Rising temperatures, melting ice caps, changing landscape and one emerging conflict. Ever since the 60's , the Winter sea ice around the Norwegian arctic island has thinned to less than one meter. It is this continuous melting that started to reveal a very different Greenland.
The world's largest island has swiftly become the center of attention, a prosperous area of vast mineral wealth which is highly perspective for commercial shipping and the exploration of both oil and gas. This sudden interest has given Greenland's small population a hope for independence from Denmark (even though the island has internal self-government, Denmark is still the one responsible for foreign policy and according to the BBC provides it with almost half of its domestic budget).
Aleqa Hammond, the foreign minister in Greenland's home-rule government, like the majority of the 56,000 people living in Greenland hopes that the attraction of oil and mineral companies' will bring with it profits to the country and in turn help in making it economically self-sufficient.
Yes, so it is what lies under the surface of Greenland that has triggered such a scramble, but putting economic dependence aside what about the fact that the once upon a time permanent ice sheets are rapidly disappearing?
Global warming is affecting the Arctic more than anywhere on Earth as it continues to experience the fastest global temperature rise. A NASA high-tech aerial showed that: "more than 11 cubic miles of ice is melting along Greenland's coasts yearly, accounting for 7% of the annual global sea level rise." Additionally, measurement over the last century indicate that sea levels have risen 9 inches, enough to trigger floods in low lying areas.
Moreover, oil and gas companies' heavy industry will inevitably bring with them high levels of pollution. This will further contribute to the already existing problem of climate change and undoubtedly trigger further destruction...
So, can Greenland really gain independence by losing its country's identity and ignoring the well-know consequences of Global warming?
Click on the following link for The Independent's feature on Greenland's debatable situation:
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