The contours of the development of non-living resources in Greenland

Abstract

In past discussions regarding development (of non-living resources) and indigenous people, a strong tendency existed to understand the act of development as a one-way impact from an outside society. This was often labelled as “environmental racism” and interpreted as a form of ethnic discrimination deeply intertwined with environmental issues. However, this view contained an element of confirmation bias regarding development and indigenous people. For example, it has been reported that in Alaska and elsewhere, indigenous people have taken initiative in developing non-living resources, making it clear that indigenous people are not necessarily passive subjects on whom development is unilaterally imposed. In this paper, after examining recent trends in the development of non-living resources, I shall take up the development of such resources in Greenland with the goal of sorting out and extrapolating the main arguments in the debate, especially within the self-rule government, regarding how the wealth obtained through the development of non-living resources should be enjoyed, while focusing on the notion of sustainable development and taking into consideration previous studies from the field of political science.