Source: High North News, No.11, Nov. 1996, published by the High North Alliance

    Greenland Environment Minister on Eco-labelling:

    Give Sealskins the Eco-tag

    According to the Greenland newspaper, “Sermitsiak”, Greenland’s Environment Minister, Marianne Jensen, created quite a stir at the Nordic Council’s European Conference in February. After everyone had reached perfect agreement on a system of eco-labelling for white goods, she entered the rostrum saying, “The next subject for eco-labelling will be clothing and textiles. In this respect, Greenland has a burning ambition. We call upon Finland, Sweden and Denmark to work towards the labelling of Greenland sealskins in the EU as ecologically correct clothing of excellent quality.” The provocation brought forth embarrassed smiles and led to considerable attention being paid by participants. However, the Danish Environment Minister, Sven Auken, promptly took the challenge, promising from the rostrum that he would try to live up to the Greenlanders’ wishes. “But it’s not going to be easy,” he admitted.

Back to the High North News Contents Page