"You are not in control of nature": views on sustainability and local acceptability of ice sheet conservation in Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland

Ice sheet conservation by seabed anchored curtain (SAC) is a cryospheric climate intervention method suggested for stabilizing the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets for reducing global sea level rise. We conducted a case study on sustainability and local acceptability of SAC in Ilulissat Icefjord, the outlet fjord of Sermeq Kujalleq or Jakobshavn Glacier in North West Greenland. The study was conducted as a design-oriented transdisciplinary knowledge co-production process with the local, mostly indigenous community in Ilulissat in the vicinity of the Icefjord. The conditions for local acceptability and sustainability are essential questions to be considered besides efficiency and technical feasibility.

The results show that SAC would largely not have local acceptance in this location. The curtain was deemed unsustainable for various reasons including the local and global value of the Icefjord; disbelief in the efficiency and technical feasibility of the method; potential negative impacts on local livelihoods, particularly fishing; distrust and history of colonialism; views on climate change; and the indigenous view on the relationship between humans and nature. Moreover, climate change mitigation and other environmental issues were prioritized. These results, and the lack of global level impact (Zhao et al. forthcoming), should be considered as an off-ramp from further SAC research in this location.

The study is a global first on the local community dimensions regarding SAC with an Arctic, mostly indigenous local community. More research on climate interventions and their impacts on local communities with the communities is needed for finding more locally acceptable, sustainable and just co-designs of the methods, for informing scientific inquiry by inclusive and equitable research, and for enabling informed decision-making and governance of climate interventions in the future.