Råstofaktiviteter og natur - og miljøhensyn i Grønland
Råstofaktiviteter og natur - og miljøhensyn i Grønland
Råstofaktiviteter og natur - og miljøhensyn i Grønland
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The relevant paragraphs of this act are in general in agreement with<br />
the two Greenlandic acts regarding <strong>natur</strong>e conservation and environment<br />
regulation.<br />
According the Nature Conservation Act twelve areas in Greenland<br />
are protected, thirteen areas are designated as seabird breeding<br />
sanctuaries and activities are regulated near and at seabird breeding<br />
colonies in the breeding season. The largest of the <strong>natur</strong>e conservation<br />
areas is the National Park of North and East Greenland. Generally,<br />
activities related to mineral and petroleum exploration and exploitation<br />
are allowed in the <strong>natur</strong>e protected areas and regarding <strong>natur</strong>e<br />
and environment protection measures they are regulated by the Minerals<br />
Act.<br />
Two of these protected areas are also protected by international agreements:<br />
The National Park is an UNESCO Man & Biosphere Reserve<br />
and the Ilulissat Icefjord is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Further<br />
eleven areas are designated according to the Ramsar-convention, although<br />
not yet implemented in the national legislation.<br />
Greenland or Denmark (on behalf of Greenland) has ratified international<br />
conventions regarding environmental issues: Kyoto, MARPOL,<br />
OSPAR, London are the most important. The regulations according to<br />
these conventions are more or less implemented in national Greenland<br />
legislation and in the approval procedures maintained by the<br />
Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum of the Greenland Home Rule (guidelines,<br />
regulations, standard terms, model licences etc.)<br />
Conflicts with petroleum and mineral activities depend <strong>natur</strong>ally of<br />
extent and duration. In general, impacts on <strong>natur</strong>e and environment<br />
from prospecting and exploration activities will be of temporary and<br />
reversible character, and can be mitigated by strict regulation based<br />
on thorough biol<strong>og</strong>ical background knowledge from the area in focus.<br />
Exploitation activities will usually give much more persistent conflicts<br />
with <strong>natur</strong>e and environmental conservation interest. Impacts<br />
on animal population level or on biodiversity may be the result and<br />
they have the potential to be of a irreversible kind. However, depending<br />
of the type of the activity, impacts may be localised to limited<br />
areas. Many of these conflicts may be minimised to acceptable levels<br />
by careful authority regulation. Impacts from exploitation activities<br />
depend on the extend. For example will the impacts on <strong>natur</strong>e and<br />
environment from a small gold mine – like Nalunaq in South Greenland,<br />
recently opened – be limited and rather simple, while impact<br />
from a large oil field have the potential to be much more complicated,<br />
extensive and cumulative.<br />
The most serious conflicts will arise if a large marine oilspill reach the<br />
Greenland coast. Impacts have the potential to be long-lasting and<br />
may affect even on ecosystem-level. Oilspill impacts are difficult to<br />
mitigate and combat, when the accident has occurred. It is therefore<br />
very important to reduce the risk of oilspills for example by the Health-Safety-Environment-efforts<br />
of the companies.<br />
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