Government Of Greenland Research Articles

Examining Gender Equality in Greenland in the Last Thirty Years

Abstract In 2021, The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women examined Denmark's (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands) fulfillment of the rights ensured in The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. This article analyses gender equality in Greenland through investigating documents related to the Committee's examinations. The reason for focusing on women's rights in Greenland is the intersectional identity of the majority of Greenlandic women as both female and indigenous (Inuit). The article identifies several issues and explains the status of these issues, including how the Greenlandic government has tried to overcome them. The aim is to create an overview of the official status of women's rights in Greenland to help further the process of ensuring equality.

Geofetishism and the Tender Violence of Rare Earths

Abstract: This article addresses the geospeculation of Kuannersuit, a mountain in southwest Greenland that holds a major deposit of rare earth minerals, including uranium. Through the concepts of “geofetishism” and “tender violence,” we consider the history of mineral speculation in Greenland, and how its colonial history bears on the now independent (Inuit) Greenlandic government, and the township of Narsaq. With a focus on the anti-uranium activist group, Urani? Naamik! , we show the challenges posed to Greenlanders in their resistance to the mobilization of their mineral resources by the Australian mining company, Greenland Minerals and Energy (now renamed Energy Transition Minerals). A highlight of this resistance, in our view, is Urani Naamik’s counter-analysis of GME’s environmental assessment report.

КИТАЙСЬКА ДИПЛОМАТІЯ РЕСУРСІВ В АРКТИЦІ: НАСЛІДКИ ДЛЯ ГРЕНЛАНДІЇ

Due to climate change, the expansion of trade routes, and the enormous potential of natural resources, the remote Arctic is becoming an arena for a new type of geopolitical competition. In this context, China, as one of the world leaders, is an important participant in the “race for the Arctic”, focusing on the resources under the cover of the permafrost. China’s polar initiative is based on strategic approaches to energy security and resource diversification. One of the key points on its resource map is Greenland, a Danish autonomous region with huge reserves of critical minerals. Sino-Greenlandic mining relations open up new opportunities for both sides, as allow China to meet its energy and raw material needs, and the Greenlandic government to develop its economy and infrastructure and thus reduce its own financial dependence on the Kingdom of Denmark. However, China’s initiative in Greenland also faces risks and challenges. The environmental impacts of natural resource extraction could negatively affect the region’s unique ecosystems and cause long-term environmental disruption. In addition, the implementation of China’s projects may harm the socio-cultural elements of the local population’s life. It is also worth noting that the Sino-Greenlandic raw material synergy can greatly affect the geopolitical dynamics of the polar region, changing the balance of power and causing new challenges for existing and dominant Arctic structures and actors, including China’s main rival, the United States. The competition between the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America could lead to escalation of tensions and conflicts in the Arctic, which requires careful monitoring and diplomatic efforts to ensure peace and stability. In order to successfully resolve the challenges faced by Chinese companies in Kalaallit Nunaat, it is necessary to develop guarantees for effective cooperation between the parties and take into account the interests of the local population, to carry out responsible resource extraction, and to implement a transparent and environmentally sound approach to mining and infrastructure projects.

China’s engagement in Greenland: mutual economic benefits and political non-interference

With China becoming more active in Greenland, worries abound that China might have hidden intentions. Despite that, the Greenlandic government is showing an increasing interest in deepening its cooperation with China. This article explores Greenland’s motivation behind its positive attitude towards China and examines whether China will be a threat to Greenland’s independence. For Greenland, China is both a deep-pocketed investor and a huge consumer market, especially in the mining, fishing and tourism industries. Greenland, therefore, views China as an important partner in its economic development, which is necessary for its independence from Denmark. Considering China’s relationship with Denmark, its foreign policy and its affairs vis-à-vis Tibet, Xinjiang and Taiwan, it is not in China’s interest to interfere with any affairs related to Greenland’s independence.

Greenland in U.S. Arctic Strategy: A Challenge for Danish-American Relations?

At the present moment there is an increasingly palpable desire on the part of Greenland's autonomous government to move to bilateralism in its relations with the United States, leaving Denmark out of the equation, and to expand its own diplomatic presence and powers. Since Greenland does not support militarization, it would be optimal for Denmark and the United States to expand technical "domain awareness" capabilities in the High North. The economic dimension presents the U.S. with the difficult task of supporting the creation of an efficient mining industry in Greenland, which, however, could potentially contradict the environmental priorities of the current Greenlandic government.

Greenland Environmental Laws at the Present Stage

The article considers the environmental legislation of Greenland as the autonomy of the Arctic state, its environmental policy and the main stages of its development. The authors describe the interaction of Greenland with Denmark and the European Union in the field of energy, water management, fishing, climate policy, and pollution control. The conclusion is drawn that, despite the fact that the environmental development of the autonomy started only at the end of the 20th century, significant improvements have already been made in the legal regulation of energy and water resources protection. The main areas of concern for Greenland are waste management and climate change. Despite the participation of Greenland in the Arctic and European Union programs and the development of its national policies to combat climate change, the level of greenhouse gas emissions from the rest of the world has a negative effect on the environmental situation in Greenland, thereby confirming the fears of researchers about the irreversibility of the Greenland glaciers melting and the general climate warming by more than 1.5 °C to the beginning of 2100. Nevertheless, despite large mineral deposits on its territory, the government of Greenland pursues the policy of sustainable environmental development.

Initial field activities of the Camp Century Climate Monitoring Programme in Greenland

Camp Century was a military base constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1959 in the near-surface layers of the Greenland ice sheet at 77.13°N, 61.03°W and 1886 m above sea level (Clark 1965; Fig. 1). The base housed up to 200 military personel and was continuously occupied until 1964. After three years of additional seasonal operation, the base was abandoned with minimal decommissioning in 1967. Recent Danish scholarship has documented the political and military history of Camp Century in detail (Nielsen & Nielsen 2016). In 2016, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) participated in a multi-nation study that presented regional climate simulations that suggested the icesheet surface mass balance at Camp Century may change from net accumulation to net ablation by 2100 under the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change RCP8.5 ‘business-as-usual’ climate scenario. However, according to Colgan et al. (2016), net accumulation would persist beyond 2100 at Camp Century under the climate-change mitigation characterised by RCP4.5, an approximately ‘Paris Agreement’ climate scenario. In 2017, in response to concerns from the Government of Greenland over the potential to remobilisation of contaminants from Camp Century within the next century, the Government of Denmark established a programme for long-term climate monitoring and detailed one-time surveying of the debris field at Camp Century (Colgan et al. 2017). This report describes the initial field activities of the Camp Century Climate Monitoring Programme in the context of the four programme goals: 1. To continuously monitor relevant climate variables, including the depth to which meltwater percolates, at the Camp Century site. 2. To regularly update annual likelihoods of meltwater interacting with abandoned materials at the Camp Century site over the next century. 3. To map the estimated spatial extent and vertical depth of abandoned wastes across the Camp Century site. 4. To publicly report all findings from the Camp Century Climate Monitoring Programme in a timely manner.

Litigation and Arbitration in Greenland and Dispute Resolution Under the Greenlandic Standard Licences

Enterprises doing business in Greenland will become subject to Danish and Greenlandic jurisdiction. Therefore, it becomes pertinent for them to have some knowledge about the civil justice system in Greenland and the possibilities to escape this jurisdiction, either by selecting a different forum (choice of court agreement) or by submitting the dispute to arbitration. For enterprises obtaining licences from the Greenlandic Government, this can raise certain constitutional issues. This chapter provides an overview of the civil justice system in Greenland and its regulation of arbitration, which is not based on the UNCITRAL model law, and analyses to what extent private enterprises and the Greenlandic Government can escape Danish–Greenlandic jurisdiction by agreement, opting for either a court in another jurisdiction (choice of court agreement) or arbitration. Against this background, the legal effects of the dispute resolution clauses in the Greenlandic standard licences, which are based on a bifurcated jurisdiction between the Danish–Greenlandic courts and arbitration, are analysed.

Identifying Challenges and Opportunities for Residents in Upernavik as Oil Companies are Making a First Entrance into Baffin Bay

The oil industry is making its first entrance offshore in Baffin Bay in a time where Inuit residents on the northwest coast of Greenland are struggling to uphold a traditional way of living. The operating oil companies are encouraged by the Government of Greenland to promote a high degree of local content in projects to secure benefits to residents in affected areas. However, a prerequisite to a high degree of local content is local interest to engage in these activities. This article presents findings from recent interviews on these topics with residents (Upernavimiut) in the Upernavik district. It is found that securing a high degree of local content in oil projects in the area requires both strategic investments and legislative adjustment and that a general vision for the area from the central administration could serve as a useful point of departure for social impact assessments by the operating companies.

Managing the social impacts of the rapidly-expanding extractive industries in Greenland

The recent rapid expansion of extractive industries in Greenland is both causing high hopes for the future and anxieties among the local population. In the Arctic context, even small projects carry risks of major social impacts at local and national scales, and have the potential to severely affect the way of life of local indigenous peoples. The effective identification and management of social impacts is therefore essential. We explore the challenges associated with on-going development as perceived by people in Greenland. We also review and synthesize the regulatory tools used to ensure social issues are adequately managed and taken into consideration when regulatory approval of new projects is considered. We found that there are many issues of concern. Of particular interest is the lack of trust by the public in the capacity of the Government of Greenland to protect local values. We suggest that, in the context of Greenland, social impact assessment is needed, not only at the project level, but also at the policy level carried out by or on behalf of the government and prior to project planning. We also advocate for the use of free, prior and informed consent.

Authority in Arctic governance: changing spheres of authority in Greenlandic offshore oil and gas developments

The Arctic has rapidly transformed from a “frozen desert” into a theater for high-level politics. Climate change and socioeconomic interdependencies bring the World more and more to the Arctic and vice versa. Increased geological knowledge, new technologies, and high-energy prices make it possible to develop oil and gas resources in the Arctic; however, the effectiveness of oil spill response techniques remains a key concern. To understand oil and gas exploration in the Arctic governance setting, and especially the authority of Greenland, we combine a multi-level governance framework with the concept sphere of authority from post-international theory. The Arctic sphere of authority on oil and gas consists of many different governance arrangements, of which the most well-known governance arrangement is the Arctic Council. This paper focuses on the authority of Greenland in the changing oil and gas governance arrangements in the Arctic. Crucial is the changing Danish–Greenlandic relationship, in which the development of a Greenlandic oil and gas sector is seen as a tool to become financially independent. It can be concluded that the capacity of the Greenlandic government and civil society actors should be the primary guideline for the pace in which oil and gas activities are being developed. Taking this approach will ensure that the Greenland is retaining its central position and high degree of influence on the governance of oil and gas development in its country. Otherwise, it will lose influence and benefits will flow elsewhere.

Local Self Government of Greenland

In this paper I will present my research on how it is made and how does function the local government of Greenland. Since little of this can be found in the literature as it looks and how does function the local government of this island, my research is based on a contact by e-mail with the heads of leading local self-government affairs in their respective units. The largest island in the world is a parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy. This paper addresses the territorial organization of local self-government of the island, then the division of Greenland to the municipalities that have arisen after the reform of local government units. The paper writes that the election is functional as well as the specificities of each municipality that affect their area of work.

TOWARDS INTRODUCING A GEOCODING INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR GREENLAND

Abstract. Currently, addressing practices in Greenland do not support geocoding. Addressing points on a map by geographic coordinates is vital for emergency services such as police and ambulance for avoiding ambiguities in finding incident locations (Government of Greenland, 2010) Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the current addressing practices in Greenland. Asiaq (Asiaq, 2011) is a public enterprise of the Government of Greenland which holds three separate databases regards addressing and place references: – list of locality names (towns, villages, farms), – technical base maps (including road center lines not connected with names, and buildings), – the NIN registry (The Land Use Register of Greenland - holds information on the land allotments and buildings in Greenland). The main problem is that these data sets are not interconnected, thus making it impossible to address a point in a map with geographic coordinates in a standardized way. The possible solutions suffer from the fact that Greenland has a scattered habitation pattern and the generalization of the address assignment schema is a difficult task. A schema would be developed according to the characteristics of the settlement pattern, e.g. cities, remote locations and place names. The aim is to propose an ontology for a common postal address system for Greenland. The main part of the research is dedicated to the current system and user requirement engineering. This allowed us to design a conceptual database model which corresponds to the user requirements, and implement a small scale prototype. Furthermore, our research includes resemblance findings in Danish and Greenland's addressing practices, data dictionary for establishing Greenland addressing system's logical model and enhanced entity relationship diagram. This initial prototype of the Greenland addressing system could be used to evaluate and build the full architecture of the addressing information system for Greenland. Using software engineering methods the implementation can be done according to the developed data model and initial database prototype. Development of the Greenland addressing system using a modern GIS and database technology would ease the work and improve the quality of public services such as: postal delivery, emergency response, customer/business relationship management, administration of land, utility planning and maintenance and public statistical data analysis.

DODEX – Geoscience Documents and Data for Exploration in Greenland

In the following we describe the project Geoscience Documents and Data for Exploration in Greenland, in short DODEX. A central part of DODEX is an interactive web application (http://www.geus.dk/dodex/) that provides easy access to all non-confidential company geoscience reports received by the authorities in Greenland and Denmark in accordance with the Mineral Resources Act of Greenland (1 January 2010) and associated regulations. From the web application it is possible to search in the DODEX report database using alphanumeric and geographic search criteria and to access report metadata. It is also possible to download the actual report as a PDF file. In addition to the open DODEX web application, the project also includes the development of a closed web application where authorised users can access confidential reports. The DODEX project was carried out at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) in cooperation with the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) under the Government of Greenland as part of the promotion of the mineral resources of Greenland.

On-line presentation of mineral occurrences in Greenland

The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP, under the Government of Greenland) have co-operated on the international promotion of the mineral resources of Greenland for more than ten years. The Government of Greenland follows a strategy aimed at the development of a mining and petroleum sector in Greenland capable of yielding a significant proportion of the national income. To reach this goal it is necessary to attract international investment. In respect of mineral exploration, many parts of Greenland can still be considered virgin territory and it is therefore vital that all data relevant for the identification of possible exploration targets are available to the international mining industry. GEUS has produced many compilations of geoscience data for that purpose in traditional reports, on CD-ROMs and in scientific journals. In 2004, a new source of geoscience information was developed based on an interactive GIS facility on the Internet, and mineral exploration data and information from a region in central West Greenland are now accessible at the Greenland Mineral Occurrence Map (GMOM) website at GEUS (Fig. 1; www.geus.dk/gmom). Technically, this new facility will be maintained and developed in accordance with general principles for Internet services adopted by GEUS (e.g. Tulstrup 2004). New information from other regions of Greenland will gradually be added.

Detection of kimberlitic rocks in West Greenland using airborne hyperspectral data: the HyperGreen 2002 project

Previous investigations by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and exploration companies have demonstrated that some of the kimberlites in West Greenland are diamond bearing, making the region an important target for diamond prospecting. High-resolution hyperspectral (HS) remote sensing data have been successfully used for the location of kimberlitic rocks, e.g. in Australia and Africa. However, its potential as a viable method for the mapping of kimberlite occurrences in Arctic glaciated terrain with high relief was previously unknown. In July–August 2002, GEUS conducted an airborne hyperspectral survey in central West Greenland (Fig. 1) using the commercially available HyMap hyperspectral scanner operated by HyVista Corporation, Australia. Data were processed in 2003, and in 2004 follow-up field work was carried out in the Kangerlussuaq region to test possible kimberlites indicated by the HS data (Fig. 1). The project was financed by the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum, Government of Greenland.

Prospecting for dimension stones in Greenland

Dimension stones, or ornamental stones, are naturally occurring rocks that have properties that make them suitable for decorative exterior and interior use in the building industry. Large parts of Greenland should have a good potential for finding occurrences of valuable dimension stones, and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and Greenland Resources A/S (GRAS) therefore carried out prospecting in several parts of Greenland in the summers of 2001–2004. The project is mainly financed by the Government of Greenland, but recently the European Union and Nuup Kommunea have also contributed.

Investigating the diamond potential of southern West Greenland

Southern West Greenland hosts a province of ultramafic alkaline rocks, including swarms of dykes traditionally described as kimberlites and lamproites (Larsen 1991; Jensen et al. 2002). Since the mid-1990s, commercial diamond exploration has been focused on the Sarfartoq region and the region south-east of Maniitsoq (Fig. 1), and has resulted in numerous reports of diamond-favourable indicator minerals from till sampling, finds of kimberlitic dykes, and recovery of diamonds from kimberlitic rocks. A new digital compilation of company data released from confidential status (Jensen et al. 2003a) presents a comprehensive overview of exploration activities and results that have emerged since the Survey’s first compilation of occurrences of kimberlitic and related rocks (Larsen 1991). The new compilation in a GIS (geographic information system) environment allows for refined assessment of the distribution, structural control and possible spatial and petrogenetic relationships that characterise the kimberlitic occurrences. In 2003, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and the Government of Greenland’s Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) went further than has been customary in investigating the economic potential of specific sites. Four areas were temporarily closed to application for exploration licences, pending sampling and testing for diamond content of large samples of more than one tonne each from significant kimberlitic occurrences. Additional characterisation and research initiated on these and other occurrences include magnetic mapping, detailed petrography and studies of mantle xenoliths, as well as indicator mineral chemistry. An extensive programme to determine the ages of kimberlitic and related rocks was also initiated in 2003.

Qaanaaq 2001: mineral exploration reconnaissance in North-West Greenland

Project Qaanaaq 2001, involving one season’s field work, was set up to investigate the mineral occurrences and potential of North-West Greenland between Olrik Fjord and Kap Alexander (77°10´N – 78°10´N; Fig. 1). Organised by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP), Government of Greenland, the project is mainly funded by the latter and has the overall goal of attracting the interest of the mining industry to the region. The investigated region – herein referred to as the Qaanaaq region – comprises 4300 km2 of ice-free land centred on Qaanaaq, the administrative capital of Qaanaap (Thule) municipality. Much of the region is characterised by a 500–800 m high plateau capped by local ice caps and intersected by fjords and glaciers. High dissected terrain occurs in Northumberland Ø and in the hinterland of Prudhoe Land where nunataks are common along the margin of the Inland Ice.

Aeromagnetic survey in southern West Greenland: project Aeromag 1999

The acquisition of public airborne geophysical data from Greenland that commenced in 1992 continued in 1999 with project Aeromag 1999, an aeromagnetic survey of part of southern West Greenland. This paper presents results of the aeromagnetic survey and discusses the correlation of the measured data with the previously mapped surface geology.
 The project was financed by the Government of Greenland and managed by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. Sander Geophysics Ltd., Ottawa, Canada, was selected in April 1999 as the contractor for the project through a European Union opentender procedure.