March 14, 2003
SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR
NEWS SERVICE
Danish foreign minister
receives death threat
"I’ll shoot
when you come to Greenland," was the death threat made in an unsigned letter
to Per Stig Møller, the Danish foreign minister, who was due to arrive
in Nuuk on Tuesday.
The death threat came in
the wake of an increasingly heated debate about upgrading Thule’s radar
system to a U.S. national missile defense system site.
As planned, Møller
went to the Thule air base in north Greenland on Monday.
Police in Nuuk had planned
to increase security during Møller’s visit. Various political parties
and organizations were to hold a large demonstration at the Nuuk airport to
protest the minister’s arrival, but after news of the threat against Møller
surfaced, they opted for a change in plans.
Instead, a peaceful demonstration
was planned to take place outside the Home Rule government’s offices on
Tuesday afternoon.
However, stormy conditions
meant Møller did not arrive on Tuesday in Nuuk as expected.
During his brief stay in
Thule, Møller did not visit Qaanaaq, whose residents have long criticized
the Danish government for its role in relocating residents from Thule to Qaanaaq
in the 1950s.
Again they are passing
us again, that’s not fair," said Naimanngitsoq Peterson, mayor of
the commune of Avanersuaq.
In Thule, Møller
did meet with Greenland’s premier, Hans Enoksen, and the two reportedly
moved closer to a joint position on Thule. This would see the 1951 agreement
between Denmark and the U.S. amended — but not completely renegotiated
— in such a way that the U.S. could proceed with its plans to upgrade the
base to a national missile defense site capable of deflecting rogue missiles
from U.S. air space.
TOP
March
14, 2003
Flights to Canada from
Greenland?
Mikael Petersen, Greenland’s
transportation minister, is sounding more positive that scheduled flights between
Greenland and Canada may be reinstated.
The last scheduled flight
between Iqaluit and Kangerlussuaq, on a route operated by First Air, took place
on Oct. 31, 2001.
Petersen recently said
Canada would have to make a serious commitment to get the flights back in operation.
While the Nunavut government maintains that it’s up to private business
to take over the Canada-Greenland route, Air Inuit has expressed an interest
in using its Dash-8 aircraft to provide that link.
Air Greenland is adding
a stopover to the northern part of Iceland, starting this summer. Northern Icelanders
are reportedly pleased about the upcoming flight because, instead of having
to overnight in Reykjavik en route to Europe, now they will be able fly directly
from Akureyri to Copenhagen, Denmark.
TOP
March
14, 2003
Winter rains may be no
good for reindeer
Increased rainfall on snow-covered
pastures is causing ice crusts to form over the soil, which makes it difficult
for reindeer living in permafrost areas such as Scandinavia, Siberia and Alaska
to feed.
They can’t break the
ice to get to food, according to New Scientist magazine.
"Researchers have
already noticed that winter rainfall seems to be followed by a lot of reindeer
deaths," a recent article in the publication said.
Researchers studied weather
data and soil samples from the Arctic island of Spitsbergen.
"From this they worked
out that the rainwater seeps through the snow to the ground, where it freezes
as heat is lost to the cold permafrost beneath," the article said.
The researchers pointed
to a weather pattern known as the North Atlantic Oscillation as the reason more
rain is falling on snow than in previous years. By 2080, they predict rain falling
on snow is likely to affect 40 per cent more land than it does at present, squeezing
the reindeer into an ever smaller area.
But in Canada’s High
Arctic, scientists have known of and studied this phenomenon for decades, and
Inuit have known of it and understood its dynamics for much longer, said Mike
Ferguson, a Nunavut wildlife biologist.
Ferguson says rain on snow
during a specific winter doesn’t necessarily have a negative impact on
caribou or reindeer.
Where crust forms in the
snow layer, tundra caribou can actually break and remove large chunks to access
forage.
"Knowledgeable Inuit
elders rarely make such simplistic statements as researchers being interviewed
by the press appear to make," Ferguson said in response to the article.
TOP
March
14, 2003
Iceland gives green light
to Alcan
The proposal for the construction
of an aluminum factory in Reydarfjördur in the East Fjord region of Iceland
was passed in Iceland’s parliament last week by a margin of 41 votes to
nine.
The factory would be fed
from electricity produced by the controversial Kárahnjúkar hydro-electric
project.
A proposal by the leader
of the Left Green Party, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, to have a national
vote on whether to move ahead with plans for the aluminum factory, was defeated
by 35 votes to six.
"This is a tragic
day," protesters said when they learned the news of the vote.
Aluminum manufacturer Alcoa
issued a statement about the decision, expressing pleasure. "The decision
by Iceland’s parliament today will result in one of the most modern and
competitive aluminum factories in the world. We are grateful for the support
that we have received from Icelanders, and we look forward to taking an active
part in the Icelandic economy."
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March
14, 2003
Study assesses oil impacts
on North Slope
Since 1968, oil exploration
and development have changed the North Slope region of Alaska, and the impacts
are likely to endure and grow, a scientific panel concluded in a report released
last week.
The 18-member National
Research Council panel called its report the first comprehensive assessment
of the cumulative effects of oil work on the Alaska’s North Slope. The
National Research Council is a private, non-profit institution that provides
science and technology advice under a U.S. congressional charter.
Its report outlines a growing
network of roads, pipelines and gravel work pads on the tundra, major impacts
on native residents and wildlife, and future concerns such as whether the industrial
zone will ever be cleaned up once the oil and gas play out.
Some predatory species
like bears, gulls and foxes have managed to thrive on oil field garbage, and
they have driven down some populations of birds.
"The discovery of
oil and its development on the North Slope has resulted in major, important,
and probably irreversible changes to the way of life in communities," the
report said.
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