Greenland achieved a major breakthrough in 2009 in its determination GREENLAND. Self-government breakthrough

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1 18 IWGIA - THE INDIGENOUS WORLD GREENLAND Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) has, with its Home Rule Government, been a self-governing country within the Danish Realm since In 2009, Greenland entered a new era with the inauguration of the new Self-Government Act, which gives the country further autonomy. Greenland has a public government, and aims to establish a sustainable economy in order to achieve greater independence. The population numbers 57,000, of whom 50,000 are indigenous Greenlanders, or Inuit. Greenland s diverse culture includes subsistence hunting, commercial fisheries, tourism and emerging efforts to develop the oil and mining industries. Approximately 50 per cent of the State Budget is subsidized by Denmark. 1 The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) 2 is the only Indigenous Peoples Organization (IPO) in the Kingdom of Denmark, and is accredited Special Consultative status under ECOSOC in the United Nations. While the Inuit of Greenland are represented through the Inuit Circumpolar Council in different international fora, Greenland is officially still represented through the Danish State. Self-government breakthrough Greenland achieved a major breakthrough in 2009 in its determination to gain full independence from Denmark. On May 19, 2009, the Danish Parliament voted in favor of the new Greenland Self-Government Act. One month later on June 21, Queen Margrethe of Denmark officially handed over the Self-Government Act to the President of the Greenland Parliament. This latest and significant step means further autonomy for Greenland, which started on the path to inde-

2 THE CIRCUMPOLAR NORTH 19 Proposed aluminium smelter pendence thirty years ago with the establishment of Home Rule in This legislation followed the November 2008 referendum on the Self-Government Act, which won overwhelming support from Green-

3 20 IWGIA - THE INDIGENOUS WORLD landers with a 72 per cent voter turnout, and 76 per cent voting in support of the Act. The Self-Government Act is not only significant for Greenlanders, the vast majority of whom are indigenous Greenlanders or Inuit; it also serves as a positive model internationally for indigenous peoples elsewhere. Its significance also lies in the fact that Greenland now has the possibility of taking over responsibility for the mining resource extraction sector. This is an area of intense debate in Greenland and the Inuit Circumpolar Council (Greenland) has been vocal in its criticism of the process, which led to the new legislation on sub-surface resources that was adopted by parliament on November 27, 2009, prior to which several stakeholders had claimed that their voices had been ignored, and that the new legislation did not comply with the right to free, prior and informed consent, or the right to participation in decision-making. Major political changes Before the inauguration of Self-Government in June, the Greenland Premier, Hans Enoksen, decided to announce an early election, although parliament could have continued until November Enoksen and his party, Siumut, lost the election, and for the first time since Greenland s first parliament in 1979, the country now had a party other than Siumut in power. Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), with Kuupik Kleist as leader, won over 44 per cent of the vote. With the election on June 2, Greenland entered a new political era: the winning party decided to form a coalition with two smaller parties, instead of with the Siumut party, which was now in second place. The new coalition consists of IA, a left-wing socialist party (which also works towards independence from Denmark), Demokraatit, a right-leaning party, and Kattusseqatigiit, a small independent party with only one elected Member of Parliament. The cabinet is now composed of nine Ministers, of whom six, including the Premier of Greenland, Kuupik Kleist, are from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, two from Demokraatit and one from Kattusseqatigiit. Four of the nine ministers are women while 10 of the 31 Members of Parliament are women.

4 THE CIRCUMPOLAR NORTH 21 The outcome of the election represents both a generational and a gender shift in Greenland s political cohort. Not only did Siumut lose power, its leader Hans Enoksen was replaced by a younger Aleqa Hammond. A noteworthy feature of the June election campaign was the new role played by Greenland s press, with both newspapers highlighting abuses of power and failed governance by the then ruling party. Climate change With only 18 per cent of Greenland s surface ice-free, the impact of global warming and climate change is a major issue for the country. Greenland, as is so often highlighted internationally, is where the impact of climate change is most dramatic and its consequences are already being extensively felt by its indigenous people. 3 However, the paradox is that the effects of the change in climate and the development of new technologies are creating new possibilities for Greenland. In his numerous speeches during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in December 2009, the Premier of Greenland, Mr. Kuupik Kleist, stressed that Greenland was looking to develop new industries in the years to come. 4 The search for oil and minerals, the development of hydroelectric plants, and increased traffic in the Arctic are just a few examples of the development issues Greenland is facing while sea ice is melting and weather conditions are worsening and becoming more difficult to predict. In order for Greenland to become economically independent of Denmark, it must develop new industries, and this development will result in a substantial increase in CO2 emissions in Greenland. The Government of Greenland has been negotiating with the Danish Government for the right to emit more CO2. Although the COP15 did not result in an international, legally binding agreement, the conference helped Greenland and Denmark to reach a tentative agreement on the CO2 emissions issue, and it helped the international community to recognize Greenland as a transformational economy with the need for further industrial development.

5 22 IWGIA - THE INDIGENOUS WORLD Earlier in 2009, the Premier of Greenland had also stressed that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples would be implemented in the Greenlandic legislation in years to come. 5 A process is commencing but the Declaration has yet to be fully implemented. The Inuit Circumpolar Council presented its Call for Climate Change Action during the COP15. Inuit claimed the right to development while calling for a legally binding agreement to mitigate climate change. Furthermore, Inuit from across the Arctic called for support to help them adapt to the effects of climate change. 6 Development and economic issues The Government of Greenland published the country s climate policy shortly before the COP15. One goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by five per cent by Another is to further develop the use of renewable energy, increasing the public s use of hydropower from the current 43 per cent of electricity production to at least 60 per cent by 2020, while not putting a limit on the CO2 emissions from future industrial development. If Greenland succeeds in developing an oil industry, and further develops the existing mining industry, the country s CO2 emissions will inevitably increase. The Government of Greenland has announced that principles of Best Available Technologies (BAT) and Best Environmental Practices (BEP) will be followed in all industrial development projects at all times. Since then, the Greenland Government has been criticized for not presenting the new climate policy to Parliament for discussion before its public launch. Greenland has yet to discuss the direction in which the country should take its industrial development possibilities. At the moment, the Government of Greenland is negotiating with one of the aluminum production industry giants, Alcoa Inc. The company has been planning to build an aluminum smelter in the area of Maniitsoq in West Greenland for several years. Here, and in the three other towns nearby, public hearings have been conducted, while preparatory scientific surveys of the area are being completed. Hydropower is to be used for the plant and so two big lakes will be dammed, thereby - according to a report from the National Museum and Archives of Greenland - flood-

6 THE CIRCUMPOLAR NORTH 23 ing and losing endless archaeological and historical sites, and radically and irreversibly changing an inland area traditionally used for summer hunting. 7 Several organizations in Greenland are concerned about this development, and the wish is that orderly public hearings are held not just on the economic aspects of welcoming an aluminum smelting plant but also aspects of protecting Greenland s tangible and intangible cultural heritage. EU seal product ban In the last few years, the European Union (EU) has been internally negotiating a ban on seal products, with an exemption for the Inuit. In July 2009, the European Council adopted a regulation, Article 3 of which states: The placing on the market of seal products shall be allowed only where the seal products result from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and other Indigenous communities and which contribute to their subsistence. 8 Although this exemption makes it theoretically possible to trade products from seal hunted by Greenlandic hunters, all the lobbying for the seal product ban has had the severe consequence of virtually destroying the market for seal skins. Seal meat is part of the traditional diet of Greenland. There are around 1,500 active professional hunters in Greenland, and many leisure hunters. The meat from seals hunted by professional hunters can be bought at the local markets and is also produced commercially for national consumers, and the seal hunt makes up a substantial part of the subsistence economy. The EU regulation acknowledges that the ban is based on concerns for animal welfare. The seal product ban is not based on scientific assessments of the viability of seal populations. The seals hunted in Greenland are not threatened species. The Government of Greenland s regulations with respect to the seal hunt are based on the recommendations of international organizations such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, ICES, the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission, NAMMCO, and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, an internationally recognized scientific institution.

7 24 IWGIA - THE INDIGENOUS WORLD The populations of different seal species in the Arctic are thought to be increasing. Inuit will continue to hunt seal, as the seal hunt is central to Inuit culture and traditions. For Greenlanders, seal products are also an important part of national trade and the export of fashion items such as coats, bags and boots. The EU regulation has made it extremely difficult for Greenlanders to develop this trade. As of the end of 2009, Great Greenland, the biggest tannery in Greenland, had 230,000 seal skins in stock, skins that are now difficult to sell, and the company was also forced to abstain from creating a seal skin fashion collection in that same year. Moreover, even though the seal product ban had not yet entered into force, the company sold only 400 skins at the first of four European auctions in 2009, while selling no skins at the last three auctions. 9 Great Greenland and the hunters of Greenland are now further subsidized by the Government of Greenland, a situation which is not sustainable. The EU seal product regulation will be implemented in Greenland is currently searching for ways to brand seal products from Greenland hunters in order to comply with the conditions of the Inuit exemption in the regulation. Seal hunting is an inherent part of Inuit culture, and will hopefully continue to be so. The hunting methods have developed and changed over time, and seal meat is considered to be one of the healthiest parts of the Greenland diet. Even so, this tradition is now being challenged by a regulation of a market far, far away from the hunting sites. The Greenland system is interlinked, and when a hunter in North Greenland cannot sustain his family because the tannery has been forced to lower the prices on seal skins, the hunter will be forced to seek other game. Regulations such as this are making it difficult for Greenlanders to freely determine the development and use of living resources. Notes and references 1 Greenland in Figures, Statistics Greenland, Greenland Home Rule Government 2 Inuit Circumpolar Council, 3 Kielsen Holm, Lene, et al., 2009: Siku-Inuit-Hila The Dynamics of Human-Sea Ice Relationships: Comparing Changing Environments in Alaska, Nunavut and

8 THE CIRCUMPOLAR NORTH 25 Greenland. In Climate Change and Arctic Sustainable Development - Scientific, social, cultural and educational challenges, UNESCO. 4 Kleist, Kuupik, 2009: Melting Snow and Ice - a Call for Action. Speech by the Premier of Greenland, Mr. Kuupik Kleist, at the Norwegian/Danish side event: Melting Snow and Ice - a Call for Action. Bella Centret Copenhagen December 14, 2009, MeltingSnowandIceAcallForAction.aspx Kleist, Kuupik, 2009: Inuit and Arctic Indigenous Peoples Day, Address by the Premier of Greenland Mr. Kuupik Kleist on Inuit and Arctic Indigenous Peoples Day, North Atlantic House, December 16, 2009, 5 Kleist, Kuupik, 2009: Statement by Mr. Kuupik Kleist, Premier of Greenland, 2nd Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Geneva, August In Making the Declaration Work, eds. Claire Charters and Rodolfo Stavenhagen. Copenhagen: IWGIA. 6 The Inuit Call to Global Leaders: Act Now on Climate Change in the Arctic, Inuit Circumpolar Council, 7 Knudsen, Pauline K., with contributions from Claus Andreasen. 2009: Culture-historical significance on areas Tasersiaq and Tarsartuup Tasersua in West Greenland & Suggestions for Salvage Archaeologicy and Documentation on Case of Damming Lakes.. Report prepared for Alcoa, Nunatta Katersugaasivia Allagaateqarfialu Greenland National Museum and Archives 8 Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on trade in seal products, Official Journal of the European Union. 9 From personal communication with the CEO of Great Greenland. See also Great Greenland, Sara Olsvig is an Inuit from Greenland with an MSc in Anthropology. She works for the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) Greenland as Human Rights Issues Coordinator.