Arctic Circle Assembly

I took part in the Arctic Circle Assembly for the 2nd time and compared to last year, I found the talks more interesting this year. The increasing interest in the Arctic (and maybe Trump’s comments to buy Greenland) have attracted more people than ever to this annual conference in Reykjavík. Our students at the University of Iceland are encouraged to take part in the Arctic Circle Assembly and can actually participate as part of a course. I enjoyed in particular Kim Kielsen’s and John Kerry’s talk – and not forgetting Edda Aradóttir’s presentation about CarbFix and getting the message across, there is a way to deal with CO2 emissions.

For me personally it was also interesting to hear the Greenland’s four ‘head of representation’ from Brussels, Washington DC, Copenhagen, and Reykjavík. I knew Greenland’s first representative in Brussels, Finn Lynge. It’s impressive how much have happened in the passing 25 years since he started his work. Now everyone knows the country Greenland! I got a chance to say hello to Jacob Isbosethsen, who is the Greenland’s head of representation in Reykjavík.

Denmark’s Ambassador in Iceland, Eva Egesborg Hansen invited all Danes taking part in the Assembly to a reception at the Danish Embassy. All four of us (Danes) from the Institute of Earth Sciences took part in this reception. We had very interesting discussions with Denmark’s new ambassador to the Arctic, Thomas Winkler, Jørgen M. Clausen from Danfoss A/S, Jens-Peter Holst Andersen from Danish Ministry of Defence, – and the embassy’s two new interns, Jens and Oscar. It was fun to hear their impressions of Iceland.