Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T21:09:05.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Openness, transparency and public participation in the governance of uranium mining in Greenland: a legal and political track record

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2017

Cécile Pelaudeix ,
Ellen Margrethe Basse  and
Natalia Loukacheva
Cécile Pelaudeix
Affiliation:
Department of Law, BSS, Aarhus Universitet, Bartholins Allé 16, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark PACTE-Sciences Po, Grenoble, France ([email protected])
Ellen Margrethe Basse
Affiliation:
Department of Law, BSS, Aarhus Universitet, Bartholins Allé 16, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Natalia Loukacheva
Affiliation:
Political science Department, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC, Canada, V2N 4Z9
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the implementation of the principles of openness, transparency and public participation in the decision-making regarding the conditions for uranium mining in Greenland from a legal and political perspective. The time frame covers the period from the exploration for minerals before World War II to 2016–2017 when the current Greenlandic authorities prepared a licence for a project of extraction of rare earth elements and uranium in Kvanefjeld. It is shown that the issue of openness, transparency and public participation in Greenland is a longstanding issue and that the current governance does not permit public access to a draft environmental impact assessment report, impairing public participation in decision-making, and preventing the environmental consequences of these activities from being considered as a public concern. It is argued that sovereignty–its consolidation and the accession to it–has impacted the design of governance in Greenland and that the constraints put on the full implementation of the legal principles of openness, transparency and public participation in the governance of uranium mining in Greenland, amongst other factors, point to a current hybrid political and legal order in the context of a political agenda of independence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 53 , Issue 6 , November 2017 , pp. 603 - 616
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaen, S. B. (2012). Democratic legitimacy in consultation processes associated with large-scale projects in Greenland. Nuuk: The Employers Association of Greenland. Retrieved from http://www.ga.gl/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=phbtUUvA80c%3D%tabid=36&language=da-DK.Google Scholar
Act No. 7 on Mineral Resources (the Greenlandic Mineral Resources Act), 7 Dec. 2009, as amended by Act No. 26 of 18 Dec. 2012, Act No. 6 of 8 June 2014, Act No. 16 of 3 June 2015, and Act No. 34 of 28 Nov. 2016. (Greenland).Google Scholar
Act No. 9 on Home-rule on Access to Public Files (the Transparency Act), 13 June 1994, as amended by Act No. 1 of 31 May 1999. (Greenland).Google Scholar
Act No. 9 on Public Access to Documents in the Administrative Files, 13 June 1994. (Greenland Home-rule).Google Scholar
Act No. 335 on Mineral Resources in Greenland, 6 June 1991. (Denmark).Google Scholar
Act No. 473 on Greenlandic Self-Government (the Self-Government Act), 12 June 2009. (Denmark).Google Scholar
Agreement on the Special Foreign Affairs, Military and Safeguard Issues Related to Extraction and Export of Uranium and other Nuclear Materials in Greenland, Denmark-Greenland, 26 January 2016. [Danish].Google Scholar
Åhrén, M. (2016). Indigenous peoples’ status in the international legal system. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Alfredsson, G. (1982a). Greenland and the law of political decolonization. German Yearbook of International Law, 25, 290–308.Google Scholar
Alfredsson, G. (1982b). Greenland and the right to self-determination. Nordisk Tidsskrift for International Ret, 51, 39–43.Google Scholar
Alfredsson, G. (1999). The rights of indigenous peoples with a focus on the national performance and foreign policies of the Nordic countries. Zeitschrift für ausländisches Recht und Völkerecht, Band 59, 2, 529–542.Google Scholar
Alfredsson, G. (2004). Greenland under Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter. A continuing international law dispute. In: Skaale, S. (Ed.). The right to national self-determination – the Faroe Islands and Greenland (pp. 49–94). Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Brill.Google Scholar
Alfredsson, G. (2013). Good governance in the Arctic. In: Loukacheva, N. (Ed.). Polar law textbook II (pp. 185–198). Copenhagen: TemaNord 535.Google Scholar
Anaya, J. (2004). Indigenous peoples in international law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Basse, E. M. (2014). Juridisk responsum om den gældende grønlandske lovgivning vurderet i lyset af Aarhus Konventionen – udarbejdet for Naalakkersuisut [A legal study of the current Greenlandic legislation and the needed changes if the Danish ratification of the Aarhus Convention should include Greenland made for Naalakkersuisut]. Retrieved from http://naalakkersuisut.gl/~/media/Nanoq/Files/Attached%20Files/Miljoe/Grønlandsrapport%20Århuskonventionen%20dk.pdf Google Scholar
Basse, E. M. (2015). Environmental law in Denmark (2nd ed.). Alphen aan den Rijn: DJØF Publishing and Wolters Kluwer.Google Scholar
Boyle, A., & Boer, B. (2013). Human rights and the environment. Thirteenth Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights, 21–23 October 2013, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Commission of Greenland's Judicial System. (2004). Reports on Greenland's judicial system. Retrieved from http://jm.schultzboghandel.dk/upload/microsites/jm/ebooks/bet1442/resume_en.pdf Google Scholar
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention). Aarhus, 25 June 1998 (UNECE).Google Scholar
Danida. (2011). Review report. Strategy for Danish support to indigenous peoples 2001–2010. Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, International Development Cooperation and Naalakkersuisut.Google Scholar
Danish Bar and Law Society. (2016). Retssikkerhed i Grønland [Rule of law in Greenland].Google Scholar
van Doeveren, V. (2011). Rethinking good governance. Public Integrity, 13, 301–318.Google Scholar
Ebbesson, J. (1996). Compatibility of International and National Environmental Law. The Hague/London/New York: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Eide, A. (2002). Good governance, human rights, and the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. In: Sano, H.-O., & Alfredsson, G. (Eds.). Human rights and good governance. The Hague/London/New York: Kluwer Law International, 47–71.Google Scholar
Environmental Agency for Mineral Resource Activities. (2016). A letter to GMEL from the Government of Greenland concerning release of private documents. Letter file No. 2016–9794 Akt 3684114.Google Scholar
Explanatory notes to the Act on Greenlandic Self-Government. 2009. (Act No. 473, 12 June 2009, Denmark). Retrieved from https://www.govmin.gl/images/stories/faelles/explanatory_notes_to_the_mineral_resources_act.pdf Google Scholar
EITI. (2016). The EITI standard 2016. Oslo: EITI International Secretariat. Retrieved from www.eiti.org Google Scholar
Gad, U. P. (2017). National identity politics and postcolonial sovereignty games: Greenland, Denmark, and the European Union (Vol. 353). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.Google Scholar
GMEL. (2016). Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd's Letter of 5 October 2016 to the Environmental Agency for Mineral Resource Activities, Government of Greenland concerning release of private documents. Letter file no. 2016–9794 Akt 3684114.Google Scholar
Götz, N. (2015). The concept of openness: promise and paradox. In: Götz, N., & Marklund, C. (Eds.). The paradox of openness: transparency and participation in Nordic cultures of consensus (pp. 10–26). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Government of Canada. (2014). Canada's statement on the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples Outcome Document. Retrieved from http://quakerservice.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Canadas-Statement-on-the-World-Conference-on-Indigenous-Peoples-Outcome-Document-2014.pdf Google Scholar
Gunter, C. (2015). The Case for Uranium Mining in Greenland. Cornell International Law Journal, 48, 423–449.Google Scholar
Hansen, V., Søndergaard, J., Asmund, G., Aastrup, P., Gustavson, K., Garcia, G., . . . Larsen, M. B. (2016). Exploitation of radioactive minerals in Greenland. Management of environmental issues based on experience from uranium producing countries. Scientific Report of the Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, No. 200. Aarhus: Aarhus University. Retrieved from http://dce2.au.dk/pub/SR200.pdf Google Scholar
Henriksen, A., & Rahbek-Clemmensen, J. (2017). Grønlandskortet. Arktis’ betydning for Danmarks indflydelse i USA [Greenland as a strategic tool. Arctic's importance for the impact that Denmark has in USA]. Copenhagen: Centre for Military Studies, Copenhagen University.Google Scholar
Heymann, M. (2016, 2 May). Exploring Greenland: science and technology in Cold War settings. Carlsbergfondet.Google Scholar
Hingitaq 53 v. Denmark . (2003). Supreme Court of Denmark, Decision of Nov. 28, 2003, in cases 489/1999 and 490/1999. See also European Court of Human Rights, First Section, Application No. 18584/04, 2006.Google Scholar
Hubbard, R. (2013). Risk, rights and responsibility: navigating corporate responsibility and indigenous rights in Greenlandic extractive industry development. Michigan State International Law Review, 22, 102–166.Google Scholar
Hubbard, R. (2014). Mining in Greenland and free, prior and informed consent: a role for corporations? Nordic Environmental Law Journal, 3, 99–118.Google Scholar
Human Rights Committee. (2011). The Thule case. Submission by the ICC Greenland, General Measures of Implementation of Indigenous Human Rights and Powers of Public Government, The Situation of the Indigenous Community of the Thule District The “Legally Fatherless,” 5 August.Google Scholar
HRC. (2008). The role of good governance in the promotion of human rights. A/HRC/Res.7/11, 27 March. Geneva: Human Rights Council.Google Scholar
HRC. (2010). Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), Study on indigenous peoples and the right to participate in decision-making. A/HRC/EMRIP/2010/2, 2 May. Geneva: Human Rights Council.Google Scholar
HRC. (2011). EMRIP, Final study on indigenous peoples and the right to participate in decision-making. A/HRC/EMPIR/ 2011/2, 26 May. Geneva: Human Rights Council.Google Scholar
HRC. (2012). The role of good governance in the promotion and protection of human rights. A/HRC/Res./19/20, 23 March. Geneva: Human Rights Council.Google Scholar
ILO Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries No. 169 (ILO Convention 169). Geneva, 27 June 1989.Google Scholar
INAC. (2016, May 10). Canada becomes a full supporter of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Ottawa, ON: Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/indigenous-northern-affairs/news/2016/05/canada-becomes-a-full-supporter-of-the-united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html?wbdisable=true.Google Scholar
IAEA. (2014). Lessons learned from environmental remediation programmes. STI/PUB/1630 (2014). Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency.Google Scholar
CESCR. (1999). General comment no. 12: the right to adequate food (Art. 11). Adopted at the twentieth session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 12 May 1999 (contained in Document E/C.12/1999/5).Google Scholar
ICC. (2009). A circumpolar Inuit declaration on sovereignty in the Arctic. Tromsø, 28 April. Ottawa, ON: Inuit Circumpolar Council.Google Scholar
ICC. (n.d.). A circumpolar Inuit declaration on resource development principles in Inuit Nunaat. Ottawa, ON: Inuit Circumpolar Council. Retrieved from http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/uploads/3/0/5/4/30542564/declaration_on_resource_development_a3_final.pdf Google Scholar
ICC Alaska. (2011). Inuit declaration on resource development principles. Drum, 4, 3.Google Scholar
Inuit Pisinnaatitaaffinut Kalaallit Nunaata Siunnersuisoqatigiivi. (2016). Universal periodic review of Denmark. Greenland. Stakeholder submission by the Human Rights Council of Greenland, 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council.Google Scholar
Jackson, T., & Green, K. P. (2017). Fraser Institute annual survey of mining companies 2016. Vancouver, BC: Fraser Institute.Google Scholar
John, E., & Sambo Dorough, D. (2016). Study on how states exploit weak procedural rules in international organizations to devalue the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international human rights law. UN, Economic and Social Council, E/C.19/2016/4 Feb. 19.Google Scholar
Johnstone, R. L. (2017). Indigenous rights in the marine Arctic. In: Pelaudeix, C., & Basse, E. M. (Eds.). Governance of Arctic offshore oil and gas (pp. 72–91). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kielsen, K. (2015). New Year's address, January 8. Retrieved from http://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/Naalakkersuisut/News/2015/01/080115-nytaarreception-GL-reprasentation Google Scholar
Kleist, M. (2010). Greenland's self-government. In: Loukacheva, N. (Ed.). Polar law textbook (pp. 171–198). Copenhagen: TemaNord 538.Google Scholar
Knox, J. H. (2013). Report of the independent expert on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Human Rights Council Twenty-fifth session, A/HRC/25/53.Google Scholar
Leeuwen, J. W. S. (2017). Mining at Kvanefjeld comments on: Kvanefjeld project. Environmental Impact Assessment, Greenland Mineral and Energy Limited. Draft, October 2015, prepared by Orbicon A/S, 22 January.Google Scholar
Loukacheva, N. (2009). Arctic indigenous peoples’ internationalism: in search of a legal justification. Polar Record, 45, 51–58.Google Scholar
Lynge, A. (2009). Indigenous people's rights in Greenland. Presentation given at the seminar Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Rights, Nuuk, Greenland, November 23. Retrieved from http://www.inuit.org/index.php?id=302 Google Scholar
Lynge, F. (2003). Kunuk op gennem tiden [Kunuk through time]. In: Whinter, G. Demokrati og Magt i Grønland (pp. 25–30). Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.Google Scholar
McGwin, K. (2013, October 24). Uranium ban overturned. A narrow majority of the Greenlandic parliament passed a measure to overturn the country's ban on uranium mining. The Arctic Journal.Google Scholar
McGwin, K. (2016, February 16). Uranium in Greenland. Pandora's mine. The Arctic Journal.Google Scholar
Ministry of Independence, Nature Environment and Agriculture. (2016). Letter of 2 December 2016 concerning complaint against the Environmental Agency for Mineral Resource Activities’ decision of 5 Oct. 2016 on access to a draft EIA report.Google Scholar
Mortensen, B. O. (2013). The quest for resources – the case of Greenland. Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 15, 93–128.Google Scholar
Naalakkersuisut. (2009). Social impact assessment – guidelines for social impact assessment for mining projects in Greenland. Nuuk: Bureau of Mineral and Petroleum.Google Scholar
Naalakkersuisut. (2014). Greenland Oil and Mineral Strategy 2014–2018, 8 February. FM 2014/133.Google Scholar
Naalakkersuisut. (2017). Letter of 1 March 2017 to Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd regarding the decision on access to draft EIA report.Google Scholar
NOAH. (2017, March 10). Kuannersuit/Kvanefjeld-project does not meet Greenland's Mineral Resources Act's environmental and climate requirements. Press release. Retrieved from https://noah.dk/sites/default/files/2017-03/2017-03-10%20Press%20release%20concerning%20EIA%20draft%20report%20Kvanefjeld_0.pdf Google Scholar
Nuttall, M. (2012). The Isukasia iron ore mine controversy: extractive industries and public consultation in Greenland, Nordia Geographical Publications, Yearbook, 41, 23–34.Google Scholar
Nuttall, M. (2017). Climate, society and subsurface politics in Greenland. Under the great ice. Routledge Research in Polar Regions. Oxon/New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Olsen, A.-S., & Hansen, A. M. (2014). Perceptions of public participation in impact assessment: a study of offshore oil exploration in Greenland. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 32, 72–80.Google Scholar
Olsvig, S. (2014). Proposal to Inatsisartut on Greenland's accession to the Aarhus Convention, FM 2014/151.Google Scholar
Oneal, M. (2017, February 10). Greenland needs money. Is the uranium mine an answer? Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/world/2017/02/10/greenland-needs-money-is-a-uranium-mine-the-answer/?utm_term=.d0d49fa35b25 Google Scholar
Pelaudeix, C. (2015a). Governance of Arctic offshore oil & gas activities: multilevel governance & legal pluralism at stake. In: Heininen, L., Exner-Pirot, H., & Plouffe, J. (Eds.). Arctic Yearbook 2015 (pp. 214–233). Akureyri: Northern Research Forum.Google Scholar
Pelaudeix, C. (2015b). China's interests in the Arctic and the EU Arctic policy: towards a proactive EU foreign policy? The Yearbook of Polar Law, 7, 128–150.Google Scholar
Pelaudeix, C. (2017). Governance of offshore hydrocarbon activities in the Arctic and energy policies: a comparative approach between Norway, Canada and Greenland/Denmark. In: Pelaudeix, C., & Basse, E. M. (Eds.). Governance of Arctic offshore oil and gas activities (pp. 108–126). New York, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Petersen, R. (1995). Colonialism as seen from a former colonized area. Arctic Anthropology, 32, 118–126.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, M. V. (2013). Greenland geopolitics: globalisation and geopolitics in the new north. Background paper for the Committee for Greenlandic Mineral Resources to the Benefit of Society. Copenhagen: Copenhagen University. Retrieved from http://greenlandperspective.ku.dk/this_is_greenland_perspective/background/report-papers/ Google Scholar
Rosing, M. (2014). To the benefit of Greenland. Committee for Greenlandic Mineral Resources to the Benefit of Society. Copenhagen: Copenhagen University. Retrieved from http://greenlandperspective.ku.dk/this_is_greenland_perspective/background/report-papers/)Google Scholar
Ross, A., & Andersen, P. (1952). Responsum vedrørende Grønlands og Færøernes statsretlige stilling [Legal opinions on the Constitutional Status of Greenland and Faroe Islands under the Danish Constitution.] In: Schultz, J. H. Betænkning Afgivet af Forfatningskommissionen af 1946 [Report of the Constitution Commission AF 1946] (pp. 86–88). Annex. Copenhagen: Copenhagen University. Retrieved from https://www.foxylex.dk/media/betaenkninger/Betaenkning_afgivet_af_Forfatningskommissionen_af_1946.pdf Google Scholar
Royal Decision No. 1035 on the Marine Environmental Act (with effect on the area beyond three nautical miles of the coast of Greenland). 22 Oct. 2004. Denmark.Google Scholar
Sandroos, B. (2015). The Greenland Mineral Resources Act. The law and practice of oil, gas and mining in Greenland. Copenhagen: Djøf Publishing.Google Scholar
Sano, H. O. (2002). Good governance, accountability and human rights. In: Sano, H. O., & Alfredsson, G. (Eds). Human rights and good governance (pp. 123–146). The Hague/London/New York: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Sano, H. O., & Alfredsson, G. (Eds.). (2002). Human rights and good governance. The Hague/London/New York: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Statistics Greenland. (2017). Greenland in figures, January 1. Retrieved from www.stat.gl Google Scholar
Taksø-Jensen, P. (2016). Dansk diplomat og forsvar i en brydningstid – vejen frem for Danmarks interesser og værdier mod 2030 [Danish diplomat and defense in a time of change – the way forward for Denmark's interests and values to 2030].Google Scholar
The Danish Institute for Human Rights. (2016). Human rights in Greenland status 2016, with an English summary. Retrieved from https://menneskeret.dk/sites/menneskeret.dk/files/media/dokumenter/udgivelser/status/2015-16/groenland/gr_status_summary_a5.pdf Google Scholar
Thomasen, G. (2014, May 22). Zero tolerance – a policy that never really was? Copenhagen: Danish Institute of Security Studies. Retrieved from https://www.diis.dk/en/research/zero-tolerance-a-policy-that-never-really-was Google Scholar
UNDRIP. (2007). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. UN/GA/Res 61/295, 13 September.Google Scholar
UNDP. (2016). UNDP support to the implementation of sustainable development goal 16, Report, January. United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved from http://www.undp.org/content/dam/norway/undp-ogc/documents/16_peace_Jan15_digital.pdf Google Scholar
ICCPR. (2008). Consideration of reports submitted by states parties under article 40 of the Covenant. Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee, CCPR/C/DNK/CO5, 16 December. United Nations Human Rights Committee under International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.Google Scholar
van Kersbergen, K., & van Waarden, F. (2004). Governance as a bridge between disciplines: cross-disciplinary inspiration regarding shifts in governance and problems of governability, accountability and legitimacy. European Journal of Political Research, 43, 143–171.Google Scholar
Vestergaard, C., & Tomasen, G. (2016). New uranium deal between Denmark and Greenland clarifies competences. DIIS website. Retrieved from https://www.diis.dk/en/research/new-uranium-deal-between-denmark-and-greenland-clarifies-competences Google Scholar
Watson, I. (2017). Indigenous peoples as subjects of international law. Oxon/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. (2015). Energy and minerals in Greenland. Governance, corporate responsibility and social resilience. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.Google Scholar
WCED. (1987). Our common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wulff, S. (2005). The legal bases for the Inughuit claim to their homeland. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 11, 63–91.Google Scholar