Our Arctic Neighbors: Inuit plan Arctic summit; say Greenland needs to learn from Alaska

The Inuit Circumpolar Council is planning a summit to discuss the challenges of Arctic oil, gas and mineral development for the Inuit people, Nunatsiaq News reported Sept. 22.

The summit will either be held in Nuuk, Greenland or Iqaluit, Nunavut, Aqqaluk Lynge, president of ICC, said the day after Cairn Energy announced its second well had oil and gas shows, indicating the presence of “an active, working petroleum system in the basin.”

Lynge, who Nunatsiaq News reported has expressed grave reservations about oil and gas development, said the Inuit people from the circumpolar countries urgently needed to discuss their experiences with resource development with each other.

The date and location of the summit will be set the week of Sept. 26, Lynge said.

The idea of an Inuit oil-and-gas summit, Nunatsiaq News said, was first brought up at ICC’s general assembly in July.

“All eyes are on Greenland right now,” Lynge said. “It is a big challenge to deal with.”

Nunavut, which shares the waters of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay with Greenland, where Cairn is drilling, also has a direct interest in the issue.

Since oil and gas development looks more and more likely in Greenland, the conference will give the people there ways to cope with the changes sure to come with it, Lynge said.

“We cannot move forward without cooperating and learning from each other. And Greenland needs to learn from Alaska — maybe how not to do it.”

To better manage a possible “black rush” on Arctic oil and gas resources, Lynge said he wants to be sure developers respect the rights of the Inuit.

He acknowledged that the people of Greenland are looking forward to the economic rewards that come with oil and gas development.

But according to the news report, Lynge isn’t convinced that industrialization will improve the lives of Greenlanders.

“I don’t see any happy people around the world who are living on the riches of oil, that is a fact. Why should oil give us happiness in life? Only the prospect of money is a blessing — the worst nightmare is the scenarios that we have to look into,” he said.

Lynge favors a cautious, careful approach to development that “includes the human dimension,” Nunatsiaq News reported.

The publication said he’d also like to see a closer look at the kind of technology used in offshore oil exploration in the Arctic, in order to avoid disasters like the April blowout at BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.