The arctic is often described as a vast expanse of eternal ice but in some parts of the region thats 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 as all that ice melts. This will be almost a week to rise and she loves. 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 retrieving. The wall maps to be with 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 world in the future. A challenge or an opportunity. During the summer after the ice has melted vegetation blooms along the coastline animal bones indicate that wildlife has returned. 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 this arctic treasure is fierce. These resources include Oil Natural Gas and rare earth elements. Taken together theyre 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 say in Government Policies that affect them. All. These scientists will be the 1st to study a particularly remote part of our to canada. Or feels great you know our days are waiting in the new get ready to go on the field. We got close twice and now were getting on thats actually right. See what awaits. You spot just tuck your bag underneath your seat itll 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 im expecting that theyll be a lot more. People coming up north to find out more about. The detainees. Things that were frozen. I know. July 1st is canada day the countrys National Holiday but the local innuit residents dont 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 up. 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 proper education and we hope that. Wealthy within that 1020 years that theyll be a doctor. We now have. Lawyers we now have well nurses. But we need more. In the proper. System. And. 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 its still cold just 3 degrees centigrade. The researchers are right from resolute bay. Spent 2 months on the territories not cops. There are no settlements here and no roads either theres not a lot of vegetation because the tundra subsoil is permanently frozen. The scientists set up their camp and its 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 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 and. The. Cost is a geologist who works for germanys 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 grass be as a geochemist who works for canadas 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. So right these are. Tough 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 ill insert it into these tubes and it will shake it around ill take it home will extract d. N. A. Out of your 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 and 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. Stephen grass be discovered some unusual vegetation on a mountainside recently and now hes come back to take a closer look. Theres a freshwater spring here a rare occurrence in this part of the arctic. The topsoil falls only in the summer time. Crespi speculates on the origins of the spring. Were finding more and more different areas of spring and were able to record temperatures weve left they dont longer than this frames through the winter and we can see that they flow all winter long so it turns out that these very high latitude art. Regions are sheets of areas of very active groundwater flow. Challenges or conceptions those see whats happening and it really tells us we we dont 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 4 degrees centigrade. The water temperature at that time is 6 degrees. Spirit captures a thermal image of the spring before the team heads back to camp. Colleges to victoria peace specializes in the study of plate tectonics the movement of parts of the earths crust. Shes been doing research in the arctic for 20 years and also teaches at the university of stockholm today shes working with a colleague from canada. And the arctic is a hole in the Global Warming. 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 the industry side of things are very interested in the arctic whats 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. Believe that china do have a row to play in seeking peace. In that region and in promoting a sense of ability Sustainable Development in the area chinas government issued a white paper on the arctic policy in which the poll the silk road has been. Announced as a policy of the Chinese Government and you can see the north sea of routes. I have to because. Commercial they feasible all of 2 years all for a celebration melting ice in the arctic region. China aims 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 routes would cut shipping time by 20 percent or about 2 weeks. Some experts say that china also wants access to the arctic switch supply of Natural Resources. To. The growing chinese middle class its 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 they see that china moves in in the places where United States is not present always United States force out then you see china course in and and we also stopped to see that in the. Meanwhile back in arctic canada the tory apiece 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 thats fine with victoria. I look at the tectonic environment where rocks 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 its 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 theyll have to start preparing now. Its this i start with some materials from the franklin basin. These researchers at germanys institute for geosciences and Natural Resources and one off are going to analyze some rock samples that were taken off the coast of western greenland theyve got a lot of work ahead of them 1st to cut away a slice of rock thats just 30 microns think about the same width as a sheet of paper. Then the examine it under a microscope. My voice jesus stance this sample is almost transparent its 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 bin holly and see how. We return to know that the local residents sometimes find jobs helping the Foreign Research teams in several countries have a vested interest in exploiting the regions Natural Resources and the Scientists Research may help them to do that. To him you would hope that is the arctic ice continues to melt theyll 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 theyre tired of living in primitive dwellings and eating only the meat and fish that nature provides as their ancestors did before them. Were. Disagreements capital new code located on the southwest coast. Greenland has been part of denmark since 814 but now enjoys a great deal of autonomy but. Still subsidy payments from denmark make up about 60 percent of the territorys 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 of generating new income sources for our country. We see. The mining us. As a future. Along with. Other industries that we are trying to attract ukraine so there is a consideration of making. Lists for rapid or certain changes of fish. The fishing industry is a key element in greenlands 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 todays catch is being unloaded at the port of new. Works for oil greenland the territorys largest Fishing Company that has more than 40 processing facilities in greenland and also on Canadas Atlantic coast the Company Headquarters are located here in new cook. The. Fish shellfish from greenland i think it has a good price. So its a good species to have a. Local fisherman. In. Fishery so approximately 3000 people. Delivering the fish for our factories and we have. In the sea. The royal greenland also operates its own fleet of fishing vessels. One of them is just come into port. And monacos and meets the captain yes the ship was at sea for 2 weeks and brought in 250 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 to cold or water. In addition there are indications that the area of greenlands coast is being overfished. Monocacy that happened before. The caucus is a species that is coming back back in the eightys there was a lot of a lot of cut in the greenlandic sea but suddenly it disappeared so there hasnt been. Fishing in the last 20 years and greene and so its its 1st the last years that its 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 greenlands 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 greenland 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. Were greenland is one of europes most remote tourist destinations but visitors are not attracted by Luxury Hotels or wellness with solidities there are none here. Theyve come to see the territorys 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. Move. Me and. 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 the. Only small planes can land at the airport and. The runway is too short for large commercial passenger jets. Friedmans government is trying to line up Foreign Investors who will help finance improvements high on the list of potential partners or chinese businesses. Im not afraid of china in general i think china. And metals and minerals. Its an important investment country. Last year a Company Owned by the Chinese Government submitted a bid for the expansion of 3 small airports 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 sticks very difficult it is far away from both europe and north america and its 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 its usen who lives in the lock on the southeast coast. 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 im. Great in a new longer low if you know soon ill go by myself. Been yeah. Been yeah any good when my family lives on the meat all the fish that i bring back you know. So far weve always had enough to eat. Will never go hungry. That much but i made sure of that. Kind now. To b. S. And his family eat reindeer and musk ox meat in summer. And in winter mostly seals and narwhals a small species of whale. Will never. Be as is not concerned that the arctic ice is melting hes 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. When you know its going to be 0 to grow vegetables here. We can only niger provides. And we dont waste any food. If we dont need it right what will freeze it and story. And 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 dizzy 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 arent 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 temp century norse explorer he hoped that a pleasant sounding name would attract settlers. To. The residence or to see 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. Look its th