KINGDOM OF DENMARK

ARCTIC COUNCIL: MEMBER

NATIONAL ARCTIC STRATEGY

DENMARK, GREENLAND AND THE FAROE ISLANDS: KINGDOM OF DENMARK STRATEGY FOR THE ARCTIC 2011–2020 (MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 2011)

THE FAROE ISLANDS AND THE ARCTIC : CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CIRCUMPOLAR NORTH, (The Foreign Service: Fisheries, Trade and Regional Policy Prime Minister’s Office, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, 2011)

CONTRIBUTION TO THE ARCTIC

Greenland is not an EU member but is one of the so-‐called Overseas Countries and Territories with association arrangements with the EU. Greenland is part of the Danish Realm, and recently (August 2013) regained its place at the negotiating table of the Arctic Council. The Faroe Islands have negligible Arctic infrastructural or institutional initiatives, but has an active Arctic strategy, especially in the context of fisheries and climate change.65 The Faroes are not part of the European Union.

Research and Education

The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, is a major research institution, owned by the government of Greenland, is.66 Located in Nuuk, the institute is also responsible for the field station at Kobbefjord and the research vessels R/V Sanna and R/V Pâmiut. Initiatives undertaken by and through the institute are intended to provide the scientific basis for an assessment of sustainable use of the living resources in and around Greenland as well as to protect the environment and secure biological diversity. The Kangerlussuaq International Science Support (KISS) facility, a subsidiary of Mittarfeqarfiit/Greenland at Kangerlussuaq, western Greenland, serves as an important logistical hub to the inland ice cap.

Research infrastructures operated from Denmark are mostly maintained by universities. The University of Copenhagen maintains the year-‐roundArctic Station located on the south coast of the Disko Island in central west Greenland. The University of Copenhagen also maintains theSermilik summer station in South East Greenland. Aarhus University operates Zackenberg research station, located in North-‐ East Greenland and owned by the government of Greenland. In early 2013, Aarhus University received a grant for the substantial extension of Station North in northernmost Greenland.

Aarhus University also hosts the Arctic Research Centre (ARC), an institutional initiative launched in 2012. The ARC has a partnership agreement with the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the University of Manitoba (Canada) in an Arctic Science Partnership and the Centre focusses on joint, interdisciplinary research campaigns. Although funding for the institution is currently time-‐limited, the possibility has been articulated that the Centre may turn into a department in the long run.

State

Danish state-run institutions which include the Arctic as a distinct focus area include theDanish Meteorological Institute, the Geological Survey Of Denmark and Greenland and the Danish Geodata Agency.

Industry

Founded in 1992, the Royal Arctic Line A/S is an example of a non-‐research specific infrastructure. It has an exclusive concession for the transportation of all sea cargo to and from Greenland and between Greenlandic settlements. As such it provides essential infrastructural support to oil and mineral exploration, one of the key industries that also generate knowledge affecting – and effecting – development in the Arctic.

DENMARK IS MEMBER AT THE BARENTS-EURO ARCTIC COUNCIL, THE FORUM FOR INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND INTERREGIONAL COOPERATION IN THE BARENTS REGION. BEAC WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1993 IN ORDER TO "PROVIDE IMPETUS TO EXISTING COOPERATION AND CONSIDER NEW INITIATIVES AND PROPOSALS".
REPRESENTED AT THE EUROPEAN POLAR BOARD
KINGDOM OF DENMARK PARTICIPATES AT POLAR VIEW (PV), AN INITIATIVE BY THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) AND THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, WITH PARTICIPATION FROM THE CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY, UNDER THE COPERNICUS PROGRAMME. CURRENT PV SERVICE LINES INCLUDE: SEA ICE MONITORING AND FORECASTING; ICEBERG MONITORING; ICE EDGE MONITORING; ICE DRIFT TRAJECTORIES; RIVER ICE MONITORING; LAKE ICE MONITORING; GLACIER MONITORING; SNOW MONITORING
KINGDOM OF DENMARK (SUMMIT IN GREENLAND), IS A PARTNER OBSERVATORIES TO THE INTERNATIONAL ARCTIC SYSTEMS FOR OBSERVING THE ATMOSPHERE (IASOA) AN ON-GOING INITIATIVE TO ADVANCE COORDINATED RESEARCH OBJECTIVES FROM INDEPENDENT PAN-ARCTIC ATMOSPHERIC OBSERVATORIES THROUGH (1) STRATEGICALLY DEVELOPING COMPREHENSIVE OBSERVATIONAL CAPACITY, (2) FACILITATING DATA ACCESS AND USABILITY THROUGH A SINGLE GATEWAY, AND (3) MOBILIZING CONTRIBUTIONS TO SYNERGISTIC SCIENCE AND SOCIALLY-RELEVANT SERVICES DERIVED FROM IASOA ASSETS AND EXPERTISE.
DENMARK HEADQUARTER THE INTERNATIONAL WORK GROUP FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS (IWGIA) AN INTERNATIONAL, NON-GOVERNMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS WITH OBSERVER STATUS AT THE ARCTIC COUNCIL
MINISTERIET FOR FORSKNING, INNOVATION OG VIDEREGÅENDE UDDANNELSER (DASTI), DANISH AGENCY FOR SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION
THE DANISH METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF DENMARK AND GREENLAND
DANISH GEODATA AGENCY
ARCTIC RESEARCH CENTRE (ARC),
THE GREENLAND INSTITUTE OF NATURAL RESOURCES

SELECTED EU-FINANCED PROJECTS

University Of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, and National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), Denmark are partner to INTERACT, (International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic) a project aimed at build Capacity for identifying, understanding, predicting and responding to diverse environmental changes throughout the wide environmental and land-‐use. INTERACT is partially financed by the EU by the 7th Framework Programme.

National Environmental Research Institute Aarhus University, Denmark SIOS, (Svalbard Integrated Earth Observing System) a project for the Creation Of an optimized observational infrastructure which can match advanced Earth System Models with observational evidence and provide near--‐real--‐time information on Arctic Change to relevant stakeholders. SIOS is partially financed by the EU by the 7th Framework Programme.

Damen Shipyards Group, is partner to JOULES (Joint Operation for Ultra Low Emission Shipping), a project tr Significantly Reducing the gas emissions of European Built ships. JOULES is partially financed by the EU by the 7th Framework Programme.

Danish Agency For Science,Technology And Innovation, Denmark is partner to BOREAS, a coordinated programme of research on the North to enable the humanities to collaborate more effectively and to offer synergies between social, natural and medical sciences through innovative collaboration between Europe,The US, Canada And Russia. BOREAS is partially financed by the EU by the 7th Framework Programme.

Aarhus Universitet, Denmark is partner to Arctic Tipping Points, a project aimed at Identifying the elements of the Arctic marine ecosystem likely to show abrupt changes in response to climate change, and establish the levels of the corresponding climate drivers inducing regime shift in those tipping elements. In addition, determine the effect of crossing those thresholds for the Arctic marine ecosystems, and the associated risks and opportunities for economic activities dependent on the marine ecosystem of the European Arctic. Arctic Tipping Points is partially financed by the EU by the 7th Framework Programme.

Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Denmark is partner to MONARCH-A (MONitoring and Assessing Regional Climate change in High latitudes and the Arctic), a project aimed at Generating a dedicated information package tailored to a subset of multidisciplinary Essential Climate Variables and their mutual forcing and feedback mechanisms associated with changes in terrestrial carbon and water fluxes, sea level and ocean circulation and the marine carbon cycle. MONARCH-A is partially financed by the EU by the 7th Framework Programme.