No ice for Greenland's Inuits

Greenland’s ice contains up to 12 percent of the world’s freshwater. If it melts, sea levels will increase by 7 metres. But the water supply of the Inuit people who live in Ittoqqortoormiit is already in danger.

The Arctic’s getting hotter. This increase is happening four times faster than in other places. Erling Rasmussen says Ittoqqortoormiit’s drinking water will run out in a few years.

Erling Rasmussen: “But it's melting so maybe in a few years it's gone. It can be a problem. So I think in the future the city will have to get its drinking water from the ocean.”

Ships can only deliver supplies to Ittoqqortoormiit during one month a year because of sea ice. So, the 300 people in the village have to hunt or fish. Their diet includes meat from polar bears, narwhals and fish.

The rising temperatures are making the sea ice thinner. Hunting has become more dangerous as hunters are falling through the ice. Polar bears are also coming closer to villages to search for food because the ice is too weak.

Scientists have studied the ice in Ittoqqortoormiit for years. They’ve seen the ice disappearing. They think that the world should be worried about the situation.

Pusle Jørgen Danielsen’s a local teacher and sees problems for Ittoqqortoormiit’s children. They’ll never know what traditional Inuit life used to be like.

Pusle Jørgen Danielsen: "I hope the children can understand that the whole world has changed, everything has changed. Many years ago there was always ice in the summer, all the time. Now it’s disappearing much faster." Weniger anzeigen