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Indigenous knowledge

Innovation exceeds fear of climate change in Greenland

Greenland is central to climate research and research now shows that Greenlanders are far more aware of a rapidly changing Arctic climate than of the underlying global causes. However, their willingness to harness new opportunities exceeds fear of climate change’s consequences.

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Fig. 1: Depictions of modern pastoralism and its various innovations in South Greenland.

B. C. Forbes (top left and right); F. Stammler (bottom left and right)

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply indebted to the many Greenlanders who engaged in valuable discussions on the topics discussed, while we alone are responsible for the opinions expressed. Our fieldwork in Greenland has been supported by NSF Grant RCN no. 1503884; NSF Grants NNA no. 1928230 and no. 2126794; the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no. 869471; and the Academy of Finland’s WIRE project no. 342462.

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Correspondence to Bruce C. Forbes.

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Forbes, B.C., Stammler, F. Innovation exceeds fear of climate change in Greenland. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 603–605 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01714-4

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