Established in 1974, it’s a vast protected area located in the northeast of the island, spanning approximately 972,000 square kilometers—about the size of France and Spain combined—making it the world’s largest national park.
It occupies nearly half of the island, which has a total area of 2,166,086 square kilometers, surpassing the size of 165 countries and being the largest protected land area on the planet. For comparison, Yellowstone National Park in the United States is 100 times smaller.
Around 80 percent of the park is permanently covered in snow and ice due to its location within the Arctic Circle, featuring an extremely cold subarctic climate. Temperatures rarely rise above freezing, even in summer, and temperatures below -30°C are common year-round.
Inside the park, there are no roads, ports, or airports. There are no hotels or accommodations, and the sparse population consists mainly of military bases and scientific stations on the coast, along with a few Inuit hunters traveling through the park for several months each year—totaling around 40 people.
The bases have short gravel runways for landing and taking off small planes, while the nearest civilian airport is in Nerlerit Inaat (Constable Point), 80 kilometers from the southern boundary of the park.
Due to the extreme climate, vegetation within the park is very limited, with only grass, moss, and lichens able to survive on the rocky terrain. However, the park is home to a rich Arctic wildlife, including polar bears, seals, walruses, beluga whales, musk oxen, Arctic foxes, Arctic wolves, lemmings, and various bird species such as seagulls, puffins, eiders, and fulmars.
The primary purpose of establishing Northeast Greenland National Park was to protect the unique and pristine nature of the area, including the threatened species that inhabit it.
Another key goal was to preserve the traditional lifestyle of the Inuit, allowing subsistence hunting within certain established limits as it is integral to their culture.
Despite its remote location, the park has garnered increasing scientific attention in recent decades due to its significance in studying Arctic climate change.
Paleoclimatic records indicate significant fluctuations in Greenland’s ice sheet in the past, and current monitoring suggests that Arctic ice melting is accelerating.
The park provides unparalleled opportunities to better understand the long-term impacts of global warming.
Although Greenland has limited sovereignty as an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, the Greenlandic government took over the management of its own national park system in 2009.
Visits are allowed with prior permission from the Greenlandic government, and camping is permitted as long as it’s not near breeding, feeding, molting, or resting areas for mammals and birds.
Taking any objects from the park, using motorized vehicles, hunting, and fishing are not allowed.
One reason for these restrictions is that, despite the territory being practically uninhabited today, it was home to Paleo-Inuit cultures (2400 to 200 BCE) and Neo-Inuit cultures (1300 to 1850 CE) in the past. Numerous undiscovered archaeological sites are believed to exist, a challenging task given the park’s enormous expanse.
In addition, the remains of these cultures are often openly exposed in the topsoil, well preserved by ice, and visitors could jeopardize the preservation of important archaeological remains.
Additionally, up to 350 cabins from former Danish and Norwegian trappers remain in the park. Until the 1960s, these trappers spent years hunting foxes and polar bears to supply the European fur market, leaving when they had accumulated considerable profits.
Expedition cruises visit the area during the summer, allowing landings at cultural or natural points of interest, especially on the south coast. Local tour operators offer boat expeditions or dog sled journeys.
This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on November 30, 2023. Puedes leer la versión en español en El espectacular Parque Nacional del Nordeste de Groenlandia ocupa casi la mitad de la isla y es más grande que 165 países
Sources
The National Park (Visit Greenland, web oficial) | Access Nationalpark (Nanu Travel) | Wikipedia
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