In recent history Greenland has undergone significant constitutional, societal and cultural changes, which have led to a situation today where the wish for independence from Denmark is more present than ever. Now there are strong indications that economic growth and thereby independence is likely being realised through the implementation of new processing and extracting industries. The implementation of very large-scale industries also carries the potential of environmental damage and societal costs, however. This challenges the administration when it handles applications from large international companies that are interested in operating in Greenland. The dilemma of fixing priorities between, on the one hand, social and environmental costs and, on the other hand, stagnation in economic development, is known worldwide. Based on the international experience, it is unquestionable that decisions crucial to the future development of Greenland are presently being made.
The ‘mega industries’ likely to become established in Greenland include several projects of mineral extraction and exploitation of hydrocarbons. There is an increased global focus on Greenland in this regard, as it is located physically in an area of the Arctic Sea as yet unexplored, which is expected to contain the Earth’s last large untapped reservoirs of fossil fuel, and Greenland is known to contain a wealth of unexploited mineral deposits. The increasing global demand for minerals and fossil fuels brings, among other things, the opportunity of implementing new mega industries in Greenland.
Currently, the new mega industry most likely to become established in Greenland is aluminium production. The planned production, standing alone, can influence and cause irreversible changes on society, the economy and environmental conditions in Greenland.
One of the world’s largest aluminium producing companies, Alcoa, is presently negotiating with the Government of Greenland, as it is very interested in accessing Greenland’s potential hydro power to feed the high energy demanding production process. The plan is to ship bauxite to Greenland from South America, and then to export aluminium from Greenland.
Implementation of the planned aluminium smelter will bring jobs and economic growth but at the same time it has the potential to cause significant societal changes and environmental impacts on a scale that Greenland has not yet faced through a single project.
Decisions regarding the implementation of new mega industries like aluminium production, mining and oil exploration can bring a desired independence from Denmark through economic growth. However, at the same time the implementation of these mega industries can influence the natural and societal environment in Greenland by causing changes in settlement patterns, business structure, allocation of goods, health conditions, physical planning etc. on a scale as yet unknown and hard to foresee.
One of the tools introduced to meet the challenge of making more sustainable decisions in Greenland in this regard is Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). There is no legal demand or requirement for conducting SEAs in Greenland today, but still different types of impact assessments have been carried out in relation to specific projects, plans and programmes in order to include environmental considerations in decision-making. Based on the challenges for decision-making when new mega industries are planned, this thesis
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focuses on the role and function of the as yet non-mandatory SEA in decision-making regarding implementation of new mega industries.
1.1 Background and research aims
The overall background for establishing the research project was governmental concern in Greenland regarding environmental protection when new mega industries are planned. As Greenland has no legislation or guidelines in place to handle impact assessments at a strategic level, the government officials were interested in having a study carried out with focus on SEA of mega industries in Greenland. This research project is hence rooted in the environmental and democratic challenge of planning and assessing the implementation of an aluminium production in Greenland.
The study is carried out with a theoretical approach that uses theories of power, since power dynamics has been shown to influence the course of the decision-making before a final decision was made and hence the effectiveness of the SEA.
It is generally recognised that SEA as a tool in political decision-making processes has the potential to be politicised and subject to the influence of power. Still there is a lack of research related to the influence of power dynamics in SEA processes. The aim of the thesis is to explore on a specific level the potential for the effectiveness of SEAs in strategic decision-making when industrial programmes are implemented in Greenland. Based on a value rational approach, the study identifies patterns and tendencies in SEA carried out in relation to mega industry in Greenland in order to investigate to what extent, and how, SEA is effective in securing environmental considerations in decision-making, and to investigate how and why the SEA influences the outcome of decision-making.
1.2 Arrangement of the thesis
The thesis is structured in two main blocks, (1) a review and (2) a collection of articles. The first block covers the essence of the research undertaken. After this introduction the motivation of the research questions is described in chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 2, ‘A Time of Change in Greenland’, introduces issues that motivated the research topic and thus presents the context in which the research has been carried out. Then the state of the art in research related to SEA effectiveness and power is introduced in chapter 3, ‘Impact assessment as a tool to include environmental concerns in strategic decision-making’. The methodology and approach to the research is then presented in chapter 4, ‘Research Strategy and Method’ and chapter 5, ‘Theory of power and structures’, which describes the overall research design and approach. An account of the overall theories and methodology drawn upon in the research is given. Methods are also further described and discussed in relation to the different parts of the research in the papers in the second block of the thesis. The results of the research undertaken is presented in chapters 6 and 7. First, the case that forms the empirical background material for the study is described in chapter 6, ‘Presentation of the case study, Aluminium Programme and SEA’. Chapter 7 assembles the main results from the papers structured upon the research questions they contribute to answer.
Finally, based on the assembled results, I look back at the research questions and broaden out the discussion of how the research results respond to them. In the conclusion, I discuss and reflect on the contribution of this paper to the field of SEA in Greenland and to the field of SEA
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The second block contains seven papers that represent the research undertaken. The first and the third papers are in Danish and are published in a Danish popular-scientific journal.
The second paper is a peer-reviewed conference paper presented at the annual conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) in Perth, Western Australia, in 2008, published on the IAIA’s webpage. Papers 4, 5, 6 and 7 are all submitted to peer- reviewed international scientific journals. One is published, and the other four are all accepted for publication. The papers are as follows:
1. Hansen, K. G. and A. M. Hansen (2008). Miljø og megaindustri: Strategisk Miljøvurdering af Grønlands potentielt første aluminiumssmelter (Environment and megaindustry: Strategic Environmental Assessment of Greenland’s potential first aluminium smelter), Tidsskriftet Grønland, No. 2-3, pp 72-84, August 2008, Det Grønlandske Selskab, published.
2. Hansen, A. M., L. Kørnøv and K. G. Hansen (2008). Mega Industry and Climate Change:
need for a Higher Level SEA, Proceedings of the IAIA08, Conference, ‘Art and Science of Impact Assessment’. Peer reviewed.
3. Hansen, A. M. and C. Vium (2009). Værdiportrætter i en tid med klimaforandring og industriudvikling (’Value portraits’ in a time of climate change and industrial development), Tidsskriftet Grønland, No. 4, pp 304-317, December 2009, Det Grønlandske Selskab, published.
4. Hansen, A. M. and L. Kørnøv (2010). A Value rational view of impact assessment of mega industry in a Greenland planning and policy context, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, Vol. 28, pp 135-145, June 2010. Peer reviewed, published.
5. Hansen, A. M. (2010). Evaluation of Strategic Environmental Assessment effectiveness: In the planning of an aluminium reduction plant, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. Under review, accepted.
6. Hansen, A. M., L. Kørnøv, T. Richardson and M. Cashmore (2010). The significance of structural power in Strategic Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, special edition for 2011 on power and planning, Under review, accepted.
7. Kørnøv, L, I. Lyhne, S. V. Larsen and A. M. Hansen (2010). Change agents in the field of SEA Submitted to Journal of Environmental Policy and Management, under review, accepted
The first two papers concern the status of SEAs in Greenland. The papers present regulation and practice for carrying out impact assessments when new industries are planned. Hansen and Hansen (2008) describe the planning and process of carrying out an SEA of the proposed aluminium plant in Greenland. Hansen, Kørnøv and Hansen (2008) presents a review of the impact assessments conducted in relation to former and actual projects programmes and
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plans in Greenland. The strategic level of the assessments is analysed as well as their scope in terms of the parameters included.
The third and fourth papers investigate how practice fits with the expectations and needs expressed by professionals, politicians and the public. Hansen and Vium (2009) focus on public values and concerns in Greenland today regarding the future. The article is a snapshot of local concerns in a specific area of Greenland, based on interviews with thirteen local people. Hansen and Kørnøv (2010) reflects on the challenges to the impact assessment system of Greenland in a planning and policy context, based on the values and expectations of Greenlanders who work with impact assessments. The paper discusses whether and how SEA could contribute to securing good environmental management and support sustainable development. The paper includes a description of the environmental regulation. Since it was written, new initiatives have been taken towards implementation of the recommendations.
The present and updated status of the regulation of environmental protection when new industries are planned is presented in chapter 2, ‘A Time of change in Greenland’.
The fifth and sixth papers are specifically focused on the use of SEA in decision-making when new industries are planned. Based on the case study of an aluminium reduction plant in Greenland, their focus is on how power among actors influences SEA effectiveness when key decisions are being made. Hansen (2010) presents an evaluation of the effectiveness of the aluminium SEA. Based on the formal objective, the focus is on investigating how the SEA impacted on the inclusion of environmental knowledge in the planning processes and decision-making, when a site for an aluminium plant was selected. Hansen, Kørnøv Richardson and Cashmore (2010) presents a study of how structural power facilitates or constrains the influence of actors upon decision-making and SEA.
The seventh and last paper is distinguished from the other papers as it does not regard the case of Greenland, but reflects on the effects of conducting research and case studies in interaction with the milieu where the research is carried out. It is based on an empirical study of three cases including the case study of the aluminium plant. The paper is focussed on the question of: ‘What does acting as a change agent within the field of SEA involve, and what potentials and relevance does it have for research and practice?’.
Some overlap and duplication can be found in the papers, primarily regarding the introduction to the topic and the case study, as it was necessary for the papers to be able to stand alone when published.
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