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Resource-Rich Greenland Looks to Break Free

Another consequence of climate change may be independence

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 16, 2007 8:36 PM CDT

(Newser) – Global warming has put Greenland’s mineral and oil deposits within reach, raising the volume on long-simmering chatter about independence. Denmark supplies much of the island's budget—including a substantial welfare system—but the self-sufficiency offered by melting ice means Greenlanders may no longer need the Danes at all, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

Copenhagen may not yield readily: The prospect of Greenlandic resources has upped Danish interest in colonial rights, says an island MP. The 56,000 inhabitants have craved greater home rule for decades, but some in Europe say new wealth might make Greenland want new protection. There's even concern about US designs: The American military may want to build missile-defense systems.

Dines Mikaelsen, a hunter and tourist guide in Tasiilaq, Greenland, gets a hand from his assistant Mikisuluk with a seal he has just killed on an iceberg on Ammassilak Island, Greenland Thursday July 19, 2007.  The life of a hunter in Greenland is not as simple as it was 25...
Dines Mikaelsen, a hunter and tourist guide in Tasiilaq, Greenland, gets a hand from his assistant Mikisuluk with a seal he has just killed on an iceberg on Ammassilak Island, Greenland Thursday July...   (Associated Press)
GREENLAND. The front of the Jakobshavn Glacier, which is receding and thinning at a dramatic pace. It provides new fishing grounds for local people who have not seen open water here before. (LON65945)
GREENLAND. The front of the Jakobshavn Glacier, which is receding and thinning at a dramatic pace. It provides new fishing grounds for local people who have not seen open water here before. (LON65945)   (Magnum Photos)
An iceberg melts at dusk in Kulusuk Bay, eastern Greenland in this Aug. 16, 2005 file photo. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater...
An iceberg melts at dusk in Kulusuk Bay, eastern Greenland in this Aug. 16, 2005 file photo. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have won the 2007...   (Associated Press)
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