up next our documentary series doc film looks at how global warming may be opening up the arctic and reviving old rivalries omarion evanston i'll be back with more news at the top of the hour hope you join us then. language courses. any time. w.b. .

the arctic is often described as a vast expanse of eternal ice but in some parts of the region that's no longer the case. this is alice muir island in the canadian arctic. this strip of coastline was once covered with ice but the nearby glaciers are melting so we can see more and more of the land that lies beneath them. some researchers predict starting in 2050 the arctic will be ice free in summer so what will happen to the region is all that ice melts. almost for me to rise should she look. the arctic helps to determine the climate for a much wider area including parts of the us due to climate change due to the ice receiving

. the wall maps in retreat to the arctic in the center. that will cause massive changes here and in other parts of the world. i think. the biggest challenge facing the whole in the future. a challenge or an opportunity. during the summer after the ice has melted but to taishan blooms along the coastline animal bones indicate that wildlife is returning . more and more scientists are coming to the region and several countries have claimed mining rights how will those rights be allocated. geologists can now study land that used to be covered in ice land that is rich in natural resources. the competition for the arctic treasure is fierce.

these resources include oil natural gas and rare earth elements. taken together they're worth trillions of dollars. the indigenous peoples who live in the arctic region say they deserve a share of these riches new sources of income would help them improve their lives and have more of a sane government policies that affect them. the

scientists will be the 1st to study a particularly remote part of the arctic canada. or feels great you know our days are waiting in the new gary to go on the field. we got calls twice and now we're getting on that's actually right. see what awaits. rate you spot just tuck your bag underneath your seat it'll probably be a bumpy ride because of bad weather. more than a century ago arctic expeditions led by. an alfred vega made headlines around the world. today research trips to the region are not nearly as demanding as they used to be but they are expensive about $15000.00 euros per person.

resolute bay is often used as a starting point for scientific expeditions in the 1950 s. the canadian government forced indigenous people from northern quebec to settle in this remote but strategically important region. susan sullivan it was a child at the time. there has been a thing that has come up here. i guess there are more now i'm expecting that they'll be a lot more. people coming up north to find out more. details. things that were. not out.

july 1st is canada day the country's national holiday but the local innuit residents don't have much to celebrate. the village of resolute bay needs more jobs schools and hospitals the in you would want more financial support from the canadian government they also demand more autonomy so that they can live according to their traditional values. that. susan sullivan it hopes that her grandchildren will be able to lead better lives than she and her parents did she says that the canadian government should formally a. knowledge ised for the forced resettlement of the innuit people and provide better jobs and job training programs.

for young people they are today there are so many more possibilities for them to get a proper education and we hope that. wealthy within that 1020 years that they'll be a doctor. we now have. lawyers we now have well nurses. but we need more. in a way. in the progression. system. in . the arctic region includes parts of 5 countries. denmark. norway. russia. the usa.

and canada. in 1909 the canadian government created a new northern territory called nunavut which means our land. summer has arrived and none of it but it's still cold just 3 degrees centigrade. the researchers are right from resolute bay. spent 2 months on the territories north cops. there are no settlements here and no roads either there's not a lot of vegetation because the tundra subsoil is permanently frozen. the scientists set up their camp and it's anything but luxurious their only connection to the outside world are the transport helicopters this expedition is financed by the governments of canada and germany. germany has invested a lot of money in out the research and will continue to do so i think is very

important as we continue to study the effects of global warming. we need to find out more about how the entire climate system functions. the. cost is a geologist who works for germany's institute for geosciences and natural resources which is part of the federal ministry of economics and technology. there are scientists here from several other countries as you can see from these flags. stephen grasp is a geo chemist who works for canada's department of energy and environment his work here will focus on the composition of rocks. american biologist john spear

will study microbes that could be used in research on antibiotic resistant bacteria . these are. little green top tubes is $15.00 each. and they. are for extracting d.n.a. out of samples all collect like a little bit of a pencil eraser size amount of material and i'll insert it into these tubes and it will shake it around i'll take it home will extract d.n.a. out of it home. the weather is good today so the scientists head out to do some work. when these mountains were formed millions of years ago the local environment looked much different there was no ice cover in the land was covered with plants and trees .

geologists take a long term view of life on earth they think in terms of millennia not centuries and many scientists believe that today we are living in the final stages of the most recent ice age. even grass be discovered some unusual vegetation on a mountainside recently and now he's come back to take a closer look. there's a freshwater spring here a rare occurrence in this part of the arctic. the topsoil fall is only in the summer time. rescue speculates on the origins of the spring.

we're finding more and more different areas of spring and we're able to record the temperatures we've made a lot of years of the springs through the winter and we can see that they flow all winter long so it turns out that these very high latitudes art. regions there's actually some areas of very active groundwater flow and challenges or conceptions of those see what's happening and it really tells us we we don't know as much as we thought we did those exciting so few things to learn. the researchers have dug this the ice spring it continues to flow even in winter when the temperature is minus 40 degrees centigrade. the water temperature at that time is 6 degrees. speer captures a thermal image of the spring before the team heads back to camp. college just victoria peace specializes in the study of plate tectonics the movement of

parts of the earth's crust. she's been doing research in the arctic for 20 years and also teaches at the university of stockholm today she's working with a colleague from canada. and the arctic is a hole in the global warming the icing framework of climate today industry not just petroleum but other economic resources fishing shipping transportation mining oil and gas are all interested in accessing what they perceive to be a new. reservoir a new region right and i would say that be industry side of

things are very interested in the arctic what's going on here and how they may be able to capitalize on ice free conditions in the arctic. some experts speculate that the melting of the arctic open up to shipping routes between asia and europe. could have substantial strategic and economic benefits for several countries including china. would be that china to have a role to play in seeking peace stability in that region and in promoting a sense of ability sustainable development in the area chinese government issued a white paper on the arctic policy in which the pole the silk road has

been off fish will be announced as a policy of the chinese government and you can see the north sea of routes. i have to because. commercial they face a poll all of 2 years all for a celebration melting ice in the arctic region. china seems to create a new silk road trade route that would run from asia to europe via the north pole. right now china has to move its exports to europe through the indian ocean the proposed new arctic route would cut shipping time by 20 percent for about 2 weeks. some experts say that china also wants access to the arctic switch supply of natural resources.

the growing chinese middle class is basically screaming for resources from all over the planet. and then the oxy gets no exception so what you see is basically the same interest for resources as china have in south america and as china in africa and and you can also i think today see that china moves in in the places where united states is not present always united states forces out then you see china course in and and we also stopped to see that in the arctic. meanwhile back in our to canada the tory of peace prepares to fly back to camp and . the research that she and her colleagues are doing here could be used by any number of countries. the scientists have no control over where their data ends up

and that's fine with victoria. i look at the tectonic environment form and that information is useful to the industry. and what they do with it is beyond me. this research work is difficult time consuming and expensive it's not yet clear how the governments and businesses that are funding these projects will make use of all the data. but if they have a strategic interest in the arctic after the ice they'll have to start preparing now.

it's just this i start with some materials from the franklin basin. what's it been if these researchers at germany's institute for geosciences and natural resources and how nova are going to analyze some rock samples that were taken off the coast of western greenland they've got a lot of work ahead of them. first to cut away a slice of rock that's just 30 microns thick about the same width as a sheet of paper. them full examined it under a microscope. my voice jesus stance this sample is almost transparent it's thinner than a single human hair. that will allow us to examine in detail how this material interacts with light. and that will help us identify the individual minerals that are contained in this sample if you. can the ice in the holly and.

we returned to nunavut the local residents sometimes find jobs helping the foreign research teams. several countries have a vested interest in exploiting the region's natural resources and the scientists research may help them to do that. that if you would hope that is the arctic ice continues to melt to be able to share in the economic benefits and have more of a say in how they live their lives. over the centuries in you would have proven that they can adapt to even the harshest climate conditions. but they're tired of living in primitive dwellings and eating only the meat and fish that nature provides as their ancestors did before them. this is greenland's capital nuku located on the southwest coast. greenland has been

part of denmark since 814 but now enjoys a great deal of autonomy. still subsidy payments from denmark make up about 60 percent of the territory's budget. the capital is in the middle of a construction boom as greenland gains more control over the allocation of revenues generated by the exploitation of natural resources. we want to diversify away economy inchers off generating new income sources for our country we see. the mining as serve as a few chain come source along with tourism along with other industries that we are trying to attract to green so there is a consideration of making ali economy less vulnerable for rapid there

or something changes of fish. the fishing industry is a key element in greenland's economy fish and shellfish make up about 90 percent of total exports and as much as 20 percent of g.d.p. . greenland left the european economic community in 1905 in a dispute over fishing policy. part of today's catch is being unloaded at the port of new. mike olson works for oil greenland the territories largest fishing company . it has more than 40 processing facilities in greenland and also on canada's atlantic coast. the company headquarters are located here in new cook. the most important fish of all shellfish is from greenland i think it has

a good price in the international market so it's a good species to have but at the moment. our main supply us all the local fisherman. in the near coastal fishery so that approximately 33000 people fisherman delivering the fish for our factories and besides that we have a lot of troll us that off fishing in the in the sea. oil greenland also operates its own fleet of fishing vessels. one of them is just coming to port. and mike also meets the captain yes the ship was at sea for 2 weeks and brought in $250.00 tons of fish the catch was immediately frozen on board. this is the cooling facility the temperature is minus 25 degrees centigrade each

bag contains 30 kilos of caught. some scientists predict the climate change will force large numbers of fish and shellfish to move north into colder waters. in addition there are indications that the area off greenland's coast is being overfished. malika seen that happen before . the product is a species that is coming back back in the eighty's there was a lot of a lot of cut in the greenlandic sea but suddenly it disappeared so there hasn't been. fishing in the last 20 years and greene and so it's it's 1st the last years that it started to come back. after the

trawler unloads its catch it goes back out to sea. the market for fish and fish products is good right now sales and prices are rising still the fishing industry does not generate enough revenue to support greenland's entire economy on its own so the territory will have to find new sources of income. at the moment the fishery cannot alone. maintain this economy for green and so we have to welcome some new businesses in the greenland tourism is one of the things that the politicians are talking about and though we have to develop new businesses to to gain some more economic growth in greenland. greenland is one of europe's most remote tourist destinations but visitors are not

attracted by luxury hotels or wellness facilities there are none here. they've come to see the territory's breathtaking natural beauty. those who are looking for a unique travel experience will find it here. there are ruins of viking settlements. in. the northern lights. and arctic wildlife including reindeer. these vast landscapes are populated by more than 20 species of mammals and dozens of bird species. roomier. but greenland is an expensive place to visit food prices are high mostly because supplies have to be imported. the infrastructure needs

a lot of them. only small planes can land at the airport and know. the runway is too short for large commercial passenger jets. freeman's government is trying to line up foreign investors who will help finance improvements high on the list of potential partners or chinese businesses. i'm not afraid of china in general i think china. and metals and minerals sure it's an important investment country. last year a company owned by the chinese government submitted a bid for the expansion of 3 smaller ports in greenland but the government in

denmark stepped in and blocked the bid citing security and financial concerns. in any case greenland needs to make a serious effort to improve its infrastructure. definitely the. very difficult it is far away from both europe and north america and it's a very big island the biggest island in the world spread out over a very large area so it definitely looked just tickle challenges and also environmental challenges and from one form of bad weather. in large parts of greenland many people earn

a living by hunting. one of them is to be a signal lou. the lock on the southeast comes. during the summer he goes hunting every week. in the winter months he catches fish. this is the only way that he can provide food for his family. if not up enough my father and brothers told me how to hunt i'm. getting a new longer alone so now i go by myself. binya any good when my family lives on the meat all the fish that i bring back. so far we've always had enough to eat up like we've never gone hungry. but i made sure of that.

tobias' and his family eat reindeer and musk ox meat in summer. and in winter mostly seals on our walls a small species of whale. and never. to be as is not concerned that the arctic ice is melting he's learned to adapt to his environment.

to be and so often takes a long foreign tourists on his hunting trips the extra income is allowed him to buy a few luxuries like a snowmobile and an outboard motor for his boat. going to be oh what are we gonna grow vegetables here. we can only know your bravado it's. we don't waste any food. if we don't eat it right away we'll freeze it and storing much of it if you are going to be you know top of all. those who prefer to buy their food instead of hunting or fishing for it can shop at the supermarkets and does the like. but the food in the shops is

expensive because a lot of it has to be imported mostly from europe. some food supplies are brought in by helicopter. there aren't many trees in greenland only a few species are able to grow here mostly in the far south but that may change because of global warming. during the summer some crops are grown in the south. as legend has it the region was given the name greenland by a 10th century norse explorer he hoped that a pleasant sounding name would attract settlers. of. the residents up to z. like would love to grow vegetables here in the summer and that may happen if the arctic ice continues to melt. 2000 people live

into z. like it's the largest town in southeastern greenland. but behind the colorful facades of these homes many people suffer from depression and alcoholism. the community only recently started to discuss these problems openly. the causes include the town's high unemployment rate and the poverty of the goes along with it . domestic abuse is common. the suicide rate among young men is high. and during the winter the bodies can be buried because the ground is frozen. food. the local mortuary is located next to

a church the bodies are kept here until spring. many local residents simply have not been able to cope with the transition from a semi nomadic eco centered culture to a modern society that's based on commerce and consumerism. some are frustrated by the presence of wealthy tourists when they themselves can't find a job. there's no need to go hunting anymore you can just buy food at the supermarket. many people would put it up on welfare. every family in greenland knows the pain of the social problems that we are seeing

in the statistics and they are quite high i mean it's both suicides and as i said. we do see. a lot of violence as well and violence against women and children and this is something that we need to fix and i think we need to fix it within the next generation or otherwise it will be every every family it is being affected by this 34 times over we have to stop it now. tilly martinus is a member of greenland's parliament and has been speaking out on these problems. she's half innuit and have to. she believes that greenland should maintain close ties to denmark because she fears that the indigenous peoples will not be able to survive on their own. right back. politician elect a ham and also hopes for a better future for greenland but she believes that this will only happen if the

territory wins its independence from denmark. i have a danish passport but that's all. i don't think danish i don't speak danger at home i don't feel like a dane and i don't feel like at home when i meant i'm not. greenland continues to move toward independence from denmark and today even young and what children are going to take pride in their traditional culture their language and their homeland. a lot of people around the world are definitely concerned about the effects of global warming but many in greenland see these environmental changes as an opportunity to free themselves from foreign influence. many of the european immigrants who helped build this territory are buried in the cemetery.

and then insists the question of what society. that we want in the future for the people of green. and independence is a question of the freedom of the choices the government of $39.00 should be doing in regards to the foreign affairs in terms of the safety and the military issues connected to bring them to. denmark is responsible. for greenland security and maintain several military bases here. but in the near future greenland will have more control over its defense and foreign policy. still some danes are reluctant to sever ties completely for a number of different reasons the.

thing. that they need screen lending relationship goes back many hundreds of years so there is there is culture tiles there are historical ties people who have married each other there are a lot of greenlanders living in denmark there's a lot of danish people living in greenland so so so it's not just you know a matter of pulling the plug and say from now on we are independent. of the. 10 mark also understands the importance of maintaining good relations with the territory to destroy teach equally important and rich in natural resources. as the competition for those resources intensifies denmark aims to maintain its security presence there. many danes believe that the government's current policies on greenland benefits both sides.

that is where i would argue that it is difficult to find a better deal if you are looking at the world from a greenlandic perspective and being. with denmark and i would doubt that if your partner up with china or anyone else that there will be no favors in return. china keeps a close eye on developments in the arctic from its embassy in reykjavik iceland the ambassador says that the world has nothing to fear from beijing's trade policy. yes the chinese government has no intention of a competing with the u.s. side for war the influence we regard is based on its merits and also we have a strong wish to develop a good the relationship with all the countries. as

world powers compete for position and influence in greenland to anyone people are standing up for their rights when these children grow up they may find themselves living in a country that has won its freedom from denmark but is heavily dependent on china. the innuit and canada also want more autonomy some even favor closer ties with innuit peoples of other countries. we were one people before governments were going that is and divided us through borders we work with we work across borders we have always been one in 8 we recognize that we know we have rights as it touches people's. okalik easy act as a former chair of the innuit circumpolar council and often speaks out on issues that affect indigenous peoples. here she's meeting with an old friend former nun of a premier eva arya. they've set up camp on the outskirts of none of us capital

because it. will never completely lose. who we are. and it's not in the middle. with. them and. we want to work with our governments and we want to work with the industries. that are up here that want to come up here . recognize that act and. work with us to your collective benefit i guess. every year hundreds of delegates from dozens of countries gather in reykjavik for the annual arctic circle assembly. the participants include politicians scientists business executor. it's representatives

of a digitas peoples and others who are interested in the future of the arctic region and how it will be affected by climate change. the organization's chairman is former iceland president only for a good time sun he says it's important to bring together as many international representatives as possible to discuss policy. the problem for the arctic is mild in the arctic and it should be heavily industrialized countries in the world and without putting about that in perspective we want comprehensive understanding of the future of. the arctic ice has been rapidly melting now for 2 decades the process has even affected glaciers in greenland that are 100000 years old. scientists estimate that 10000 tons of arctic ice are lost every 2nd due to global warming but some say that this may turn out to be a positive development. summers are. getting

longer they're legit change and. i believe. you know there are all even things. that have become so. i guess in their profit. i believe this property. as the arctic ice continues to melt the indigenous people stand to benefit from the exploitation of the region's natural resources and the creation of new trade routes. increased prosperity may help them to preserve their natural way of life but as all of our good him some points out the future of the arctic has become an international issue . we are seeing for the 1st time in human history the arctic. becoming a robot. to construct bunches of the virtual world for

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this is d.w. news live from berlin clashes that pro-democracy protests in hong kong police fired tear gas at demonstrators at a global anti totalitarianism rally it comes as mainland china prepares to celebrate 70 years of communist rule our correspondent is in the middle of those protests also coming up former all.