Responsible tourism in Greenland

Other Greenlandic wildlife will also be affected. Narwhals rely on ice to protect them from predators, while increased snowfall means that many parts of northern Greenland still have snow on the ground in summer. Flora and fauna species are consequently forced to delay their reproductive cycles, which in turn means young plants and animals struggle to survive the winter. Arctic foxes and musk oxen have both suffered reproductive collapse due to extreme snow levels.

Many species will be capable of changing their behaviours, just as humans will be forced to when coping with a hotter climate. Plants grow hardier. Wolves migrate. Some polar bears may find new ways to hunt, such as using glacier ice. But the question is, will they have time to adapt?

The climate crisis will also affect Greenlandic people. Retreating ice makes tourism easier, but it also makes precious metals beneath the surface tantalisingly easy to access for rapacious mining companies. At present it looks as though the Greenlandic government is wisely following a course of ‘sustainable tourism’, but there’s a lot of money in mining, and a lot of political leverage.

Traditional ways of life will likely suffer as well. Many small communities along the coast are reliant on subsistence hunting and fishing. As these practises become more difficult, it will lead to people moving towards larger urban areas in search of steady employment unless income can be found elsewhere, such as through tourism.

How you can help protect Greenland from the climate crisis
Try to make your vacation as low impact as you can, such as by avoiding internal flights in Greenland if at all possible. Our responsible cruise partners have specialist guides aboard ships capable of explaining the effects of climate change on these landscapes, their glaciers and wildlife.

“I went with absolutely zero knowledge of glacier formations and the stages of a glacier’s life cycle, but came away having learned a great deal,” continues Alex Morris. And while Exodus’s state-of-the-art Greenland cruises can carry helicopters to offer spectacular short flights, they are the most fuel-efficient in their class, also creating minimal noise pollution.

But ultimately, the most significant way you can help Greenland’s wildlife and people when it comes to the climate crisis is by making a difference back home. Switch your money away from banks and investment funds that support the exploitation of fossil fuels. Switch to green energy suppliers. Vote for politicians who take the issue seriously. And join every climate protest you can, so that your voice is heard.

How to get around more sustainably in Greenland
Responsible small ship cruises are the best way to get around Greenland – convenient, satisfying and much more environmentally friendly than flying.

If you fly to Greenland and would like to visit more than one place, then look into getting around by ferry. The Sarfak Ittuq service links many towns between south and north Greenland between March and January. It’s a great way to meet Greenlanders, as mostly local people use the service – wander up to the deck and you might even see whales. The ferry has a restaurant, and there are cabins available for overnight journeys.

Many Greenlandic Inuit communities continue to hunt animals such as musk oxen, caribou, seals and whales. Visiting coastal communities, you’ll often see skins drying on racks and you may be offered dishes such as mattak – raw cubes of whale skin and fat held together by cartilage. Hunting permits can also be sold to foreigners looking to bag trophies using dog sleds to pursue their prey, or even using bows and arrows, but the meat is kept by the community.

It’s actually more sustainable to have a carnivorous diet in Greenland than vegetarian or vegan. That’s because the growing season is so short that there is not a huge amount of agriculture (though the season is lengthening as the climate warms) and so most fruit and vegetables need to be imported from great distances away.

Hunting was a means of survival in this harsh, remote land – in fact, the only means of survival – for centuries. And just because it’s now easy to find packaged meat in a supermarket doesn’t mean that the act of hunting has lost any of its cultural significance.

However, there is a balance to be struck between subsistence hunting and the need to protect wildlife. Concerns among scientists that narwhal numbers are plummeting, for example, have been met with scepticism among communities who fear that reducing quotas is a first step towards banning hunting altogether.

Instead, what may happen is that hunting is pushed out of sight. Greenlanders have the legal right to kill a few humpback whales every year, after a short ban. Europeans, of course, almost drove whales to extinction, while Greenland’s Inuit people managed to hunt them sustainably for thousands of years.

But whale watching tourism is big business in Greenland, so now hunting the cetaceans is banned in the waters around the capital Nuuk. Although killing a few whales every year won’t put a serious dent in their numbers, it does have a habit of driving others away from places they don’t feel safe.

Many people may find it distasteful to see whales shot and seals skinned. But we need to recognise the cultural and economic importance of subsistence hunting to Inuit communities in Greenland. And that, when hunting goes on in the public eye, it can be monitored to ensure it’s being done sustainably and humanely.

What you can do to protect Greenland’s wildlife
When in Greenland, take part in wildlife watching tours such as heading out to see whales in Disko Bay. Supporting this kind of tourism demonstrates the value of living animals.

You may well see whale, caribou or seal on restaurant menus. There’s no obligation on you to eat it, but do be aware that it should have been hunted sustainably, and sales of meat help support communities that often have few other sources of income.

Not all forms of hunting are the same, though. Animals are not trophies, and trophy hunting is not a real sport, but a cruel game for wealthy people with a weird blood lust. Donald Trump’s sons are trophy hunters. Who’d want to be part of that club?