Greenland faces crucial decision on its future

greenland-flagThe Premier of Greenland, Kuupik Kleist, has claimed that his country is at a crossroads with decisions to be made in the determining of the future of the state. The Premier made the assertion at an administration-sponsored exhibition as reported in Sermitsiaq.

Kleist declared that the challenge Greenland faces is one of creating economic independence to best meet climate change challenges while still endeavouring to protect the sustainable use of its abundance of natural resources. Kleist said the problem meant the country was “facing one of the most important decisions in its modern history,” during an address at the Copenhagen expo ‘In the Eye of Climate Change’.

“We are now at a crossroads and it is vital that we preserve our unique culture while we at the same time create a modern, sustainable society,” said Kleist.

Greenland has sought to establish a sign-on agreement from the Danish government that would seek its own climate treaty which would thereby allow the nation’s developing economy special consideration. A proposal was recently put forward by the self-ruling Greenland administration to reduce CO2 emissions by five percent over the next decade, although petroleum and mining industries would be excluded from this target.

Kleist welcomed the probability of a binding agreement being reached at COP15 in terms of the reduction of Greenhouse gas emissions. “But we also need an agreement which recognises that the countries of the world have a common, but differentiated, responsibility to curb global warming,” he added. In the end, however, the world’s nations failed to reach a binding agreement in Copenhagen.

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