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Inuits’ melting world - 6th December 2023

The ice sheets of Greenland may make up as much as 12 percent of the world’s freshwater. If they were all to melt, the sea level would rise by up to 7 metres. However, for the Inuit of Ittoqqortoormiit, climate change is already threatening the village's supply of water.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising four times faster than the global average, resulting in ice melt. Erling Rasmussen’s responsible for the village’s water supply, which comes from a glacier.

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 its drinking water from the ocean.”

Cold winters, thick ice and snow are vital for both food and water in Ittoqqortoormiit, which lies on Scoresby Sound, the largest fjord system on Earth, and can only be accessed by supply ships during one month every year. So, this community of 300 people, one of the world’s last Inuit hunting communities, relies on meat from narwhals, polar bears and Atlantic cod, although climate change threatens this tradition too.

Rising temperatures have weakened the ice, making hunting trips more perilous than ever. Hunters and their families have fallen through the ice and polar bears searching for food have been driven towards the village as the sea ice weakens.

Scientists visiting Ittoqqortoormiit every year have witnessed the increasing impact of climate change on the ice and believe the world needs to wake up and take the situation seriously.

Local teacher Pusle Jørgen Danielsen, fears for the younger generations of Inuit, whose way of life may disappear.

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."