Råstofaktiviteter og natur - og miljøhensyn i Grønland

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It is proposed that petroleum and mineral activities in areas with a
special demand for nature protection (areas protected according to
national law, included by international agreements or with important
nature conservation interests) shall be regulated based on thorough
background studies of the environment, based on environmental impact
assessments of the activities through the whole life cycle and
facilitated by a computerised GIS-management tool, which integrates
the biological information and the knowledge on the impacts of the
specific activities.
Management of the biological conservation interests should be carried
out from a ‘hot-spot’ model, where the important and sensitive
sites are surrounded by a buffer zone defined by the reaction pattern
to disturbance of the actual taxa to be protected. Such a buffer zone
will protect the hot-spot from disturbance from mineral related activities.
In case of temporal variation of the occurrence of the taxon in
focus, activities may be carried out during the periods when it is absent,
as for example in winter – provided that the habitat is not destroyed.
It is unusual - in an international context - that petroleum and mineral
activities are possible within the National Park of North and East
Greenland. This area is also a Man & Biosphere Reserve, which therefore
should be divided into three different types of management zones.
Within two of these zones petroleum and mineral activities may
be possible under some restrictions. This zonation is not yet applied
in the National Park. The two different protection regimes do not
match, and the possibility for petroleum and mineral activities is moreover
not in agreement with the international definition (IUCN) of
an national park, hence there is demand for clarification of the protection
status of the area today called the National Park of North and
East Greenland.