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Inuits’ melting world - 6th December 2023

Greenland’s ice sheets are melting rapidly. They may hold 12 percent of the Earth’s freshwater. If all this ice melts, global sea levels will rise by 7 metres.

But in the Arctic, temperatures are rising four times faster than the rest of the world. This is putting the water supply of Inuit villagers in Ittoqqortoormiit at risk.

Erling Rasmussen works at the village's water company. He’s already thinking about alternative sources of freshwater.

Erling Rasmussen: “But it's melting so maybe in a few years it's gone. It can be a problem. So I think in the future the city will have to get it's drinking water from the ocean.”

Cold winters and thick ice are essential for food and water in Ittoqqortoormiit. Its location on the world’s biggest fjord system, means that supply ships can only reach the village of 300 people for one month per year. Instead, villagers live as traditional hunters, and survive on narwhal and polar bear meat and Atlantic cod.

However, with rapidly rising temperatures, the glaciers are thinning and weakening. As a result, hunters have fallen through ice while hunting. Meanwhile, polar bears are forced to head into villages in search of food due to thin ice.

Scientists have been observing the effects of climate change on Ittoqqortoormiit for years. They’ve warned that the situation is severe and that the world needs to take action swiftly.

Local teacher Pusle Jørgen Danielsen’s worried that the younger generation will never experience traditional Inuit life.

Pusle Jørgen Danielsen: "I hope the children can understand that the whole world has changed, everything has changed. Many years ago there was always ice in the summer, all the time. Now it’s disappearing much faster."