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October 14, 2005

Greenland to put quotas on polar bears

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Greenland’s cabinet has passed an executive order on the protection and hunting of polar bears, which will come into force on Oct. 15.

According to a press release from the Department of Fisheries and Hunting, the new order:

• provides year-round protection to cubs, regardless of sex, and mothers of cubs;
• prohibits the export of cubs;
• prohibits the export of polar bear gall bladders and sets new export rules and regulations;
• puts time limits on the hunt, banning hunting during July, August and September, depending on the region;
• introduces quotas as of Jan. 1, 2006; and,
• outlines permissible hunting methods.

Quotas will be “fixed in consideration of international agreements, biological advice, user knowledge and after consultation with the Hunting Council.” A proposal for these quotas will be tabled in the autumn.

Local authorities will have the responsibility to make sure the final quotas are respected.

As well, the new order sets a number of new administrative measures to regulate the polar bear hunt.

Part of the quota may be set aside for a trophy sports hunt. The rules and regulations for the sports hunt will be announced later in another executive order.

The Government of Nunavut responded to Greenland’s announcement with its own news release, in which Olayuk Akesuk, the GN’s minister of environment, said he “endorsed” Greenland’s new management system for polar bears.

Nunavut and Greenland share the Kane Basin, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait polar bear populations. A new shared management plan for hunting in these zones could help convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service not to ban all polar bear trophies from Nunavut and Greenland in November.

October 14, 2005

Viking explorer gets U.S. holiday

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Leif Erikson got his own national holiday in 2005, when a proclamation by U.S. President George W. Bush declared Oct. 9 “Leif Erikson Day.” Erikson is credited with landing in North America, after heading southwest from Greenland.

“More than 1,000 years ago, Leif Erikson left the coast of Greenland and began a journey to explore new lands.

“He made that voyage in the spirit of discovery and became one of the first Europeans known to have reached North America, inspiring stories of bountiful lands and charting a way for future explorers to follow... today, we continue to push the frontiers of knowledge in many areas and especially with our exploration of space, drawn to the heavens as we were once drawn to the open seas,” Bush said.

October 14, 2005

Radioactive plutonium found near Thule

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Scientists have discovered plutonium in soil near the Thule air base in northern Greenland, where a plane carrying hydrogen bombs crashed in 1968.

A new report from the Danish nuclear laboratory in Risø says the contamination was discovered near the place where a B-2 bomber crashed, about 15 kilometres southwest of the base.

“It cannot be ignored, that the plutonium contamination in the ground could endanger people in the area,” the laboratory said in its report.

Risø’s scientists suggested urine samples be collected and analysed from people who lived or worked in the area, to map out the plutonium’s distribution.

The Inughuit are still fighting to get damages from the Danish state for forcibly removing them from their homes in that area when the base was constructed in the early 1950s.

October 7, 2005

Barrow gives up on bus system

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Seven buses, which ferried residents around Barrow, population 4,500, now sit unused in a municipal garage.

The buses used to run 16 hours a day, seven days a week, but the North Slope Borough needed to trim its growing expenses, and the 20-year old transit system was chopped.

“There’s this perception that the roads are paved in gold here and that we have plenty of money,” Dennis Packer, the borough’s chief of staff, told Associated Press. “A lot of people don’t believe there’s no money and that’s unfortunate. But it’s pretty straightforward.”

Packer said the cash-strapped borough is working to find an alternative transportation system, such as a private shuttle service.

Use of the public transit system was low and fares brought in only $30,000 annually, far short of the $700,000 cost of maintaining and operating the public transit system.

October 7, 2005

Snowchange 2005 meets in Anchorage

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Snowchange 2005, a four-day conference in Anchorage, Alaska wrapped up last weekend.

Participants discussed issues such as changing snow and ice patterns, lower water levels and animal migrations.

Alaskan elders spoke about how global warming has affected their communities and culture. Margaret Opie, an Inupiat from Barrow, told how her family depends on the ocean and whaling for survival.

“Right now Barrow is in a stall due to the weather. We have a lot of winds, the ice is many, many miles away, and that is part of our Snowchange,” Opie said.

Snowchange, based out of Finland, is an organization working towards promoting an awareness on climate change and ecology. The conference in Anchorage was the third international gathering of Arctic communities, and the first one in the United States.

“The first and foremost form of action is getting people together, and if you get the indigenous people, local communities and others to come here, it’s a step forward,” said Tero Mustonen, founder of Snowchange.

Snowchange hopes to have its next gathering sometime next year in New Zealand.

October 7, 2005

Sea levels to rise, new study says

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

World sea levels could rise 30 centimetres by the end of the century and extreme weather will become more common due to rapid global warming, warns a new study by a leading German research institute.

The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg said computer models it had created showed the average global temperatures could rise by as much as 4.1°C by 2100.

“Our research pointed to rapid global warming and the shifting of climate zones,” said project leader Erich Roeckner.

The findings will be included in a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists that advises the United Nations. Klaus Toepfer, head of the U.N.’s environment program, said in an interview with German broadcasters NDR that he was extremely worried about the study’s results. He stressed the need for urgent action against climate change.

For news around the circumpolar world every day, go to www.sikunews.com.

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