The Danish-Greenlandic Environmental Cooperation
Greenland is dependent on nature being vital and healthy
For generations, harvesting from the country's wildlife resources has been of vital significance to the Greenlandic people. We have lived in and with nature. If the game animals failed to appear one winter, it could lead to hunger, and in the worst case, death in the settlement. Nature was vast, and hunting implements were limited in their reach. Thus, for generations there has been a balance between inuit and game animals. The hunt was sustainable, even though sustainability had not yet been invented.
Within in the space of a few decades, the transition to modern Greenlandic society turned this picture on its head. Population levels have exploded, and transportation and hunting equipment have been revolutionized. The modern hunter does not only have the family's food and clothing needs to provide for. Now the take must be increased so it can be converted into televisions, washing machines and other modern conveniences. Fast boats and good weapons bring with them an increased pressure on game animals. Political intervention is required to prevent this pressure from resulting in over-exploitation. Knowledge 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 culture.
The transformation of the Greenlandic hunting culture also created a need for responsible management of the garbage that modern society produces. The Danish Greenlandic environmental cooperation has given us a boost with managing our own waste in Greenland. The Greenlandic municipalities have been enthusiastic about acquiring the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed for contemporary waste management.
Through the Danish-Greenlandic environmental cooperation, Denmark is working, on behalf of the whole Realm, for the industrialized world to take responsibility for the pollution that crosses all borders. The sea and the air around Greenland are good indicators of the environmental problems that will, like boomerangs, hit the countries that are the source of pollution. The ubiquitous environmental poisons are found especially in game animals. Here, environmental poisons are not just a scientific indicator, but an immediate health problem - known as the Arctic dilemma - for the Greenlandic population. A global solution to pollution will, therefore, have a significant beneficial effect on local health - in Greenland as well.
Alfred Jakobsen,
Home Rule Minister for Health and Environment