Greenlanders fear for the future of the Arctic | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the global news podcast on. YouTube where we go behind the headlines. of a story and tell you why it really. matters. I'm Ana Design. Today we are. discussing the future of the Arctic. Well, more importantly, the future of. the world's biggest island, Greenland. Now, the Trump administration is hosting. the Greenlandic and the Danish foreign. ministers. The US say they are looking. at this region because it impacts US. national security. So, just why is. Donald Trump so keen to acquire this. territory? I'm joined by Katia Adler,

our Europe editor, who's in Nuke in. Greenland to discuss all of this. Katia, thanks so much for your time. Now, you've been in Greenland for a couple of. days now. You've been speaking to the. locals there. We hear from diplomats. We. hear from politicians, but what have the. locals who live there? What have they. been saying to you? >> Well, they're they're extremely worried. about the future of their island. This. is the biggest island in the world. Um, but it's largely covered by a vast ice. sheet. So 80% of the island, but there.

are 57,000. people who live here. So an extremely. small population scattered about. The. biggest concentration here in the. capital nook and everyone is worried and. everybody's on the edge of their seat. It is normally an area of absolute. tranquility. I mean, as I said, 80% of. this island is sheet ice. It's quiet. There are no roads connecting. um the. towns on Greenland and you know the. Danish military presence here is very.

light touch. When they patrol inland. they have to do that by dog sled because. o of the absence of roads. Greenlanders. are not used to all of this. international noise and international. attention. And when I've gone around. talking to people they just want. everybody the politicians the military. noise us journalists they want us all to. go away. They really want to go back to. living uh their peaceful lives here. But. you know, if you say there's more. complexity to this because Greenlanders. want to become independent eventually,

at the moment their their biggest earner. is fishing. There is not enough here to. live from fishing alone. They rely on. very big subsidies from Denmark. So if. they break away from Denmark, they most. certainly are looking for international. partners. And there is great interest. here in working with the United States, just not being owned by the United. States. >> And Katya, there's a huge statement. around the future of the Arctic. I mean, how do we even determine something like.

that? What does that even mean? >> The future of the Arctic? Well, the the. Arctic has risen in importance in. security terms since Russia's full-scale. invasion uh of Ukraine in 2022. There. are eight countries and that surround. the Arctic. that includes the United. States and it includes Russia as well. Generally, up until 2022, the Arctic has. sort of prided itself with this mantra, high north, low tension. And in fact, if. you have a look at NATO nations like.

Denmark um and Canada, they were very. very reluctant to have a NATO big NATO. presence in the Arctic because they were. worried of upping the ante of. encouraging Russia to feel more. aggressive or defensive in the Arctic. Now, that did begin to change um after. 2022, but what NATO says is more can be. done. What Donald Trump says is he needs. to take this island because he says if. the US doesn't take it then China uh. which is becoming increasingly. interested uh in the Arctic or Russia.

will take it. He has claimed that this. island is surrounded already by Russian. and Chinese boats. Now there is no. evidence to back up that claim but there. is there are waters here which join. Greenland with Iceland and the United. Kingdom. um and they are very important. for surveillance not just to see the. movement of boats but particularly um. Russian submarines as well. So the US. has asked Denmark over time to step up. its surveillance. Now since Donald Trump.

has insisted more and more loudly that. he's going to take this island. We've. seen a scramble amongst NATO's European. major powers which who have stood behind. Denmark over the sovereignty issue here. but to come up with what they hope will. be compromised solutions saying to. Donald Trump you don't need to act. unilaterally over Greenland security. here. We will all boost our presence. together as NATO forces. You've had. Germany and the UK taking the lead here. and you've just had a contingent of.

Danish forces uh arriving last night and. today as a kind of receiving committee. more or less is how the the Danish. committee the Danish government is. putting it ready to receive more. international troops and capabilities as. well. But again, Donald Trump has. doubled down. He said that basically. this comes down uh to to real estate. He. doesn't want to lease Greenland. He says. he wants to own Greenland. So you know. if that is the line at today's meeting. in Washington you know where can this. meeting go and there is a lot of concern.

not just amongst Greenlanders but. amongst European leaders as well because. how would they react? They need the US. on side inside NATO and outside. They. rely still even though they promised to. increase defense spending on Washington. for their security. They are also. wanting to keep Donald Trump on side. when it comes to trying trying to find a. sustainable peace plan for Ukraine. So. while they want to stand with Denmark, they don't want to anger Donald Trump. So there is a lot at stake here in the.

island for the islanders and outside. more broadly as well. >> I like how you've broken down that. geopolitical posturing with the. background you've got behind you. just. feels like something out of Game of. Thrones the way you've described it all. with all the chess playing and. everything that's involved in this and. and and I guess there's even more to. drill down in for want of a better word. because there's the the key element of. rare earth minerals and and a real. thirst from Donald Trump and the United. States in particular around these.

that that's right because I mean you. could argue if Donald Trump is worried. about Arctic security would he look at. Greenland or would he look closer to. home because actually you know Russia. and America are almost nose tonose. elsewhere in the Arctic. If you look at. Alaska uh for example and that that is. an area the waters around there the. bearing straight that is where Russia. moves in nuclear capabilities as well. So you could argue that would be an area.

of the Arctic that that Donald Trump. might be more interested uh in. bolstering immediately than here uh in. Greenland where there is no evidence of. these Russian and Chinese boats he. claims uh to to already be here. So is. he more interested in energy security? Yes. Greenland is seen as an absolute. treasure trove of natural resources, including rare earths and minerals. They're not just the US president, but. every single global power is hungry for. right now because they're so important. in high-tech technologies, including.

defense capabilities as well. On both of. those issues though, if you have a look. at security in in um Greenland, if you. have a look at natural resources, there. is room for negotiation at today's. meeting. As I said, NATO powers say they. can help deal with the security question. when it comes uh to natural wealth here. You know, there could be offers from. Denmark and Greenland for the US to. increase its investments and interests. here. But if what we're talking about. here is Donald Trump's interest in.

territorial expansion, in taking away. sovereignty, in actually claiming this. island for himself, that is where the. possibility for negotiation runs out. And you you know whereas Greenland. politically belongs to Denmark, belongs. to Europe, geographically it is part of. North America and Donald Trump has shown. a very big interest in trying to make. America greater in terms of size and in. dominance. So if that is his main.

concern here again as I say what is. there to talk about in this meeting? And. that brings us back to the Greenlanders. the people of this island who say we are. not for sale. We are not for the taking. Although most want to become independent. eventually from Denmark, a lot more of. them, 85% according to opinion polls, do. not want to become Americans. >> Katya, thank you so much for your time. I don't know how to say farewell in um. well in how they say it in Greenland, but um in Greenlandic, but I think it's. barge. Is it barge? Something like that.

But um yeah, farewell. Thank you so much. for your time and stay warm. >> Thank you, >> Katy Adler there, our Europe editor in. Greenland. If you're interested in more. world stories like this, do check out. our global news podcast. You can. download that from wherever you get your. podcast from. Also, do subscribe and. like this episode and of course to our. BBC News YouTube channel. Thanks so much. for your time. I'll speak to you soon.