Q&A with Per Berthelsen

More than 90 percent of the island's people are indigenous Greenlanders, descended from Canadian Inuit who migrated across the frozen sea starting about 1,000 years ago. Denmark colonized Greenland in the 18th century, and today the island is still under Danish rule. But not for long: In November, Greenland's voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum to make the island self-governing, a historic step on the way to independence.

Greenland's path, in many ways, is an unprecedented one. The island's political leaders face a unique set of challenges, from dealing with a US air base to figuring out how to get its people jobs in the oil and mining industries while still allowing them to do the hunting and fishing their society has revolved around for centuries.

Greenland's foreign minister, Per Berthelsen, was in Washington recently for a meeting of the Arctic Council. He spoke to Ideas over coffee and carrot cake at a bookstore cafe.

IDEAS: After nearly 300 years as a colony, how close is Greenland to real independence?

BERTHELSEN: The prime minister of Greenland says we can be independent in 12 years, and he is my boss. But I would add 12 years to that. . . . In Greenlandic, we say "shoot the animal before we sell the skin." So I really think we can't start dreaming too much.

IDEAS: How big a role will oil and gas play in Greenland's future?

BERTHELSEN: It's very important. We've seen, because of global warming, the stability of fishing has fallen. It's very unstable, especially in the northern part of Greenland. We can only rely on ice fishing for one month now; five or six years ago we could do it for four months. In the short term, Greenlanders will be the losers with these changes. But we would be giving up if we don't look at the possibilities, too, and try to adapt to the new situation, so we're trying to find the positive in what is going on. The melting of the ice is opening up new areas of land where new exploration can take place. . . . We know we have to be patient, because even if they found oil tomorrow we wouldn't start getting income for 15 years. So we are trying to be calm and pragmatic.

IDEAS: Has the economy slowed down oil or mining activities at all?

BERTHELSEN: We expected the global financial crisis would cause some of these projects to cool down for some years, or to be postponed. But what we see is that the ambition to keep the plans going is very high. Some of the big companies with oil exploration licenses will even go faster to start drilling, by two years, because now it's cheaper for them to buy the necessary equipment.

IDEAS: From a historical perspective, Greenland is getting its independence very late, decades after the wave of decolonization in the rest of the world. Why has it taken Greenland so long?

BERTHELSEN: We were so few people, and not well educated. If I should blame Denmark for anything, I would say it's a shame they wanted to keep Greenland as a colony as long as possible, didn't take the necessary steps to start educating Greenlanders. That started very late. Otherwise, I'll defend them for being a pretty good colonizer. They have been very moderate, and that's probably partly why the resistance didn't take place here. Today it's different. Young people have so much more understanding of the outside world, the need for education, their identity.

IDEAS: Do you have concerns about moving away from your traditional hunting and fishing economy?

BERTHELSEN: Yes, but it's necessary. It's so hard for our hunters and fishermen to make a living, so we have to create land-based activities that will allow Greenlanders to plan more than day to day. The number of full-time hunters will decrease, but the part-time hunters will increase. When we create more land-based activities it will teach Greenlanders to be more mobile. Today people stay isolated in their village. Now we'll say, go to a job for 14 days, go back to your area for 14 days to be a part-time hunter, and then go back to work. This is common in the oil and mining industries, and I think it's an interesting model to start with. We have to make people understand that they don't have to kill their culture even if they take a job.

Forcing a Greenlandic hunter to stop his hunting and get a full-time job would be to imprison a free man. I cannot live without using at least eight, 10 full weekends for catching my own trout, shooting my own caribou, going out to get a couple of seals. I don't feel satisfied, I don't feel alive, if I should live only on Scandinavian or European food. It's a part of my genes.

IDEAS: As you develop, is there any country in the world that you use as a model, an example to follow?

BERTHELSEN: No. We are kind of a pilot project.

IDEAS: What's the next step?

BERTHELSEN: On June 21, self-governance will be official. The Danish royal family is coming and many ambassadors from different countries will attend. But the next step is to make the changes necessary to take over the management of nonrenewable resources, because the income from that will allow the Greenlandic government to take over more and more responsibilities. . . . Under self-governance, we will be recognized as peoples under international law, and we'll get ownership of the underground resources - and the income, too. So it's a hell of a difference compared to what we had before.

IDEAS: What will happen to the US air base in far northern Greenland?

BERTHELSEN: I really think we should look at the possibilities to create income when we lend out areas in our country for different purposes. Cooperation with the US is not going to change. But in the future, when we make deals, we need to be more business-minded.

IDEAS: Have foreign businesses starting opening yet in Greenland's capital?

BERTHELSEN: No, no one is setting up business in Nuuk yet. But in the next five years, you're going to see a lot of investment. We just opened our first high-speed Internet line. That's one of the steps to attract businesspeople.

Joshua Kucera, a freelance writer in Washington, D.C., has written for Slate, The Atlantic, and Time.