are not coming true at this point. So it’s not good news, but it’s not bad news.” Source:

Halibut pierced with mysterious ’projectile parasite’

Amanda Graham — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:57:24 GMT

(ScienceNordic, 7 April 2012) -- The halibut is a popular delicacy among seafood lovers. But perhaps the pretty slices and the fine texture of this fish shouldn’t be taken for granted in the future. During filleting work, Greenlandic fishermen recently noticed that a specimen of Greenland halibut was full of strange cavities and holes that resemble shot wounds. The mysteriously infected fish was sent to the Laboratory of Aquatic Pathobiology at the University of Copenhagen, where researchers examined the holes in detail. They discovered that the Greenland halibut had been infected with a hitherto unknown parasite, which creates circular holes in the fish muscle. “At first glance it was impossible to see why the holes had appeared,” says Professor Kurt Buchmann, of the Laboratory of Aquatic Pathobiology at the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at the University of Copenhagen, who headed the study. “But when I took a closer look through a microscope, I could see that the holes actually consisted of cartilage containing millions of tiny parasites of a previously unknown type. According to the professor, the holes emerged as a result of the parasites attacking cartilage elements in the fish’s skeleton. The cartilage reacts to the infection by swelling dramatically and transforming into long, circular cylinders that go straight through the fish’s musculature and make it appear riddled. ... The parasite has not been described before, neither by fish researchers nor parasite researchers. But its shape reveals that it is of the type Myxobulus – a parasite that’s characterised by being very small and rounded. Since Myxobulus hasn’t previously been observed in the halibut, the researchers knew they were dealing with a new species within Myxobulus. “Detailed DNA analyses also revealed that the newly-discovered projectile parasite was not present in the gene bank for parasites. Moreover, it differed greatly from other known types of parasites.” Although the projectile parasite has hitherto been completely unknown, it is not a newcomer. ”It has probably existed for millions of years – it’s just not been discovered by scientists until now.” Although the parasite makes the delicate fish flesh appear a bit less appetising, Buchmann stresses that it poses no threats to humans.

Dane fights for Greenland prisoners

Amanda Graham — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:11:19 GMT

(IceNews, 23 March 2012) -- A Danish prison inspector has spoken out about the practice of sending Greenlandic inmates to Danish gaols, claiming it contravenes their human rights to maintain close ties with their families. Hans Jørgen Elbo argues that Denmark would probably lose a case in the European Court of Human Rights if the Greenlanders serving sentences at Herstedvester Prison made a stand. As Greenland currently has no permanent jails, around 20 inmates have been sent to Herstedvester. Prisoners have been housed in Denmark since 1952, and the construction of Greenland’s first prison is still to be completed after various setbacks since 2007. Elbo was publicly reprimanded for his comments by Annette Esdorf, deputy CEO of the prison service (Kriminalforsorgen), at a meeting last week. He is unrepentant, however, claiming no one has been able to prove that the practice does not violate the prisoners’ rights. Speaking to Politiken, Peter Scharff Smith of the human rights Institute for Menneskerettigheder, said he agrees with the inspector.

Lynge talks future of Inuit people

Amanda Graham — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:14:30 GMT

(Stephanie Mc Feeters, The Dartmouth, 8 February 2012) -- Greenlandic Inuit welcome the possibility of economic opportunity that comes with the growing international interest in regional oil and mineral resources but worry about the effect it may have on their environment and traditional lifestyle, Aqqaluk Lynge, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, said in a lecture to a packed Filene Auditorium Tuesday afternoon. Greenland has one of the most extensive green energy programs in the world, with over 60 percent of its electricity coming from hydropower, he said. At the same time, despite the environmentally friendly nature of Greenland’s energy programs, the potential influx of oil and mineral resource corporations poses a threat to the nation’s environment. Furthermore, the possible disappearance of sea ice could drastically change the composition of the circumpolar region by introducing new trade routes and more investment, he said. “Traditionally, we care about the environment because we live off the land,” he said, adding that the Inuit are the “guardians of the Arctic.” The environment is “silently changing,” and Inuit are facing a conflicting desire between combating climate change and embracing the potential for economic growth through foreign investment, Lynge said in an interview with The Dartmouth following his lecture.

Triple murder shocks Greenland

Amanda Graham — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:33:34 GMT

(CBC News, 9 February 2012) -- Greenland was in mourning Thursday after an eight-year-old girl and two women were bludgeoned to death and two men seriously injured in a remote Inuit village. Flags flew at half staff and two minutes of silence were observed across the giant, but sparsely populated island, where violence of that scale is rare. A 22-year-old man was arrested on preliminary charges, including three counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder, police said. The attack happened Wednesday in Nutaarmiut, a west coast hamlet with 46 inhabitants, about 900 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. The victims were initially believed to have been shot, but police spokesman Claus Risbjerg said Thursday the killer had used blunt instruments, probably hammers, to bludgeon the girl and two women, aged 31 and 75. Two men, aged 32 and 81, were seriously injured in the attack and flown to Denmark for treatment, Risbjerg said, adding the condition of the 81-year-old man was "very critical." Another woman and her daughter narrowly escaped the attack, police said, but didn't give details. Risbjerg said the victims were family related but declined to comment on local reports that the motive could be a family dispute.

Archeologists: Eric the Red brewed ale in Greenland

Amanda Graham — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:26:53 GMT

(Iceland Review, 30 January 2012) -- Archeologists from the Danish National Museum have now proven that Eric the Red, who founded the Icelandic settlement in Greenland at the end of the tenth century AD, and his contemporaries were able to brew ale. There have long been speculations whether the climate in the southernmost part of Greenland was warm enough in the Viking era to growing cereals for brewing ale, the staple beverage of Vikings, make porridge and bake bread, visir.is reports. Now archeologists have found remains of burnt barley in a dunghill that dates back to the time of Eric the Red’s settlement in Greenland and is the first indication of cereal growing in the country’s southernmost part a millennium ago. The Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten states that the archeologists are very proud of their discovery and now intend to move 300 kilos of the dunghill to Denmark for further research. Click here to read an earlier report about barley being grown in Greenland.

Greenland offering first east coast oil drilling licences

Amanda Graham — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:20:46 GMT

(IceNews, 23 January 2012) -- Greenlandic authorities have opened bidding on oil prospecting licences to the east of the country for the first time. Interest is said to be strong, with over 70 oil companies attending the Greenlanders’ open meeting on the subject last month in Copenhagen. The areas for which search licences are being offered lie in the high Arctic; far north of Iceland and not too far from Svalbard. They are north of Scoresbysund between 75 and 79 degrees north. The areas are being offered in two stages; the first in 2012 and the second in 2013. Applications from oil companies to be permitted to take part must be received by the 1st March and for specific location licences, by the 15th December. The exploration licences will last for 16 years, with the option for extension up to 30 years. It is now ten years since oil exploration licences were first offered off western Greenland and the country has since offered a new area for exploration on average once every two years, Vísir.is reports. There are some 20 licences currently active, which are held by companies including Statoil, ExxonMobil, BP, ChevronTexaco, Shell and Japan Oil. Canada’s Husky Energy has announced it will drill two test wells in Greenlandic waters in summer 2013. The first company to find oil and gas in Greenland was the UK’s Cairn Energy in the autumn of 2010 off Disko Island, 200 km north of Nuuk. The company put its programme on hold this winter, however, after drilling eight holes at great cost, without finding enough evidence of fossil fuels to make it worthwhile.

Greenland rising as ice melts

Amanda Graham — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:15:27 GMT

(A. Rienstra/IceNews, 18 December 2011) -- Greenland’s bedrock rose significantly last year due to the loss of 100 billion tonnes of ice during the particularly warm summer. Researchers from Ohio State University found that during 2010, part of country’s landmass rose more than half a centimetre more than in recent years. The data were collected from GPS stations which usually record an average uplift of about a centimetre per year in the Arctic country. “But a temperature spike in 2010 lifted the bedrock a detectably higher amount over a short five-month period – as high as 20 mm in some locations,” Michael Bevis, an geologist from the POLENET research network told a conference of the American Geophysical Union this week. He added that the changes must be due to the increased ice loss. “Really, there is no other explanation. The uplift anomaly correlates with maps of the 2010 melting day anomaly. In locations where there were many extra days of melting in 2010, the uplift anomaly is highest,” Bevis said. For every 100 billion tonnes of loss from the Greenland ice sheet, global sea levels are thought to increase by around 0.25mm. “Pulses of extra melting and uplift imply that we’ll experience pulses of extra sea level rise. The process is not really a steady process,” Bevis said.

Greenland warm to China's involvement in Arctic

Amanda Graham — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:47:32 GMT

(Copenhagen Post Online, 5 November 2011) -- Profound environmental changes in the Arctic are creating new possibilities for economic activity in the area. This is most strongly felt in Greenland, which with its vast potential reserves of oil, gas, industrial minerals, and unique tourist attractions, is fast becoming a hot spot for foreign investors. Kuupik Kleist, Greenland’s political leader, said he expects foreign investors, including from China, to play an important role in the future development of Greenland. “I think that China together with other nations is taking a huge interest in the Arctic area in general and specifically in Greenland, and we have seen quite a number of visitors from China over the last couple of years,” Kleist told Xinhua in an exclusive interview Thursday. “We don’t really have that much co-operation for the time being, but I know that Chinese companies are showing an interest in Greenland,” he added. While Chinese tourists are already braving the Arctic’s icebergs and freezing temperatures to experience its harsh beauty, deeper financial co-operation is also underway. “Greenland is also showing an interest in China: my minister for minerals (and industry) and labor is going to China today on an official visit. I would see a future co-operation as a very positive one and we welcome the Chinese interest,” he observed. Lying high in the Arctic Circle, Greenland is the world’s biggest island, and is an autonomously governed territory of Denmark.

Japan to bid for oil field development in Arctic Circle

Amanda Graham — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:05:34 GMT

(Asahi Shimbun, 20 October 2011) -- Japan is set to join an international scramble to develop an oil field in the Arctic Circle as parts of its strategy to diversify sources of supply. A quasi-public investment firm, funded by an independent administrative agency and several leading Japanese companies, will tender a bid for the right to develop an oil field off the coast of Greenland next year. The oil field, located northeast of the Danish territory, lies on a continental-shelf floor between 100 and 500 meters below surface. It covers an area of about 50,000 square kilo meters and is the closest known oil field to the north pole. The government of Greenland will announce next year the areas where it will allow exploratory drilling. The site to be opened for exploration covers 30,000 square kilo meters. Bidding will be carried out following the announcement. Among the organizations funding the investment firm, called Greenland Petroleum Exploration Co., are Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC), an administrative agency handling natural resources-related matters; INPEX Corp. a leading natural resources producer; Idemitsu Kosan Co., a major oil supplier; and trading house Sumitomo Corp. The winner of the bidding will be announced in mid-December 2012 after screening.

Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands adopt new strategy for the Arctic

Amanda Graham — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:06:04 GMT

(Arctic Council News, 23 August 2011) -- Monday 22 August 2011 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lene Espersen, the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, Kaj Leo Johannesen, and Premier for the Government of Greenland, Kuupik Kleist, presented Denmark's strategy for the Arctic from 2011 to 2020. It has been elaborated by Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Minister Lene Espersen said, "I am delighted that Denmark has developed an Arctic Strategy 2011-2020 in a good and constructive cooperation with Greenland and the Faroe Islands for the Kingdom of Denmark. A strategy is needed in a time with great changes in the Arctic. Not least because of climate change and ice that melts. We are facing new challenges but also new opportunities and we want to strengthen our common commitment to the development in the Arctic." Read the press release from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Denmark (in English)

Abrupt climate change doomed Norse settlements: study

Amanda Graham — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:13:48 GMT

(Randy Boswell/Postmedia News via Montreal Gazette, 24 June 2011) -- New scientific evidence supporting a long-standing theory that abrupt climate change probably doomed Greenland's Norse settlements about 650 years ago may also explain why most Canadians today are not speaking Danish and celebrating their Viking ancestry. The study by a group of researchers from Denmark, Germany and Norway used samples of marine sediment from Greenland's west coast to reconstruct a picture of the giant island's climate over the past 1,500 years. Their findings showed that when Scandinavian settlers led by Eric the Red first established colonies on Greenland in 985, the west coast around present-day Disko Bay — located just 400 kilometres east of Baffin Island across the Davis Strait — was relatively warm and conducive to the farming life the settlers favoured.

Northern nations gear up for Arctic Council meet

Amanda Graham — Fri, 06 May 2011 04:04:46 GMT

(CBC News, 5 May 2011) -- Arctic search and rescue and the environment will be among the topics that leaders from eight northern nations, including Canada, are set to discuss in Nuuk, Greenland, next week. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are among the high-level leaders who are expected to attend the Arctic Council's ministerial meeting next Thursday. The Canadian government has yet to say who will represent Canada at the ministers' meeting. The most recent foreign affairs minister, Lawrence Cannon, lost his seat in Monday's federal election. Representatives from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland will also be in Nuuk. Senior Arctic officials will meet before the ministers, starting on Monday. Many items are on the Nuuk meeting agenda, including the signing of an Arctic search and rescue coordination treaty. The treaty will require member nations to co-ordinate with each other in the event of a plane crash, cruise ship sinking, big oil spill or other major disaster in the Arctic. Once signed, the treaty will become the first legally binding agreement to be reached by the Arctic Council's eight member countries.

Massive Greenland iceberg drifts towards N.L.

Amanda Graham — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 21:09:38 GMT

(CBC News, 28 April 2011) -- A massive iceberg, originally about 250 square kilometres, that broke off a Greenland glacier last August is near northern Labrador, according to the Canadian Coast Guard. The drifting ice island that broke off the Petermann Glacier on Aug. 5 moved into Canadian waters this spring. "Last week it was up off the southern portion of the Baffin Island and across the Hudson Strait. So we're starting to see it now on the northern portion of Labrador,” the coast guard’s superintendent of ice operations, Dan Frampton, told CBC News on Thursday morning. He said it’s difficult to say what will happen to the large iceberg that's estimated to be twice the size of many of the islands scattered around the the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. "How far south it comes and how close it comes into the coast of Labrador remains to be seen.… [sic] It could break up [near Labrador] as a result of sea action and islands and so on," said Frampton. "It will be interesting to see how much is left by the time it gets to Newfoundland."

Nuuk prepares to welcome ministers

Amanda Graham — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:01:09 GMT

(Arctic Council News, 27 April 2011) -- The 7th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting is fast approaching. The meeting takes place in Katuaq, the Nuuk Cultural Center, on 12 May 2011. On the Ministerial agenda are items such as "Challenges and opportunities for the Arctic Council in a changing Arctic" and signing of two important documents; the Nuuk Declaration and the Search and Rescue (SAR) agreement. See final draft agenda here. The Nuuk Declaration is the Ministers' common statement on the work of the Arctic Council, which outlines the direction for the incoming Swedish chairmanship. The SAR agreement, which will be the first ever legally binding agreement among the Arctic states negotiated under the auspices of the Arctic Council, will strengthen the cooperation on search and rescue between the Arctic States. The Ministers will also welcome various new reports from the Arctic Council Working Groups, including a major report on Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic, that emphasizes the need for increasing Arctic resilience. Other reports deal with mercury and short lived climate forcers (soot). A photo exhibit, 'Views from Greenland', will be presented at the meeting venue. The exhibition shows the results of a photo competition that ran from 8 till 29 April 2011. In the competition, the people of Greenland were encouraged to send photos representing their views on climate, health and living conditions in Arctic. More than 200 pictures were received from photographers from all over Greenland who wanted to make sure the Arctic Council became aware of their opinion.

Greenlandic names for the two of them!

Amanda Graham — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:55:43 GMT

(Sermitsiaq News, 14 April 2011) -- Vincent Frederick Minik Alexander and Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda is the twins' full names. For the first time ever Greenlandic names have been introduced into the royal family. Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary's immediate family now consists of Prince Frederick Vincent Minik Alexander, Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda, Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John, and Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe. The twins were baptized in the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen shortly before 12 o'clock west Greenland time.

Greenland’s mine school: quality learning, in English

Amanda Graham — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:47:38 GMT

(Jim Bell/Nunatsiaq News, 4 April 2011) -- SISIMIUT, GREENLAND - For Hans Henrichsen, manager of the Greenland School of Minerals and Petroleum in Sisimiut, there’s only one standard worth reaching for: best of class. “We are taking the best of the best in Greenland. Our goal is to prove that Greenland miners are as good as any around the world,” Henrichsen said March 31 to a group of visitors from Nunavut. Agnico-Eagles Mines Ltd. flew the group to Greenland following a two-day tour of the company’s gold mine in Kittilä, Finland, where the Nunavut visitors met numerous highly educated Finns who have landed good jobs in mining. On the Greenland leg of the tour, the group learned how an Inuit jurisdiction has figured out a way to deliver that education. Henrichsen said the Greenland government decided in 2007 to build a new mining school in Sisimiut to meet a big national goal: training at least 1,500 Greenlanders for the mining industry. That’s because Greenland expects seven to eight new mines will emerge there within the next decade, producing lead, zinc, diamonds, iron, gold, molybdenum and rare earths. In 2008, the school began accepting students. Since then, 123 of 128 people who signed up for training programs have completed their courses, Henrichsen said.

Greenland to get direct air link to Canada?

Amanda Graham — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 04:01:02 GMT

(Icenews, 12 February 2011) -- Embattled Air Greenland is exploring opportunities to start a direct service between Greenland and Canada. The airline has no plans to open any new routes this year, but hopes to start flying to Canada in 2012 at the earliest, KNR reports. The airline will later this month send a group of specially selected members of Greenland’s self-rule government on a tour of Canada. The tour will take in Iqaluit, St. Johns, Halifax and Goose Bay — all earmarked as possible Air Greenland destinations. The Danish consul to Nunavut, Kenn Harper, is a long term proponent of an Air Greenland service to Iqaluit. He is now lobbying Canadian authorities to give the company preferential terms for using Iqaluit airport given the strong cultural ties between Nunavut and Greenland. Harper told CBC news that such a new air route would help the tourist sector, as well as economic ties between Nunavut and Greenland. Air Greenland enjoys a near monopoly on domestic transport, as there are no roads or railways between Greenlandic towns; but its international service has been dealt an unlikely blow by Iceland’s domestic airline, Air Iceland.

Canada signs declaration on promoting healthy lifestyles and health care delivery in the Arctic

Amanda Graham — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 05:58:27 GMT

(Health Canada news release 2011-25, 16 February 2011) -- NUUK, Greenland - Today, a delegation representing Canada signed a declaration with other Arctic states. This declaration is a commitment between the Arctic Health Ministers to work collaboratively on circumpolar health issues and information sharing. "Circumpolar countries share similar health priorities and often face significant logistical, financial, and technological challenges in overcoming health disparities," said Minister Aglukkaq. "Today's meeting was an important opportunity to discuss and share best practices with other Arctic countries facing similar health challenges among Arctic residents." The Arctic Health Ministers Meeting co-hosted by Denmark and Greenland was held in Nuuk, Greenland, on February 16. The meeting focused on circumpolar health cooperation, promoting healthy lifestyles and health care delivery in the Arctic. Canada's participation in this meeting complements the objectives of Canada's Arctic Foreign Policy and Northern Strategy. The meeting was attended by a Canadian delegation which included representatives from Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Permanent Participants to the Arctic Council and academic experts. This inaugural Arctic Health Ministers' meeting aimed to enhance circumpolar partnerships, and to identify ways to collectively build the evidence-base circumpolar nations need to enhance policies that address existing and emerging Arctic health issues. The declaration reaffirms the commitment of Arctic Health Ministers to provide strong leadership that will enable government officials, health professionals, and community organizations to strengthen circumpolar collaboration in health promotion, disease surveillance and culturally appropriate health services.

Greenland plans changes to tax regime

Amanda Graham — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 23:48:28 GMT

(Siku Circumpolar News, 10 November 2010) -- Greenland's government plans to introduce a new tax aimed at outside workers who will increasingly be in Greenland. The tax is intended to help the treasury pay for new infrastructure and health care, which will result from foreign investments in Greenland, for example, the Alcoa smelter project, and to pay for other improvements, Sermitsiaq reports. Greenland's natural resources belong to everyone, says a press release signed by finance minister Palle Christiansen and Enoch Sandgreen, chairman of KANUKOKA, Greenland's association of municipalities. Municipalities will also have costs associated with the anticipated projects. So proceeds from this tax will also be included in the annual block grant negotiations between Greenland and municipalities, Sermitsiaq says.

Greenland mourns politician Jonathan Motzfeldt

Amanda Graham — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 22:26:13 GMT

(Nunatsiaq News, 29 October 2010) -- Jonathan Motzfeldt, 72, one of the founders of Greenland’s home rule and its first and third premier, died Thursday, Oct. 28. “We knew Junnuk as a spirited personality, intelligent and human. Junnuk was for many years the Greenlandic people’s supporter and torch-bearer, our national rallying point. In our country’s recent history, there was not a prouder person than Junnuk,” said Greenland’s premier Kuupik Kleist following the announcement of Motzfeldt’s death. Motzfeldt suffered from cancer. Earlier this week, he had contracted pneumonia and was admitted to hospital where he died of a brain hemorrhage. Motzfeldt was born on Sept. 25, 1938 in Qassimiut in southern Greenland.

Speaking the same language

Amanda Graham — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:19:01 GMT

(Eilís Quinn/Radio Canada International via Eye on the Arctic: Views from Up North, 27 October 2010) -- IQALUIT, Nunavut; NUUK, Greenland – When Edna MacLean, a renowned Inuk linguist, took the podium at a language conference in Iqaluit this year, over 200 Inuit from Canada, the United States and Greenland were listening in the audience. Some of the Arctic's most highly-skilled translators were on hand. But despite their collective fluency in at least three Inuit-language dialects: Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun and Greenlandic, and a working knowledge of several others, it still wasn't enough. MacLean began her talk in Inupiaq, an Inuit dialect spoken in northern Alaska. But the interpreter translating the speech into English soon stumbled on a word. A nearby translator whispered a suggestion: "Grandparents." The original interpreter spoke back into the microphone: "And also my grandparents,..." But the translation soon trailed away again. The next time the interpreter's voice came through the audience's ear pieces, it wasn't with a translation, but with an apology. "Sorry," the interpreter said. "We're not understanding her language." Approximately 150,000 Inuit live across the circumpolar North in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia. They share the same traditions, oral history and what is essentially the same language. But the dozens of different writing systems and dialects are often mutually unintelligible – not only between Inuit in different countries, but also between Inuit who live in neighbouring communities within the same region. 'Aliasuk' may mean 'happy' in Nunavik, Quebec, but 800km away in Igloolik, Nunavut, aliasuk means you're downright scared. Even Inuit linguists disagree on how many dialects there actually are and how to define them. In Canada, alone, there's Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Natsilingmiutut, Inuttut, Inuttitut ... The list goes on and on. That means Inuit from different regions often must use English to speak with each other. Inuit language experts want to change that. They're proposing a standard Inuit language and writing system that could be used and understood all across the Arctic. They say standardization would increase the language's use in day-to-day life, help protect traditional culture from the ravages of climate change and give Inuit increased cultural and political clout on the world stage. Jose Kusugak, a former educator and prominent Inuit leader from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, calls the need for different dialect interpreters at international Inuit meetings 'absurd.' He's given numerous speeches around the world asking that a common dialect and writing system be decreed within a year. His position is controversial to some but he says he has no regrets. "I used to shy away from making those kind of remarks," Kusugak says. "But I'm old enough now to develop a thick skin and say 'Pick a damn dialect!'"

The disappearing world of the last of the Arctic hunters

Amanda Graham — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 03:11:25 GMT

(Stephen Pax Leonard/The Observer, 3 October 2010) -- Living in the most northern permanently inhabited settlements in the world, the Inughuit people, or polar Eskimos as they are often known, have eked out an existence in this Arctic desert in the north-west corner of Greenland for centuries. The Inughuit are one of the smallest indigenous groups in the world, with a population of just 800 spread across the four settlements that make up the Thule region. A thousand miles away from the capital, Nuuk, and occupying an unfeasibly remote corner of our world, the Inughuit enjoy their own distinct subculture based on the hunting of marine mammals. Unlike other Inuit populations across the Arctic, the Inughuit have maintained where possible their ancient way of life, using kayaks and harpoons to hunt narwhal and travelling by dog-sled in winter. This unique way of life is now under threat. A tiny society whose basis is just a half dozen families, some of whom are descendants of polar explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson, say they are being "squeezed" out of existence. Draconian hunting quotas have been imposed by politicians in the south, many of whom have never ventured this far north. The hunting restrictions have pushed up the cost of sea mammals and some Inughuit are switching to a western diet of imported food. Even if they can afford to eat their traditional diet, certain environmental groups advise them not to do so. The levels of mercury in some marine mammals are thought to pose a health hazard, and the risks of radioactive contamination from the nearby nuclear accident in 1968, when a US Air Force B-52 crash-landed with four hydrogen bombs on board, are still unknown. The one-price policy that used to operate across Greenland, effectively subsidising the more remote settlements, has also been abolished, and the result is that the cost of living has rocketed. Local people believe the government, which has self-rule within Denmark's small commonwealth, has a hidden agenda to force out the people in the most remote communities, creating three or four urban centres in Greenland and reducing the cost of servicing such isolated settlements. The Inughuit, however, are already a people in exile. Qaanaaq, by far the largest Inughuit settlement, was established in 1953, when the Inughuit people were given three days to leave their ancient homeland in Uummannaq, 150km (90 miles) to the south to make way for the controversial US air base at Thule. But now these displaced people face a new and unprecedented threat to their culture: global warming.

ICC eyes Ottawa for Inuit summit early next year

Amanda Graham — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:39:35 GMT

(Nunatsiaq News, 1 October 2010) -- The Inuit Circumpolar Council may choose Ottawa as the venue for an Arctic-wide summit on resource extraction issues they’re planning to hold early next year. The proposed dates were originally Feb. 18 and Feb. 19, but an ICC press release issued Oct. 1 said the meeting “will in all likelihood be held in Canada next March.” The press release also said the exact location of the summit will be announced “in the next few weeks.” A source told Nunatsiaq News the summit will likely focus on three issues: mining, especially uranium mining; offshore exploration and drilling; regulatory processes. Aqqaluk Lynge, the new president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, said Sept. 22 that Inuit have an urgent need to discuss resource development issues, especially in light of Cairn Energy’s discovery of oil off western Greenland on Sept. 21.

Inuit of Greenland have weather on their side

Amanda Graham — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:55:35 GMT

(Doug Saunders, Globe and Mail, 2 October 2010) -- Nuuk, Greenland - On a sunny day, the capital of Greenland is a place of elegant beauty, its brightly painted clapboard houses scattered along the boreal shoreline, rising to a broad boulevard of chic Scandinavian buildings, shops and apartments – as if a prosperous maritime Inuit settlement had been redesigned by Ikea. Such sunny days have lately become increasingly common in Nuuk, whose 15,000 people represent a quarter of Greenland’s population, most of the rest scattered in tiny villages along a vast, roadless shoreline that encircles the ice sheet covering most of this semi-independent country. That sheet, three kilometres thick at its centre, is melting fast, as are the ice fields that surround Greenland’s north. To the rest of the world, that melting appears to be the greatest problem of our century, begetting rising ocean levels, weather volatility, reduced growing seasons and fears of famine in the central and southern portions of the globe. But to the mainly Inuit people of Greenland, global warming is a gift from the heavens, and not just for the obvious reason. These children of hunters and fishermen have, for much of the past century, lived a version of the humiliating life of dependence that has befallen most of the ex-nomadic peoples of the world, struggling to hold on to traditions while living in enforced and subsidized marginality. The retreating ice is salvation: It opens fields of treasure and promises to end that humiliation. Among the many troubled ex-nomads of the world, the Inuit of Greenland have the atmosphere on their side.

Racing to find aviators entombed in ice

Amanda Graham — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:01:32 GMT

(Monique Mugnier/New York Times, 20 September 2010) -- KOGE BAY, Greenland — It was December 1942 and the height of World War II when she received news of her brother. “Nancy,” her mother said calmly over the phone. “John’s been lost.” “When I heard those words, my heart just sank,” said Nancy Pritchard Morgan, 87, of Annapolis, Md. Two weeks earlier, on Nov. 29, her brother and two other Coast Guard aviators had been listed as missing after their plane lost radio contact — and presumably crashed — during a storm off the southeast coast of Greenland. Now, 68 years later, the Coast Guard has commissioned a private recovery team to try to locate, excavate and repatriate the three men entombed in a J2F-4 Grumman Duck biplane in a glacier here. The team set out last month with an arsenal of top-of-the-line technology: ground-penetrating radar, which can detect metallic objects close to the surface; advanced ice-melting equipment, which can pinpoint buried objects as it dissolves the ice around them; and a camera that can take pictures from inside deep hollows of ice. The team also installed two GPS devices that will track the movement of the glacier in question. The goal is to find the servicemen before their relatives are dead and the ice where they are buried moves out to sea. “Any branch of service wants to recover their fallen members, if they can,” said John Long, a Coast Guard master chief petty officer and the head of the “Duck Hunt” recovery mission. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said. The 15-member team, including three from the Coast Guard and a reporter, had expected to spend no more than five days investigating six sites that had been identified as promising. But relentless rain, harsh winds and low visibility kept helicopters grounded, leaving the team stuck on the ice and unable to explore all the sites. Eleven days passed before everyone was able to return to the airport in Kulusuk. The recovery effort began three years ago, when Chief Long began piecing together historic clues. The original 1943 accident report included a hand-drawn map from Col. Bernt Balchen, the American polar aviator who ran a training base in Greenland during the war. Chief Long determined that the crash had taken place within a three-square-mile area about 2,300 feet above Koge Bay.

Greenland's premier announces campaign to better living conditions

Amanda Graham — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:52:13 GMT

(Siku Circumpolar News, 18 September 2010) -- Greenland's welfare level has risen, but it's led to greater inequality in the distribution of goods and opportunities among the population, Greenland's premier Kuupik Kleist told the parliament in Nuuk when it started its autumn session on Sept. 17. A showdown to end inequities of society was the main thread throughout Kleist's opening speech, reports Sermitsiaq. Kleist announced a campaign on all fronts with the goal of closing the gap between rich and poor. And the government plans to measure these inequalities not only in terms of money, but also with respect to access to a safe childhood, a good education and a healthy and meaningful life. Reform is necessary, Kleist said. "We cannot continue as before. The status quo is not an option," he said. September 21 will be devoted to a formal debate on the issue.

Greenland's Inuit fear for way of life

Amanda Graham — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 06:01:27 GMT

(Nazanine Moshiri/Al Jazeera, 11 September 2010) -- There's a real contrast between Nuuk's old town, with its quaint colourful houses, and the long grey slabbed apartment blocks in the heart of Greenland's capital. Built in the 1950s, many Inuits were moved here by the Danish government at the time in what's known as the infamous G60 policy. Smaller communities were deemed as not modern enough, and locals were shipped to urban areas and "better jobs" in the booming cod industry. This modern way of life isn't what people wanted, adapting was difficult and many turned to alcohol. That in turn created social problems, including a rise in suicides, something I will be looking at while I am here. Things turned from bad to worse in the 1980s when, because of climate change, the valuable cod started to swim elsewhere. ... The Inuit Circumpolar Council helps promote Inuit rights across the Arctic and beyond. Aqqaluk Lynge, the council's chairman, comes from a long line of prominent Greenlandic Inuits, including his grandfather, who was a member of parliament in Denmark. Lynge is concerned about the changes he is seeing. "In my home town Aasiaat [it is] no longer possible to go with dog sleds in the winter time because the ice doesn't form," he says. "The way of life for locals here depends on a fine balance between the environment and humans who live in that environment. "That sense of harmony between the two is shifting as climate change, overfishing and modernisation take over."

Greenland police arrest Greenpeace oil rig demonstrators

Amanda Graham — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:57:41 GMT

(ENS, 2 September 2010) -- BAFFIN BAY, Greenland - Four Greenpeace activists who climbed a Cairn Energy oil rig in Greenland waters were arrested this morning and are now being held in police custody in Greenland. The activists first scaled the oil rig Stena Don on Tuesday. They attached hanging platforms to the underside of the rig where they camped out in tents with self-heating meals until last night. Freezing gale-force winds forced the climbers and Greenpeace campaigners on the ship Esperanza anchored one kilometer from the rig to decide to end the occupation. It took the Greenpeacers four hours of climbing in bitter winds to scale the rig from their hanging platforms up onto the platform gantry, where police were waiting for them. They were taken into custody and flown off the oil rig by helicopter at 2 am. Before ending the occupation, climber Sim McKenna of the United States, said on his satellite phone, "We stopped this rig drilling for oil for two days, but in the end the Arctic weather beat us. Last night was freezing and now the sea below us is churning and the wind is roaring. It's time to come down, but we're proud we slowed the mad rush for Arctic oil, if only for a couple of days."

Greenland glacier calves island 4 times the size of Manhattan

Amanda Graham — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 05:58:48 GMT

(University of Delaware press release, 6 August 2010) -- A University of Delaware researcher reports that an "ice island" four times the size of Manhattan has calved from Greenland's Petermann Glacier. The last time the Arctic lost such a large chunk of ice was in 1962. "In the early morning hours of August 5, 2010, an ice island four times the size of Manhattan was born in northern Greenland," said Andreas Muenchow, associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. Muenchow's research in Nares Strait, between Greenland and Canada, is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Satellite imagery of this remote area at 81 degrees N latitude and 61 degrees W longitude, about 620 miles [1,000 km] south of the North Pole, reveals that Petermann Glacier lost about one-quarter of its 43-mile long [70 km] floating ice-shelf. Trudy Wohlleben of the Canadian Ice Service discovered the ice island within hours after NASA's MODIS-Aqua satellite took the data on Aug. 5, at 8:40 UTC (4:40 EDT), Muenchow said. These raw data were downloaded, processed, and analyzed at the University of Delaware in near real-time as part of Muenchow's NSF research. Petermann Glacier, the parent of the new ice island, is one of the two largest remaining glaciers in Greenland that terminate in floating shelves. The glacier connects the great Greenland ice sheet directly with the ocean. The new ice island has an area of at least 100 square miles and a thickness up to half the height of the Empire State Building. ... The island will enter Nares Strait, a deep waterway between northern Greenland and Canada where, since 2003, a University of Delaware ocean and ice observing array has been maintained by Muenchow with collaborators in Oregon (Prof. Kelly Falkner), British Columbia (Prof. Humfrey Melling), and England (Prof. Helen Johnson).

UK group begins oil drilling in Arctic

Amanda Graham — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:48:12 GMT

(Ed Crooks/Financial Times, 7 July 2010) -- A British independent oil company has started drilling an exploration well in the Arctic waters between Greenland and Canada, having won approvals from the Greenland authorities in spite of the concerns raised by BP’s huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Industry experts and environmentalists say the consequences of a spill in the Arctic could be much more serious than the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the gulf. Yet the lure of the potentially vast resources of the region is so strong that companies and governments are pushing ahead with exploration programmes, albeit with heightened levels of attention to safety and scrutiny from regulators. Cairn Energy, a London-listed, Edinburgh based oil company that had spectacular success finding oil onshore in north-west India, is placing its next big bet off the coast of Greenland, near the Davis Strait on the maritime border with Canada. It plans to drill four wells off Greenland in the three-month drilling season this summer, at a cost of about $100m each. Canada’s National Energy Board has imposed a moratorium on issuing permits for drilling in the Arctic seas while it reviews safety procedures, as has the US administration. Those bans will mean that Royal Dutch Shell, which had hoped to drill explorations wells off the north coast of Alaska this summer, will miss drilling season for another year. Greenland, however, decided last month to award Cairn permits to drill its first two wells, and is expected to agree permits for the second two. Last week, Cairn began drilling its first well.

EU promises more cash for Greenland education

Amanda Graham — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:47:56 GMT

(IceNews, 21 June 2010) -- Greenland’s government is to receive a cash injection from the European Union to help support training efforts. The subsidy of 200 million kroner (USD 33 million) will be given to the country every year until 2013 to help boost Greenland’s educational facilities. Greenland must produce reports explaining how the money is being used and the results of training in exchange for a cut of the cash. The current EU-Greenland partnership is to be evaluated and renegotiated next year, when a new agreement for the period of 2014 to 2020 will be reached. Last year, the country achieved 97 percent of stated objectives and received almost 100 percent of the 200 million kroner kitty. The money makes a big different to Greenland and its annual budget, according to Siku News. Along with the fisheries agreement, the EU assistance sees around 320 million kroner (USD 52 million) pumped into to Greenland each year. This amounts to around 5.3 percent of the government’s total revenues for 2010. A spokesperson for the EU said the money was offered “to support Greenland’s exceptional education efforts.”

TB ravages Greenland community

Amanda Graham — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 06:32:23 GMT

(The Copenhagen Post via JP.DK/News in English, 3 June 2010) -- A survey carried out in the remote village of Kuummiut on Greenland’s east coast revealed that 43 percent of its inhabitants were at risk of developing the dreaded lung disease. It is estimated that as many as 8 percent of adults infected with TB risk contracting the disease, while a quarter of children and adolescents infected with the bacteria are likely to develop full-blown tuberculosis. The nearby Tasiilaq Hospital is currently investigating how many of the settlement’s 360 inhabitants need to be treated immediately or require preventative care only. Tuberculosis has been a problem for centuries in Greenland but a campaign started by Danish authorities in 1955 managed to reduce the number of TB cases by 90 percent, bringing it into line with the rates of the disease seen in Denmark. However, since 1990 the semi-autonomous territory has seen a steep rise in the number of people contracting TB. According to Greenland’s Semitsiaq newspaper, there has been an average of 73 cases annually during the last five years, which places Greenland on a par with several African and Asian countries.

Greenland rising [mp3]

Amanda Graham — Tue, 25 May 2010 08:31:36 GMT

(CBC/Quirks and Quarks, 22 May 2010) -- The fact that Greenland's ice cap is melting is not a surprise to scientists like Dr. Tim Dixon, a Canadian professor of Geophysics at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. What is surprising is the rate at which the land is actually rising. The dense ice cap, which is up to 2 kilometres thick, presses the land beneath it down and lowers its elevation. As the ice melts around the edges of the glacier in coastal areas of Greenland, the land rises by at least one millimetre per year. This rate of this rise has been accelerating since it began in the mid 1990's and could double by 2025. [See related CBC story.]

Canada to get tough with Greenland over Arctic drilling: environment minister

Amanda Graham — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:53:27 GMT

(Shannon Montgomery/Canadian Press via Metro News Halifax, 20 May 2010) -- CALGARY - Environment Minister Jim Prentice says he will demand the highest environmental standards be followed as Greenland explores offshore oil drilling just outside of Canada's territorial waters. Prentice said he'll make Canada's position very clear at a meeting of Arctic countries next month. "We certainly want to be sure that the highest possible environmental standards are being followed and we intend to make our views known," he said at an event in Calgary. "Obviously drilling offshore wells in the Arctic environment, particularly deep wells, is something that we are concerned about. Greenland recently accepted bids to drill in Baffin Bay near the mouth of Lancaster Sound, which is close to where Canada hopes to establish a marine conservation area. The territory hopes to drill along thousands of kilometres of the maritime border it shares with Canada starting this summer.

Greenland’s success shows Canada's child mortality disgrace

Amanda Graham — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:18:06 GMT

(Globe and Mail, 16 May 2010) -- Greenland faces many of the same challenges as Nunavut. Both have small, dispersed populations spread over cold expanses of land. Both are territories where indigenous peoples have advanced far in self-determination, and both struggle with social ills. Yet infant mortality – one of the key indicators of a successful health-care system – is dramatically lower in Greenland. At 15.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, Nunavut's infant mortality rate is double Greenland's – and nearly four times the Canadian average. Canada can do much better. Inuit children in Nunavut also have the highest rate of hospital admission for lower respiratory tract infections in the world. These statistics are a black eye for Canada. Every Inuit life should be precious, as precious as the lives of other Canadians. The government of Nunavut, and the people of that territory, must confront the reasons for these terrible health outcomes. Canada, and Nunavut in particular, should look to Greenland, which has succeeded in reducing its infant mortality rate. People there are taking responsibility for their health, and improving their lifestyle. Greenland has specific programs to remove some of the underlying causes of infant mortality. For example, the country has a successful anti-smoking campaign. Instead of advocating a complete ban on smoking, it educates women not to smoke in front of their children and babies. There has also been a gradual improvement in housing, and a decline in the average number of inhabitants in one dwelling. ... Canada, which boasts one of the best standards of living in the world, should not tolerate such unacceptably poor health practices. Nor should Nunavut. The territory can use Greenland as a model and break the silence around self-harm. Honest debates around the harm of smoking, drug use, and sexual abuse, will help people learn how to parent better, and raise healthier children.

Greenland proceeds with plans for offshore drilling in Arctic waters

Amanda Graham — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:44:28 GMT

(Darrell Delamaide for OilPrice.com via OilGuy/OpEdNews.com, 9 May 2010) -- While the oil spill from a sunken drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico threatens to become an environmental disaster, plans are proceeding for opening up new drilling territories in the iceberg-infested waters off Greenland. The island, an autonomous territory under Danish sovereignty, this week conducted an auction for 14 blocks in Baffin Bay, off the northwest coast of Greenland near Canadian territorial waters. Results will be announced in August. In the meantime, Cairn Energy will this summer begin drilling off DiskoIsland in Baffin Bay on the basis of leases awarded in earlier auctions. Exxon Mobil and Chevron also hold existing leases, while Royal Dutch Shell and Norway's Statoil were among the bidders in this week's auctions. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that some 50 billion barrels of oil may be found offshore Greenland, where ice covers four-fifths of the surface territory for a good part of the year. Some in Greenland, which has a population of only 57,000, hope that oil will be the ticket to independence from Denmark, which has controlled the island since the 18th century. The portion of the Labrador Current flowing through Davis Strait off western Greenland is known as "iceberg alley" because huge chunks of ice that calve from the northern glaciers make their way into the northern Atlantic along this route. Ironically, global warming, which has melted some of the Arctic glaciers, has made offshore drilling in these waters more feasible. However, the Gulf oil spill is raising concerns in Canada about the risks posed in drilling so near the Canadian coastline. Cairn Energy's only offshore drilling experience has been in the much warmer Indian Ocean, and no one has had to cope with an oil spill in Arctic waters. Officials from eight Arctic countries, including Canada, are to meet in Greenland next month to discuss possible environmental risks of oil exploration and production in the region. Last fall, seven companies with drilling licenses, including Cairn, formed the Greenland Oil Industry Association to exchange expertise and liaise with the government on environmental and other issues. Analysts estimate that an oil price of at least $50 a barrel is necessary to make Arctic offshore drilling worthwhile. Prices have hovered around $80 a barrel in recent months.

Drilling plans near Greenland spark concern

Amanda Graham — Mon, 03 May 2010 05:52:40 GMT

(CTV, 30 April 2010) -- As the world watches the spreading oil-spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, plans to drill in Greenland's iceberg-choked ocean are raising concerns about possible accidents poisoning adjacent Canadian waters. "It seemed to me that (Environment Minister Jim Prentice) was taken by surprise by this," federal NDP Arctic critic Dennis Bevington said Friday after question period in Ottawa. "There's no real plan for dealing with oil spills in the Arctic -- no real ability, no real plan." Pending final approvals, Scottish oil company Cairn Energy plans to drill four wells this summer in offshore leases west of Greenland's Disko Island -- right next to the international boundary with Canada. The company's previous offshore experience has been in the Indian Ocean, but spokesman David Nisbet said Cairn would take all possible precautions in its first venture into the Arctic. Two drill ships would be in the area, leaving one available to bore a relief well to help staunch any blowouts. Nisbet also said the company would draw on Canadian experience in dealing with icebergs in the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador, where powerful tugboats are able to shift the floating, frozen mountains away from rigs. "We're using some of the very best available contractors," he said. "We'll have nine vessels in this area." Nisbet added that the waters where Cairn would drill are only about one-third as deep as the well now staining the Louisiana coast. The Davis Strait is known as "iceberg alley," through which massive mountains of snow and ice that break off Greenland's glaciers float on their way to the North Atlantic. But Nisbet downplayed the risk. He said a survey last summer found a total of 12 icebergs in both of Cairn's leases, which cover thousands of square kilometres. "We're conscious of our responsibility."

Greenland moves to formalize Arctic-apartheid system in gemstone exploration

Amanda Graham — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:55:00 GMT

(True North Gems Apartheid press release via PRWeb, 5 March 2010) -- Nuuk, Greenland - Niels Madsen, a small scale mining activist and one of the founders of the 16th August Union, a Greenlandic association of small scale miners, has issued a call to the international community to block the Greenland Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum’s (BMP) continuing attempt to disenfranchise Greenlanders from their mineral resources. The BMP has recently revoked communal ownership of the land and its resources, which were formerly guaranteed under Article 32 of the Greenlandic Constitution. On March 8th, Greenland’s Manager of the BMP, Jorn Skov Nielsen will present in Toronto to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada http://www.pdac.ca/ with the clear aim of offering Greenland’s vast mineral wealth to large-scale mining companies. “Any company that collaborates with the BMP is not only in violation of the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights,” said Madsen, “they are also supporting what has clearly become an apartheid system.” True North Gems, Inc., (TNG), a junior Canadian mining company prospecting for ruby on Greenland since 2004 was recently granted rights to an enormous exploration license near the village of Fiskenaesset. On Tuesday 9 March 2010, TNG is scheduled to give a 20 minute presentation to the Canadian diamond community. Until the documentation of valuable gem deposits in Greenland, Inuits were allowed to gather, polish and sell gem material. Once exceptionally valuable ruby was documented by TNG, the BMP issued completely new mining laws. “Once an applications is filed to mine, the BMP delays or outright refuses to issue licenses,” said Madsen. “We also want to benefit from the ruby we already collected and legally own and pay fair taxes, but at present that is not possible.” “Even though True North Gems is very unpopular in our country, we respect large scale mining. But we cannot tolerate being thrown out of the many big exploration areas which will soon be covering the entire land which is our commons,” said Madsen, who gathered four thousand signatures in support of Inuit small scale mining rights for ruby on Greenland. ... “The BMP is guilty of marginalizing the Inuit from their own wealth and inheritance,” said Valerio. “Not only do their new small-scale mining laws discredit the BMP in the eyes of the international gemstone community, they also humiliate and discriminate against very people they claim to represent.” [See the protest web site.]

Robert Petersen awarded honourary doctorate

Amanda Graham — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:42:32 GMT

(Sermitsiaq, 26 February 2010) -- Greenland's first and only professor of Greenlandic is also the first honorary doctorate at Ilisimatusarfik. On Friday he was awarded the very first in the university's history. Honorary doctorates are awarded to people who have performed significant and extensive research at the international level and have done a great deal of research and research training at their university. "It is with great pleasure that Ilisimatusarfik awards honorary degree to the University's first rector, Professor Robert Petersen," said Rector Tine Pars while giving the award. Robert Petersen has,, through the years been a highly productive researcher in both anthropology and linguistics, with publications in English, Danish and Greenlandic. He enjoys considerable recognition internationally as a specialist not only in Greenlandic conditions, but also in the Inuit in general. "His importance in Greenland as founder of the University of Greenland, as researcher, teacher and facilitator can not be overstated," says the technical committee behind the nomination. The Committee consists of Professor Louis-Jacques Dorais of Université Laval in Quebec in Canada, Associate Professor Ole Marquardt, Ilisimatusarfik and Associate Professor Birgitte Jacobsen, Ilisimatusarfik. The medal, commissioned by Ilisimatusarfik, that honours the degree is made of 14 carat Greenlandic gold and is crafted by Palle Møller from Jewelry Workshop.

New research: Forbears of today’s Inuit sought trade

Amanda Graham — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:20:12 GMT

(Nunatsiaq News, 25 February 2010) -- The direct ancestors of today’s eastern Arctic Inuit may have come looking for iron. A new theory by a Canadian archaeologist argues that the ancestors of modern Canadian Inuit traveled rapidly from Alaska to Greenland, in search of iron for tools and trade. Ruin Island, between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, may be the earliest Inuit settlement outside Alaska, Robert McGhee, former curator of the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s Arctic archeology department, says in an essay. “The Ruin Island complex would not appear to be the product of a slow Inuit expansion from the Western Arctic, but of a purposeful expedition across approximately 4,000 kilometres of Arctic geography that had no previous Inuit occupation,” McGhee said in his essay, “When and why did the Inuit move to the Eastern Arctic?” Ruin Island lies near Cape York in Greenland, where an iron meteor fell from the sky sometime in the past. The region was also frequented by Norse hunters, and many Norse-style iron tools were among the artifacts uncovered at Ruin Island. McGhee asserts that rumours of the iron at Cape York and-or the potential for Norse trade reached the ancestors of today’s Inuit in Alaska through the Dorset people, or Tuniit, who inhabited the eastern Arctic at the time. Also, McGhee said Ruin Island’s Inuit artifacts have more in common with the societies of the western or northwestern Alaskan coast than with the northern coast. Citing earlier research. McGhee said the people of that region were involved in trading metal between Asia and North America, so rumours of eastern iron could have acted as a magnet, drawing Inuit explorers and settlers east. Robert McGhee's paper was published in the book The Northern World AD 900-1400: The Dynamics of Climate, Economy, and Politics in Hemisphere Perspective (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2009).

The green, green grass of Greenland

Amanda Graham — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:58:24 GMT

(Sermitsiaq, 10 February 2010) -- Southern Greenland is looking unseasonably green after an unprecedentedly warm January. A month of warm winds and a series of rain storms has southern Greenland thinking spring, even thought the calendar still reads February. The temperature in Narsaq on Tuesday was 14 C, and despite overcast skies, a sure sign of spring – green grass is already visible.

Emigration damaging Greenland’s hopes for independence

Amanda Graham — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:19:13 GMT

(IceSave, 21 February 2010) -- The Greenlandic finance minister Palle Christiansen has declared the steady exodus of manpower from the country as the biggest hurdle facing Greenland’s ongoing quest for independence. While acknowledging that other factors have hindered short-term prospects, Christiansen suggested that emigration trends would seriously undermine long-term hopes for the autonomous country. According to figures published in Sermitsiaq, 2008 saw 638 people depart the country on a permanent basis. This is consistent with the record level reached in 2006, when 644 out of a total population of around 50,000 emigrated abroad. Christiansen expressed a desire to instigate a range of measures designed to lure Greenlanders back home, predominantly those young people who leave to study in Denmark. At present, a mere half return home at the conclusion of their education but student groups have confirmed that the prospect of greater autonomy has resulted in a forecasted increase in returns. Employment inside Greenland remains the biggest hurdle to repatriation. Christiansen has also identified housing as an additional barrier, but hopes to address the issue by constructing several new estates. Greenlandic Students Association in Denmark head, Anne Berit Nielsen, has claimed that childcare and family issues also compounded the reluctance to return for many Greenlandic youths. Herself a medical student, Nielsen said simply that “there are just a lot more opportunities in the Danish health service.” Nielsen advised against adopting the proposals of her homeland’s lawmakers to make émigrés repay education subsidies. Christiansen empathised with those students in Denmark but hoped future decisions would be encouraged by a sense of national identity. “If you’re settling down in Denmark, you can’t be a part of building our country. To them, I say: I hear what you are saying but you need to come home and help us.”

Canada to close ports to Faroes, Greenland vessels

Amanda Graham — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:57:14 GMT

(CBC News, 14 February 2010) -- Canada is going to close its ports to vessels from the Faroe Islands and Greenland on Monday because of shrimp overfishing, federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said Sunday. The Faroes and Greenland have refused to abide by quotas set by the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), which sets catch limits for each member. "We have acted in good faith for several years to try to resolve this issue, to no avail," Shea said in a news release. Canada originally closed its ports to vessels from the Faroes and Greenland in December 2004, but reopened them in March 2008 as a sign of good faith. Now, however, the minister has followed up on a warning issued Jan. 26, when she said the ports would be closed unless the Faroes and Greenland withdrew an objection to the NAFO shrimp quota in NAFO area 3L, in the north Atlantic east of St. John's beyond Canada's 200-mile limit. Denmark, which acts on behalf of the Faroes and Greenland in international matters, unilaterally set a 3L shrimp quota of 3,101 tonnes, almost 10 times greater than their NAFO quota of 334 tonnes. "Their continued overfishing is unacceptable," Shea said on Jan. 26. The minister said Sunday she would be willing to meet her counterparts from the Faroes and Greenland to resolve the issue "at their earliest convenience." Both the Faroe Islands and Greenland are self-governing overseas administrative divisions of Denmark.

Greenland MPs call for end to Danish political involvement

Amanda Graham — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:36:16 GMT

(Sermitsiaq via IceNews, 3 February 2010) -- The Danish parliament’s elected representatives for Greenland have declared that they are ready to begin negotiations aimed at discontinuing the semi-autonomous country’s involvement in Danish domestic politics. “This is a process we need to get started,” said Greenland MP Sofia Rossen. “This was something I said during the last election”. Rossen has not suggested a date for any withdrawal but claimed it would not happen until Greenland has been afforded full responsibility for the administration of its own domestic affairs. Sermitsiaq reports that the question of independence for both the Faroe Islands and Greenland is regularly debated in the Danish parliament, where the overseas territories are represented. Danish parliamentarians frequently question the fact that either region can use its elected representatives to determine the outcome of a close national election; while the territories themselves claim to be hamstrung by adhering to Danish political values which impinge on their national identities. Greenland has been under home-rule from Denmark since 1979, with more competencies being transferred to the local government in 2008. The present scenario sees the Danish Royal Government oversee Greenland’s foreign affairs, financial policy and security; with a DKK 3.4 billion (USD 633 million) subsidy each year: roughly DKK 60,000 (USD 11,300) per Greenlander per annum.

Greenland powerless to prevent EU sealskin ban

Amanda Graham — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 06:14:50 GMT

(IceNews, 29 January 2010) -- Greenland has once again been left without an international voice due to its membership of the Danish Kingdom, with the self-ruling administration unable to formally complain against the newly approved European Union ban on seal-product imports to the World Trade Organisation. Greenland’s international affairs are still governed by Denmark and accordingly, as a member of the EU, Denmark is powerless to argue against EU rules at the WTO, because it is an EU member state, says the Greenland Foreign Ministry’s Christian Wennicke in a report by Sermitsiaq. Not being an individual member of the EU means that Greenland now finds a repeat of the situation experienced during the recent whaling debate, where the self-rule state’s favourable policy towards expansion is subservient to Denmark’s agreement to the hard line approach issued by Brussels in relation to whaling. The seal-product ban is set to take effect this August while both the Norwegian and Canadian governments have already lodged complaints last November with the World Trade Organisation over the EU proposal. No decision is expected to be made in relation to the complaints in the next two years. The EU seal import ban can be partially circumvented through a stipulation allowing natively produced goods to be imported; but the Greenland administration argues that the ban will still impact negatively on all seal-related products, irrespective of origin.