ARCTIC: Election Interference & more – 4th Mar 2025

Góðan daginn from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 4th of March twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

Let’s kick the week’s stories off with Greenland, the largest island in the world and an unexpected source of international interest in recent months, due to US President Trump’s calls to take control of it. The country is due to hold its national election on the 11th of March but the international intrigue may be having negative consequences.

On Friday the 28th of February, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service announced that election misinformation is spreading in Greenland in an attempt to manipulate the democratic process. The service didn’t name a source of the misinformation, but noted that Russia has previously influenced elections in the Arctic. The Security Service advised voters to be cautious and to rely on trustworthy sources to avoid being misled by misinformation circulating online.

While President Trump eyes Greenland, his own Arctic territory is facing problems. On Tuesday the 25th of February, the state Finance Division released its economic projections for Alaska, revealing that the state will face an over $500 million US dollar deficit over the next two years. State senators released a series of emergency measures to raise revenues the following day, including one that would substantially increase taxes on oil companies. The measures are predicted to raise over $500 million dollars per year.

However, Kara Moriarty, the CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, responded to the tax increase by saying that the oil industry has been the only bright spot in Alaska’s faltering economy recently, and that these economic measures will stunt the growth of new oil and gas projects.

Another nation making difficult economic decisions is Sweden. On Friday the 28th of February, the Swedish Maritime Association published a press release announcing a series of major cutbacks over the next year. The Maritime Association manages the shipping lanes around Sweden, but last year posted a loss of over 50 million US dollars and is projected to make losses of about 70 million dollars this year.

To reduce financial losses, one of Sweden’s five icebreakers and two of the five helicopter bases for sea and air rescue are being closed. Shipping accounts for ninety percent of Swedish trade, especially in the remote northern regions. Shipping industry representatives have responded with dismay, saying that the cuts will have a direct impact on the Swedish industry in the north and the many communities that depend on it.

However, there’s hope in Canada. On Thursday the 28th of February, the Canadian federal government signed an almost $200 million US dollar agreement for Inuit-led conservation efforts in Canada’s Arctic territory of Nunavut. This historic milestone will fund widespread conservation projects run by Inuit communities to protect lands, waters, and wildlife and expand marine protected areas along the east coast, all while funding Inuit fishing communities to continue sustainably fishing in their territory.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, called this funding a statement of Canada’s commitment to walking the path toward Indigenous reconciliation, as lands and rights are returned to those who were stripped of them long ago.

Speaking of Nunavut, on Thursday the 27th of February, the federal government formally apologized for the forced relocations of Inuit families from their ancestral homes on Baffin island to an abandoned settlement at Dundas Harbour, Nunavut, in the nineteen thirties and nineteen forties. The relocations - meant to assert Canadian sovereignty - left families struggling in extreme conditions with little support. Many suffered from starvation and diseases before being forced to move again.

Inuit leaders called the apology long overdue, emphasizing the profound harm caused by decades of government policies. The federal government pledged continued reconciliation efforts, but survivors and their descendants say true justice requires concrete action.

Also on Thursday, the Norwegian oil company, Vår Energi, announced it had discovered a new oil well in the Goliat ridge, in the Barents’ Sea in far northern Norway. The company believes there are over 40 million oil barrels available in this newest well but Vår Energi has spent years exploring the Goliat ridge and the total oil potential of all the wells discovered so far is estimated to be over 200 million barrels.

Fossil fuels are not the only things on the rise in Norway, as forests are also increasing. On Thursday the 27th of February, the Norwegian Directorate of Agriculture published a report on the annual forest planting activity across Norway over the last twenty years. In twenty twenty-four, almost 50 million trees were planted at a cost of over 30 million US dollars, the largest investment in forest growth since nineteen ninety-five.

The Directorate noted that the focus on tree planting is increasing carbon sequestration in forests, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Following the historic low in two thousand five when below 20 million trees were planted, Norway’s forests are back to growing steadily.

Another kind of plant growth is taking place in far northern Norway. Dr Éliane Ubalijoro, the chief executive of the Center for International Forestry Research, said on Tuesday the 25th of February that she has delivered a huge new batch of seeds to the Global Seed Vault — the world’s safeguard for preserving crop diversity in the event of disaster, located within the Arctic islands of Svalbard.

Dr Ubalijoro brought over 100,000 seeds from over 170 African plants and trees to the vault, including five brand new species to the seed bank. With Africa facing climate disasters regularly, this Arctic vault holds the keys to recovery and hope.

Svalbard is full of new surprises. On International Polar Bear Day (Thursday the 27th of February), researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute revealed the first detailed look at polar bear cubs emerging from their dens. Polar bear mothers are incredibly secretive about their den locations, building them underneath the snow with just a small hole for ventilation. This makes observing maternal behavior almost impossible, but a decade of remote cameras placed around Svalbard has finally captured the rare event of young cubs emerging into the world for the first time. The Polar Institute hopes video studies like this one can help us to better understand how to protect this elusive species.

To see this beautiful video for yourself, take a look at the link in the show notes.

Another famous Arctic animal, the narwhal, has been seen doing something for the first time. Little was known about narwhals or their unicorn-like tusk until now. On Friday the 28th of February, researchers from Canada’s Department of Fisheries, working with local Inuit communities, published research detailing the first evidence of exactly how the narwhal tusk is used.

Using camera drones, seventeen distinct behaviors have been recorded. The whales were seen using their elongated tooth to hunt, play, communicate, feel, fight and more. Narwhals were once thought to only use their tusk to fight, but we’ve learnt that the unicorns of the sea use them for so much more.

Another incredible nature discovery has been made in northern Finland. The Finnish University of Turku announced on Thursday the 27th of February that they have discovered the world's oldest shrub in Utsjoki, in Finnish Lapland. The shrub is a juniper that has been determined to be almost 1,650 years old. According to researchers, the juniper began growing in 260 and died in nineteen six. It was aged by counting its growth rings.

Let’s close this edition in Iceland, where life beneath the volcano is returning to normal. The residents of the southern town of Grindavik have had a time of constant evacuations and property damage due to the Sundhnúkur volcano’s repeated eruptions. But without an eruption since November, on Tuesday the 25th of February, Fannar Jónasson, the mayor of Grindavik, announced that municipal facilities will reopen in March and employees will return to daily life in the town. Jónasson did note that there is still a chance of another eruption soon but that the town needs to gradually return to normal and be ready to evacuate if the volcano erupts again.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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