During a week of fieldwork in Ilulissat, West Greenland, three researchers from the ILLUQ project (Joan Nymand Larsen, Leneisja Jungsberg, and Peter Schweitzer) engaged with 74 local stakeholders from a variety of public and private sectors through a combination of participatory and qualitative methods, with the main objective to provide opportunities for inclusive and open dialogues about possible future scenarios and their related impacts and challenges.
The activities included five workshops, a focus group, semi-structured interviews, and a special study trip conducted with two Greenlandic guides and their team of 12 sled dogs to learn more about the permafrost environment, human and environment relations, and cultural eco-system services.
The fieldwork explored the impacts of thawing permafrost and key themes related to cultural ecosystem services, including recreational practices, cultural traditions, and the interlinkages between work, education, and everyday life. In addition, particular attention was given to current governance challenges associated with the rapid expansion of Ilulissat in the context of thawing permafrost.
A participatory ranking exercise conducted with students examined how priorities shift under different future scenarios, particularly in response to changes in resource access and availability. The results indicate that the importance attributed to family and nature remained consistently high across all envisioned futures. In contrast, material goods were assigned relatively low priority, and this pattern remained stable across scenarios.
Stakeholder discussions highlighted several interrelated challenges between permafrost thaw and societal impacts, including tensions surrounding motorised transport routes, water protection, and limited spatial capacity within the town. Ilulissat is geographically constrained, and increasing demand for land and infrastructure intensifies competition over space.
These dynamics contribute to growing conflicts of interest, particularly in the context of rising global pressures from tourism and external investments. Trade-offs are increasingly evident between economic development objectives and efforts related to environmental protection and sustainable resource management.
