ARCTIC: US Payment Promise & more – 15th April 2025

Goddag daginn from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 15th of April twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

Big changes are coming to Arctic leadership very soon. Norway’s two-year leadership of the Arctic Council, which oversees international cooperation between all Arctic nations, is coming to an end in May, and Denmark will take control.

On Friday the 11th, the Danish government published its goals for the Arctic during its tenure. The five areas that the Danish government will focus on are Indigenous Communities, Economic Development, Ocean Health, Climate Change, and Biodiversity. Denmark will also aim to make the work done by the Arctic Council more transparent and accessible to people in the north.

To see the full details of Denmark’s Arctic priorities, take a look at the link in the show notes.

This wasn’t the only announcement to come from the Danish Arctic. On Friday the 11th, the Greenlandic government announced they have appointed their first ever Arctic ambassador. Vivian Motzfeldt, the Greenlandic Foreign Minister, announced that Kenneth Hoegh has been appointed to the new role. Hoegh has worked as Greenland’s diplomatic representative in Washington since twenty twenty-one.

This announcement shows that Greenland is looking to improve relations with the US by appointing someone with experience in dealing with the US government to represent Greenland's Arctic interests.

Hoegh has a lot to deal with, with the political conflict between Greenland and the US only getting worse. The New York Times published a story on Thursday the 10th revealing that the Trump administration is seriously considering an economic plan which would involve giving about $10,000 US dollars to each Greenland resident as part of its plan to annex the island.

The story says that the annexation of Greenland has moved from being potential rhetoric to official US policy, and that Trump seeks to persuade the people of Greenland that becoming the newest US state will benefit them.

Donald Trump’s effect on the Arctic is growing. On Friday the 11th, the news agency High North News published a story revealing that The Wilson Center, the influential US Research Institute, shut down earlier this week following an Executive Order by Trump.

Among The Wilson Center’s programs is The Polar Institute, one of the world's leading research institutes for Arctic issues. The Polar Institute has a valuable archive of scientific data that is now at serious risk of being lost forever, as Trump’s attacks on science and research gather pace.

Education in the northern US is also facing an uncertain future, with Alaska dealing with a political battle over education funding. On Friday the 11th of April, Alaska’s Legislature passed a major $1,000 US dollars per-student increase to Alaska’s public school funding formula. The bill passed narrowly in both the Senate and the House, and hopes to add over $250 million US dollars annually to Alaska’s education budget.

But shortly after the vote concluded, Mike Dunleavy, Alaska’s Governor, pledged to veto the bill via a Facebook post on his personal account, criticizing lawmakers for removing policy reforms such as support for charter schools and homeschooling, leaving public schools across Alaska in uncertainty.

Another program facing uncertainty in the Arctic is whaling in Iceland. On Friday the 11th, Icelandic broadcaster MBL reported that Hvalur, Iceland’s last remaining whaling company, told employees that they are cancelling their whaling season for twenty twenty-five. Kristjan Loftsson, Hvalur’s CEO, told MBL that the industry is currently not profitable and he will reassess the situation next year. Iceland’s whales can swim safely through the country this year, safe from the harpoons until twenty twenty-six.

In other economic news, farmers in the Canadian Arctic province of Yukon are calling on their local government to support them in the wake of tariffs from the US. According to a story published by national broadcaster CBC on Wednesday the 9th, the government of the Yukon has spent almost $7 million US dollars buying food from Canada’s giant food corporations in the last five years, but in that same time period they have spent less than 100,000 US dollars on locally produced food.

Farmers from across the Yukon told CBC that if their government truly cared about its citizens then it would prioritize local support over national corporations.

With Canada currently amid a trade war with the US, buying local might just be the way to keep Canadians fed and supported.

Elsewhere in the Canadian north, a British woman is apologizing for offending Inuit communities. Last month, Camilla Hempleman-Adams, a British traveller, trekked solo across Baffin Island, Canada’s largest island, located in northern Nunavut. After completing the expedition, she said she was the first woman to ever complete the journey alone, sparking an immediate backlash from local Inuit who say their people have been navigating the region for thousands of years.

On Wednesday the 9th, Hempleman-Adams wrote to broadcaster CBC with a written, formal apology. She acknowledged she caused offence to local communities and that her remark was inaccurate, saying she holds immense admiration for Nunavut’s nature, culture and traditions.

Something else in trouble is Norway’s Arctic cod. On Friday the 11th, the Institute of Marine Research released this year’s cod migration map, revealing the worst breeding season since nineteen eighty-eight. From the 21st of March to the 6th of April, scientists aboard the vessel Johan Hjort surveyed traditional spawning grounds between Malangsgrunnen and Austnesfjorden, in the northern Troms region.

Across the entire region, cod concentrations were low and spawning activity was minimal. Even the usually rich southern Røstbanken saw no signs of life.

While some cod were observed migrating outside the survey area, catches are down everywhere. The findings may signal long-term trouble for one of Norway’s most important Arctic fisheries.

Norway is helping the world understand the Arctic—down to the millimeter. On Saturday the 12th, Norway’s Mapping Authority announced they have signed a landmark agreement with the UN in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, the world’s most northerly science base, to strengthen international geodetic cooperation. Geodesy, the science of measuring Earth’s shape and position, is crucial for monitoring sea level rise, glacial retreat, and tectonic activity.

The new agreement means Norway will share its unique data collection with the UN. In a rapidly warming Arctic, precise data from Svalbard will help scientists track planetary change with unmatched accuracy.

Understanding the Arctic is difficult because it is changing so quickly. On Wednesday the 9th, the news agency Eye on the Arctic published a story about a new research study published by an international scientific team that revealed that over the last twenty years, the retreating of Arctic glaciers has created over 2,500 kilometers (or 1,500 miles) of new coastlines. Greenland has been impacted the most, with two-thirds of glacial retreat taking place along the Greenlandic coast.

Local communities across the Arctic are facing huge changes to their homes, as the very land beneath them melts and disappears, possibly forever.

In other news, a research breakthrough in Sweden could reshape the Arctic’s role in future energy solutions. According to a story published by the news agency, Arctic Today, on Friday the 11th, researchers at northern Sweden’s Luleå University have developed new materials that could lead to safer, longer-lasting lithium batteries. Unlike conventional batteries that use liquid, these use solid materials, offering better safety and energy density.

Battery life is one of the Arctic’s major technology challenges, with cold temperatures draining battery life very quickly. The research aims to make solid-state batteries more viable for use in electric vehicles and electronics, and potentially transform the tech landscape in the north.

Finally this week, a groundbreaking Inuit TV show makes its worldwide debut. The comedy series, North of North, the biggest ever TV production in the Arctic, is set in the fictional Arctic community of Ice Cove and follows a young Inuk mother as she builds a new, independent life for herself.

The series has been available in Canada since January, but following positive reviews and success, on Thursday the 10th the series was published worldwide by Netflix.

The series aims to show a new side to Inuit culture that most people are unaware of, bringing warmth to the coldest places on Earth.

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

Did you know that the Rorshok Arctic Update is just one of many? We’ve got country updates, and non-county updates, including the Multilateral Update, about the world’s major multilateral institutions, and the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the world covered in salt water.

To check out the full list of updates, follow the link in the show notes!

Adjo