Greenland is the largest island in the world but has a small population of 56,000. Many of these ‘Greenlanders’ live close t0 the coastline because a large part of the country is covered with ice and glaciers. More than a quarter of all the people live in the capital, Nuuk. Sincc the 1960s, the country has had economic difficultics and social problems. Its traditional industry -and its biggcst -is fishing but the country still imports much more than it exports. Now, however, life is
about to change dramatically for many Greenlanders -and all because of the weather.
Most scientists agreex that the world’s climate is getting warmer and you can already see the difference in Greenland. For examPle, small icebergs about the size of City buses ._ are Hoating near t0 the coast. They have broken off from much larger areas of ice further out in the ocean because of the change in temperature. Furthermore, the huge sheet of ice which covers Greenland is shrinking by about 75 cubic kilometres each year. If all of Greenland’s ice melted, sea
levels across the world would rise by 7.5 metres.