Arctic mining takes centre stage in Greenland election

Greenland votes Tuesday in legislative elections largely seen as a referendum on a controversial mining project that would help diversify the Arctic island's economy as it plans for a future altered by global warming.

The autonomous Danish territory obtained ownership of its vast mineral reserves in 2009 when its self-rule powers were widened.

Those resources, its geopolitical relevance and easier access due to melting sea ice have made Greenland increasingly attractive to the world's superpowers in recent years. Donald Trump, when he was US president, even offered to buy the island in 2019.

While Denmark and Greenland made it abundantly clear the territory was not for sale, Nuuk is nonetheless keen to attract foreign investments to help it cut its financial umbilical cord to Copenhagen someday.

A rare earth and uranium mining project proposed by an Australian company and backed by Chinese investors in the south of the island in Kuannersuit could provide a massive windfall that would supplement Greenland's main industry, fishing.

But in February, a political crisis erupted when a junior party quit the coalition government over the project, leading to Tuesday's early elections for parliament's 31 seats.

- 'Unspoiled nature' -

Social democratic Siumut, Greenland's largest party, has dominated island politics since autonomy in 1979. Currently trailing in the polls, it backs the mine project.

The opposition left-green party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), leading in the polls, opposes any uranium mining, fearing the radioactive waste could harm the pristine environment.

"We have to say no to the mine and allow ourselves to develop our country our own way," Mariane Paviasen, an IA member of parliament and leader of the anti-mine charge, told AFP.

"In Greenland we have clean air and unspoiled nature. We live in harmony with nature and we aren't going to pollute it."

A resident of Narsaq, the village of 1,500 inhabitants where the mine would operate for 37 years if approved, she has been fighting for eight years to block the mine's permit.

In 2010, Australian company Greenland Minerals obtained an exploration license for the Kuannersuit deposit, considered one of the world's richest in uranium and rare earth minerals -- a group of 17 metals used as components in high-tech devices such as smartphones, flat screen displays, electric cars and weapons.

The company's environmental protection plan was recently approved but authorities still need to greenlight the project before an operating licence can be issued.

- 'Reminiscent of colonial times' -

Siumut party leader Erik Jensen said the project would be "hugely important for Greenland's economy".

But opponents say the mine, located in the island's only agricultural region, would deprive locals of their farmland and hunting grounds. They argue it reeks of colonialism in a region already coping with the devastating effects of climate change.

"People in Narsaq... feel they will have to leave," Greenlandic political scientist Nauja Bianco told AFP.

"The question then is how to legitimise the shutdown of the settlement. It's reminiscent of colonial times."

For Birger Poppel, a University of Greenland expert on Arctic development, the mine is in any case "not a quick fix" for Greenland's financial independence.

Nuuk relies on annual Danish subsidies of around 526 million euros ($620 million), representing a third of its national budget.

The mine could boost the island's budget by 1.5 billion Danish kroner ($235 million, 200 million euros) according to Greenland Minerals. But that would reduce Denmark's annual subsidies by half that amount due to a revenue-sharing deal with Copenhagen, which is not opposed to Greenland's dream of independence.

Other sectors that could be developed to help finance that dream are tourism, agriculture, and the export of sand and natural fertilizers, according to Mikaa Mered, professor of geopolitics at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

- Eyeing independence -

For now, fishing makes up most of the local economy and 90 percent of exports.

That industry is prospering, benefitting from climate change as fish stocks diversify in the warmer waters.

"I love being an independent fisherman," 27-year-old Lars Heilmann, who mostly catches halibut for export, tells AFP.

He's not hoping for any major changes from the election -- "just bigger quotas in the Nuuk fjord" -- and says climate change hasn't affected his life much.

But the same cannot be said for the many hunters in Greenland's small coastal villages, as retreating sea ice shortens the season when they can head out on the ice with dogsleds to hunt.

The Arctic has been warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world since the 1990s. And yet, Greenland has not signed the Paris climate agreement. IA has vowed to do so if it comes to power.

While opinion polls credit IA with 36 percent of voter support compared to 23 percent for Siumut, pollsters warn that the outcome remains uncertain.

Voting stations open at 1100 GMT and close at 2200 GMT, with the results expected early Wednesday.

Inuits, Vikings, no Covid dead: Five things to know about Greenland
Nuuk (AFP) April 4, 2021 - The exploitation of mineral resources has taken centre stage in the lead-up to Tuesday's parliamentary elections in Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory.

The world's largest island is facing numerous challenges, from a changing landscape due to global warming to disagreements over natural resources, and superpowers vying for influence due to its strategic location. Here are five things to know about the Arctic island.

- 'Green land' -

Inhabited by Inuits on-and-off for almost 4,500 years, the island was originally dubbed 'Green land' by Erik the Red, a Viking explorer who landed on the far southern edge of the island in the 10th century.

That was however perhaps a less-than-fitting name, since 85 percent of the island's two million-square-kilometre (772,204 square-mile) surface is covered by ice.

Rediscovered by Danes 300 years ago, the island was a Danish colony until 1953 when it was established as a province of the Danish realm.

In 1979, Greenland became a "self-governing territory" but its economy still heavily depends on subsidies from Copenhagen, which amount to about 526 million euros per year ($620 million), making up a third of Greenland's budget.

Denmark also decides on matters covering Greenland's foreign policy and military. But unlike Denmark, Greenland is not a member of the EU, from which it withdrew in 1985.

More than 90 percent of the 56,000 inhabitants -- 18,000 of whom live in the capital Nuuk -- are Inuit.

- Minerals in spades -

Greenland's soil is rich in several precious minerals -- including gold, uranium and rubies -- but only two mining sites are currently active.

There are hopes too that the territory sits atop lucrative oil and gas reserves, but no discoveries have so far been made.

There has long been an appetite for the island's resources. European fishermen have cruised its waters for nearly 500 years and the rare mineral cryolite -- used in the production of aluminium among other things -- has been mined from a deposit at Ivittuut on the west coast until it was depleted in 1987.

Melting glaciers are also releasing a mineral-rich rock flour that can be used as a fertiliser in depleted or arid soil in Africa and South America.

- Frontline of global warming -

The massive territory is experiencing first hand the effects of global warming, with the Arctic heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

Numerous studies have also shown that the melting of Greenland's ice sheet has picked up speed.

If the ice mass, the second largest in the world after Antarctica, were to melt completely it could cause sea levels to rise by seven metres (23 feet), according to simulations.

- Northern routes -

Greenland lacks a road or rail network, so people rely on helicopters, planes and boats to get around.

Rising temperatures and melting ice are meanwhile opening up new and shorter shipping routes, reinforcing the territory's strategic position in a region increasingly coveted by world powers.

While interest in the Arctic was tepid after the end of the Cold War, the US is now reinvesting in the region to counter ambitions by Russia and China. That renewed interest was demonstrated by former US president Donald Trump's swiftly rebuffed offer to buy Greenland.

The US already has a military base in Thule in the far northwest of Greenland, and it reopened a consulate in Nuuk in June 2020. Denmark also announced an investment plan in February to reinforce its military surveillance.

- Spared Covid -

With only 31 cases reported since the beginning of the pandemic, Greenland has managed to keep Covid-19 at bay. But this success has come at the cost of virtual isolation from the rest of the world.

As soon as the first case was confirmed over a year ago, Nuuk took drastic measures, including the suspension of nearly all international and domestic air travel.

Restrictions have been eased since, but entry to the country is still subject to prior approval by a commission evaluating the necessity of the trip, dealing a heavy blow to the country's fledgeling tourism industry.

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