IN FOCUS: Greenland\u2019s melting ice carries warnings far beyond the\nArctic<\/p>\n
As rising temperatures melt Greenlandic ice sheets, the changes are\nset to ripple across the planet. The Arctic is also becoming heavily\ncontested, with US President Donald Trump pushing to acquire\nGreenland.<\/p>\n
SISIMIUT, Greenland: From a distance, the village of Sarfannguit\nlooks like a scattering of coloured candy placed upon a shelf.<\/p>\n
Hidden deep along a narrow, sheltered inlet, away from the humpback\nwhales and ringed seals that ride the currents of the nutrient-rich\nDavis Strait, its colourful homes rise against the exposed granite\nslopes of the area.<\/p>\n
This settlement is one of dozens of small communities whose future is\nincreasingly uncertain - caught between a changing climate, decades of\npopulation decline and the economic pull of Greenland\u2019s growing\ntowns.<\/p>\n
The Arctic is warming around four times faster than the global\naverage, transforming coastlines, ecosystems and weather patterns across\nthe high north.<\/p>\n
From the highest vantage point in the settlement of about 100 people,\nwind whips across this landscape\u2019s bare, smooth curves. Distant patches\nof Arctic wildflowers, dwarf shrubs and lichen break up the starkness of\nthe rocky peninsula.<\/p>\n
An installed artwork of light-fracturing glass and steel called\n\u201cQaammat\u201d - Greenlandic for \u201cMoon\u201d - sits here too, a tribute to the\nunbroken, intangible cultural heritage of the native Inuit people in\nthis landscape.<\/p>\n
Hanserak Olsen has spent years of his life looking out across this\nview, beyond the small cemetery where his ancestors are buried and out\nto a place that for 4,000 years has been a central meeting place.<\/p>\n
For generations, families left Sarfannguit each summer to hunt inland\ntowards Greenland\u2019s remarkable ice sheet. Olsen, a 69-year-old fisherman\nand boat guide who grew up here, wonders if that tradition will\ncontinue.<\/p>\n
He worries about the less predictable sea ice, the shifting fish\nstocks that mean his catch has been poor this year and the young people\ndrawn away for education and employment.<\/p>\n
Climate change is accelerating many of the pressures that Greenland\u2019s\nremote settlements were already facing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we have the internet here, but there\u2019re a lot more\ninteresting possibilities and more modern life in the towns,\u201d he said,\nreferring often to Sisimiut, about an hour\u2019s boat ride away.<\/p>\n
Greenland\u2019s ice sheet is melting faster than almost anywhere on Earth\nand the world\u2019s largest island will be \u201cground zero for the confluence\u201d\nof the impacts of a hotter and wetter polar region, said Klaus Dodds, a\nprofessor of geopolitics at Middlesex University London and co-author of\nUnfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic.<\/p>\n
The changes here will ripple across the planet, experts say.\nGreenland\u2019s ice sheet - which covers over 80 per cent of its total land\nsurface - is now one of the largest contributors to global sea-level\nrise.<\/p>\n
Under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u2019s (IPCC) highest\nemissions scenario, Greenland\u2019s ice sheet is projected to contribute\naround 13cm to global sea-level rise by 2100, with a likely range of 9cm\nto 18cm.<\/p>\n
That would have profound impacts on the world\u2019s coastal cities.<\/p>\n
In Asia, the river deltas of the Mekong, Ayeyarwady and Chao Phraya,\nthe low-lying megalopolises of Jakarta and Manila and vulnerable ports\nin Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia would all be highly exposed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key point is simple: what happens in Greenland does not stay in\nGreenland. It reaches the waterfronts, transport systems, homes, ports\nand water supplies of coastal cities across Asia,\u201d said Benjamin Horton,\nthe dean of the School of Energy and Environment at City University of\nHong Kong.<\/p>\n
Asia is the world\u2019s most exposed region to sea-level rise because of\nthe number of people living in low-elevation coastal zones, according to\nthe IPCC, the United Nations\u2019 scientific body on climate change.<\/p>\n
Around 70 per cent of the global population exposed to sea-level rise\nand land subsidence lives in just eight Asian countries, including\nBangladesh, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Thirteen of the world\u2019s 20 coastal cities projected to suffer the\nhighest flood losses by 2050 are in Asia. Among them are Bangkok, Ho Chi\nMinh City and Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreenland may feel remote, but it is directly connected to every\ncoastline on Earth. This is not an abstract Arctic issue,\u201d Horton\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The risks faced by coastal communities are expected to become at\nleast 10 times greater this century because sea levels will continue to\nrise, based on the IPCC findings. And population and infrastructure\nexposure to such threats will continue increasing, especially in\nSoutheast Asia.<\/p>\n
The greater global forces feel distant on the shores of Sarfannguit.\nBut they are intimately tied. Olsen and others are living the local\nconsequences of indelible change.<\/p>\n
GLOBAL COMPETITION<\/p>\n
As the ice melts, the Arctic is also emerging as a more heavily\ncontested zone for the world\u2019s most powerful geopolitical players eyeing\nnew opportunities for critical mineral extraction, military influence\nand transport routes.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreenland and other territories are caught in the crosshairs of\ngreat powers and their spherical ambitions,\u201d Dodds said.<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump\u2019s attention on Greenland has\nalready caused prolonged turbulence in the self-governing territory amid\na concerted campaign to bring it under American control since he started\nhis second term in January 2025.<\/p>\n
He has maintained a level of pressure on Greenland in recent weeks,\ntelling a radio host in an interview in late July that it would be a\nsafe bet that the US would be controlling Greenland before the end of\nhis term in January 2029.<\/p>\n
Trump, a long-time climate sceptic, has also withdrawn the US from\nthe Paris Agreement, leaving the world\u2019s largest historical polluter\noutside the world\u2019s principal climate pact and unbound by global\nemissions reduction targets.<\/p>\n
As the planet warms and pressure on natural resources grows,\nDodds<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/greenlands-melting-ice-carries-warnings-far-beyond-the-arctic-1787730610", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }