Greenland Natives Say Trump Military Plans Could Threaten Their Hunting

Résumé détaillé

Trump's plans to expand US military presence in Greenland may threaten traditional hunting livelihoods, a community leader warns.

President Donald Trump's plans to expand America's military presence in Greenland could threaten traditional hunting livelihoods by disturbing narwhals and polar bears, the leader of the remotest inhabited community in the entire Western Hemisphere has warned.

Hans Brønlund, chairman of the local committee in Ittoqqortoormiit, a remote settlement in eastern Greenland with a population of 329 people, fears increased American military activity could disturb wildlife on which local hunters depend.

His warning comes as Denmark prepares to debate a security agreement with Washington and the Danish territory that would allow the United States to establish additional defense areas at Mestersvig and Narsarsuaq, subject to further arrangements.

Brønlund has written to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, demanding that residents be consulted about decisions affecting their community.

Hunting remains an important source of food, income and cultural identity in Ittoqqortoormiit, where residents already grapple with declining hunter numbers and the effects of climate change.

The proposed American expansion could increase military activity in a region where traditional livelihoods depend on access to wildlife and remote hunting grounds.

Brønlund's concerns center on Mestersvig, an existing Danish military outpost approximately 150 miles from Ittoqqortoormiit, which could become an additional American defense area.

He fears increased military operations could disturb narwhals in the surrounding fjords and polar bears in the region, affecting local hunters' ability to earn a living.

"We do not want Americans here near Ittoqqortoormiit. We do not want to be a shield for their country," Brønlund told Greenlandic public broadcaster KNR.

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