The governance of protected areas in Greenland: The Resource National Park among conservation and exploitation.

A significant part of Greenland has some forms of conservation status, and the National Park, created in 1974 with a surface of 972,000 km2, mainly of inland ice and fjords, is the world’s largest protected area. The National Park has a status of biosphere area under the Man and Biosphere Program (MAB). Strictly regulated for its access and allowed activities, e.g. recreational and outdoor activities are not authorized, and permission is needed, except for the population living adjacent to the Park, to be in the region but other activities, for instance mineral pits, are allowed.

Historically the establishment of protected areas has been based on either the protection of unique habitats or the concept of ecological representatively; nowadays climate change has become the primary challenge to the usefulness of protected areas as a conservation tool.

This chapter presents the case of Greenland, the environmental protection and the role of the local population in the governance of the national park seen from the local point of view as a resource for the socio-economic revitalisation of the adjacent community of Ittoqqortoormiit.