Risk Analysis and Climate Change - The Case of Greenland

This paper deals with risk analysis in relation to climate change. Because of the increasing emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), climate change is often described as the greatest contemporary threat to the environment (Granberg & Elander 2007, p. 537). It is argued that authorities at all levels must consider climate change issues and the risks that are connected to a changed climate. Adaptive capacity becomes cruisal, which refers to the extent to which society is prepared to respond to climate change and the willingness to take action to address it (IPCC 2001, Burton et al. 2002, Storbjörk 2006). This paper deals with the experience of risk analysis in Greenland and the process connected to this. The research questions focus on how the cooperation between public and private sector in governance networks has been performed in Greenland in the two risk analysis reports performed on shipping and fishing and hunting industry.