• Greenland ice said more robust to climate change than feared
• Greenland introduces self-rule
• Greenland to found climate university

• Greenland passes mining projects bill, opens for cheap labour
• Humpback whales to be hunted again in Greenland
• State of the Arctic analysis shows warming, melting

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Positive Trends
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Greenland ice said more robust to climate change than feared
2 August 2012 - Greenland's ice seems less vulnerable than feared to a runaway melt that would drive up world sea levels, according to a study showing that a surge of ice loss had petered out. The discovery of fluctuations casts doubt on projections that Greenland could be headed for an unstoppable meltdown, triggered by manmade global warming. 'It starts and then it stops,' said lead author Kurt Kjaer of the University of Copenhagen in Friday's edition of the journal Science. Kjaer told Reuters of the ice losses. 'This is a break from thinking that it is something that starts, accelerates and will consume Greenland all at once.' (more)

Greenland introduces self-rule
26 June 2009 - Greenland expanded its powers of self-rule on its national day on 21 June, in a move many residents see as a step toward independence from Denmark. The increased autonomy includes taking control of the police and the courts and making Greenlandic, an Inuit tongue, the official language. Greenland will now keep a greater share of revenue from its natural resources. Danish Queen Margrethe and her Prime Minister, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, attended celebrations in the capital, Nuuk, dressed in Greenlandic national costumes. (more)

Greenland to found climate university
26 August 2007 - Denmark has proposed a new climate university that will specialize in research of Greenland's polar region, examining the causes and effects of climate change and suggesting ways it can be stopped. Results will be presented at the 2009 UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen. (more)

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Flops
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Greenland passes mining projects bill, opens for cheap labour
7 December 2012 - Greenland on Friday passed a bill setting the framework for foreign mining and exploration companies to take advantage of the natural resources of the Arctic island and opening up for cheaper labour, including staff from China. The law has been criticised for paving the way for companies to employ foreign workers at a lower salary than what the companies would be paying Greenlandic workers. With global warming thawing its Arctic sea lanes and global industry eyeing its minerals, Greenland, population 57,000, is wrestling with opportunities that offer rich rewards but risk harming a pristine environment and a traditional society that is trying to make its own way in the world after centuries of European rule. (more)

Humpback whales to be hunted again in Greenland
25 June 2010 - Greenland has won back the right to hunt humpback whales for the first time in a quarter-century after it threatened to leave the world's top whaling body if other nations reject its ancestral traditions. Europeans killing the giant mammals for their oil pushed the animals to the brink of extinction in the last century. Greenland's government says the hunting revenue is vital to the population of the world's biggest island. But some IWC delegates said the argument that Greenlanders needs to hunt whales to survive was spurious as they enjoy one of the highest average household incomes in the world. Whaling opponents say Greenland's whale hunt is big business, the meat sold in supermarkets for ten times the price in traditional markets, and whale steaks served in luxury hotels. (more)

State of the Arctic analysis shows warming, melting
17 November 2006 - Signs of warming continue in the Arctic with a decline in sea ice, an increase in shrubs growing on the tundra, and rising concerns about the Greenland ice sheet. (more)

Greenland glaciers dump more ice into ocean
19 February 2006 - Greenland's southern glaciers have accelerated their march to the Atlantic Ocean over the past decade and now contribute twice as much ice as they previously did to the global rise in sea levels, researchers say. Details of the research appeared in the latest issue of the journal Science. (more)

Retreating glaciers worrying Greenlanders
11 September 2005 - The frequency and size of the icefalls are a powerful reminder that the frozen sheet covering the world's largest island is thinning - a glaring sign of global warming. 'Greenland is the canary in a mine shaft alerting us,' said one scientist, 'In the US, global warming is a tomorrow issue....For us working here, it hits you like a tonne of bricks when you see it.' (more)