14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 1 THE DANISH-GREENLANDIC ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION Twelve stories about environmental projects in Greenland 14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 2 CONTENTS THE ARCTIC – A PART OF THE WORLD Preface by Svend Auken, Minister for Environment and Energy 3 GREENLAND IS DEPENDENT ON NATURE BEING VITAL AND HEALTHY Preface by Alfred Jakobsen, Home Rule Minister for Health and Environment 4 THE PROTECTION OF NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN GREENLAND Dancea is working for environmentally sustainable development in the Arctic 5 01 HUNTERS AND RESEARCHERS Controlling the hunt 10 02 BELUGAS IN ROUGH SEAS The debate about quotas on belugas 18 03 THE CLIMATE IN ZACKENBERG, GREENLAND, THE WORLD A research station with international duties 26 04 LIFE-GIVING AND LETHAL The omnipresent sun, for better and for worse 36 05 TINY ANIMALS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE Greenlanders are not interested in insects – yet 44 06 THE DIRTY DOZEN Environmental poisons accumulate in the Arctic 48 07 GREENLANDERS, ENVIRONMENTAL POISONS AND BEING OVERWEIGHT Eating habits are changing fast in some Greenlandic hunting areas 56 08 REINDEER AND MUSK OXEN ARE MEAT AND ADVENTURE How big game animals can best be utilized 64 09 SLIPSHOD WORKMANSHIP FROM VIKING TIMES The church ruin in Hvalsey 72 10 FROM GARBAGE DUMP TO MODERN REFUSE MANAGEMENT Urban waste management plans in Greenland 76 11 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Biologists and hunters meet at the community center 80 12 ON LAND, AT SEA AND IN THE AIR Can tourism become a leading industry in Greenland? 88 THE BIGGEST ISLAND IN THE WORLD Information about Greenland 96 Map of Greenland 97 2 DET DANSK-GRØNLANDSKE MILJØSAMARBEJDE 14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 3 THE ARCTIC – A PART OF THE WORLD Denmark has a long tradition of supporting can, for example, measure a decline in the environmental work in the Arctic. Collab- accumulation of environmental poisons in orating with Greenland is part of this, and the north, will we have accomplished much has always been a high priority. with our global environmental work. The backdrop is sobering. Chemicals that Environmental problems in the Arctic are slow to biodegrade are carried toward and Greenland are not "just" something that Arctic latitudes from around the world. It is come from outside – from other countries. well documented that these substances The work done through environmental accumulate in the food chain, and that high assistance to the Arctic has revealed that concentrations of environmental poisons Greenland and the Arctic as a whole also occur in both humans and animals. Nature create their own environmental problems. in Greenland and the huge untouched Modern hunting technology and growing expanses signal something special to most population levels put pressure on fish popu- people – an unspoiled environment. Partly lations, birds and mammals. Modern for that reason, it is even more disturbing lifestyles lead to problems with garbage, that we have concrete proof that pollution and to greater energy consumption, which knows no boarders, and that many of the brings with it the risk of increased pollu- environmental problems of our time can tion. only be solved through global cooperation. That is why part of the effort should also In Denmark we have chosen to lead the be focused on the sustainable development way with a good example. In 1993, the of local Arctic – not least, Greenlandic – Danish Parliament decided that Denmark communities, as part of an ever-changing would give environmental assistance to a world. number of countries and regions, among them the Danish part of the Arctic. Today, the parliament still supports envi- ronmental assistance completely, and wants a greater focus on Greenland. Our goal is to create a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren. Svend Auken Environmental assistance to the Arctic is Minister for Environment and Energy an important step. However, only when we THE DANISH-GREENLANDIC ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION 3 14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 4 GREENLAND IS DEPENDENT ON NATURE BEING VITAL AND HEALTHY For generations, harvesting from the coun- hunting culture also created a need for try’s wildlife resources has been of vital sig- responsible management of the garbage nificance to the Greenlandic people. We that modern society produces. The Danish- have lived in and with nature. If the game Greenlandic environmental cooperation animals failed to appear one winter, it has given us a boost with managing our could lead to hunger, and in the worst case, own waste in Greenland. The Greenlandic death in the settlement. Nature was vast, municipalities have been enthusiastic about and hunting implements were limited in acquiring the knowledge, skills and atti- their reach. Thus, for generations there has tudes that are needed for contemporary been a balance between inuit and game waste management. animals. The hunt was sustainable, even Through the Danish-Greenlandic envi- though sustainability had not yet been ronmental cooperation, Denmark is work- invented. ing, on behalf of the whole Realm, for the Within in the space of a few decades, industrialized world to take responsibility the transition to modern Greenlandic so- for the pollution that crosses all borders. ciety turned this picture on its head. Popula- The sea and the air around Greenland are tion levels have exploded, and transporta- good indicators of the environmental prob- tion and hunting equipment have been rev- lems that will, like boomerangs, hit the olutionized. The modern hunter does not countries that are the source of pollution. only have the family’s food and clothing The ubiquitous environmental poisons are needs to provide for. Now the take must be found especially in game animals. Here, increased so it can be converted into televi- environmental poisons are not just a scien- sions, washing machines and other modern tific indicator, but an immediate health conveniences. Fast boats and good problem – known as the Arctic dilemma – weapons bring with them an increased for the Greenlandic population. A global pressure on game animals. Political inter- solution to pollution will, therefore, have a vention is required to prevent this pressure significant beneficial effect on local health – from resulting in over-exploitation. Knowl- in Greenland as well. edge of population sizes, dynamics and migration patterns are decisive factors in the decision about how great the pressure from hunting can be. Balance in nature is necessary, if the hunt is to continue to be an integral part of the Greenlandic economy and a central element of the Greenlandic Alfred Jakobsen, culture. Home Rule Minister for Health The transformation of the Greenlandic and Environment 4 THE DANISH-GREENLANDIC ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION 14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 5 THE PROTECTION OF NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN GREENLAND Through the Dancea assistance program, the Ministry of Environment and Energy supports a number of concrete projects working with nature and the environment in Greenland. These projects and their Greenlandic context are described in this book. The Dancea projects are a substantial and within the Realm for protection of the envi- practically oriented element of the Danish- ronment and nature, as well as respect for Greenlandic cooperation on the protection the autonomy of Home Rule, and the par- of the environment and nature. The Dancea ticular Arctic conditions in Greenland. The schemes are based on shared responsibility environmental assistance program, Dancea, Mario Acquarone THE DANISH-GREENLANDIC ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION 5 14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 6 Mads Fægteborg 14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 7 is part of the Danish follow-up on the UN Polar bears are fre- goal of sustainable development – including quently killed in all the Arctic part of the Realm. parts of the hunting areas. GREENLANDIC-DANISH ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION The Home Rule Government of Greenland assumed responsibility for the protection of nature in Greenland in connection with the establishment of Home Rule in 1979. In 1989, responsibility for environmental pro- tection was turned over to the Home Rule Government, and in 1992, jurisdiction over the marine environment around Greenland within the three-mile inshore limit was Mads Fægteborg given to the Home Rule Government. Since then, the Greenlandic Home Rule have contributed to creating a number of Government has made a big effort to informal but valuable contacts between increase expertise in the environment and Danish and Greenlandic government offi- nature protection field. In connection with cials. taking over protection of the environment In connection with the Ministry of and nature, Home Rule has established Environment and Energy’s administration of offices for both environmental protection assistance funding, the Minister for Environ- and the protection of nature, as well as ment and Energy, Svend Auken appointed passing a number of laws, executive orders the Advisory Committee for the Arctic in and so on in the field of nature and envi- 1994, which advises the Department of the ronmental protection. Environment on the administration of the After the handover to Home Rule, assistance scheme, now known as Dancea. Greenland and Denmark have put both for- mal and informal contacts and networks in ARCTIC ENVIRONMENTAL the area of nature and environmental COOPERATION – AEPS, 1991 protection into effect. Environmental cooperation in the Arctic On the formal level, the Danish Minister between the eight Arctic countries (Canada, for Environment and Energy and the Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Greenlandic Home Rule Minister responsible Sweden and the USA) was formalized in for environment have signed joint decla- 1991 with the passing of the Arctic rations on cooperation and the launching of Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). a number of initiatives for the benefit of The background for it was a growing nature and environmental protection in concern for the Arctic environment, and the Greenland.