Rachael is a professor of law at the University of runs the Polar law masters programme. She also holds a 25% professorship at Ilisimatusarfik (the University of Greenland). She presented her preliminary findings from the fieldwork at the 14 Polar Law Symposium. Her publications regarding Greenland include:

• “Colonisation at the Poles; a Story of Ineffective Occupation,” 13 Yearbook of Polar Law (2022, accepted)
• “La storia della colonizzazione e della decolonizzazione incompleta, e la creazione dei Popoli Indigeni. I fondamenti dei loro diritti ‘speciali’” Nordicum-Mediterraneum Special Issue “Diritto Polare” (2021).
• Rachael Lorna Johnstone and Tom Barry, “Iceland’s Engagement with Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic,” in Iceland and the Arctic Region: a Decade of Policy in Action (Routledge, 2022, accepted).
• Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “From the Indian Ocean to the Arctic: what the Chagos Archipelago Advisory Opinion tells us about Greenland” (2020) 12 Yearbook of Polar Law 308-327.
• Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “What is required for Free, Prior and Informed Consent and where does it apply?” in Regulation of Extractive Industries: Community Engagement in the Arctic, eds. Rachael Lorna Johnstone and Anne Merrild Hansen (Routledge, 2020).
• Rachael Lorna Johnstone and Anne Merrild Hansen, “Comparative expectations of resource development in selected Greenland communities” in Regulation of Extractive Industries: Community Engagement in the Arctic, eds. Rachael Lorna Johnstone and Anne Merrild Hansen (Routledge, 2020).
• Anne Merrild Hansen and Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “Arctic Voices: Strategies for Community Engagement” in Regulation of Extractive Industries: Community Engagement in the Arctic, eds. Rachael Lorna Johnstone and Anne Merrild Hansen (Routledge, 2020).
• Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “The Impact of International Law on Natural Resource Governance in Greenland,” Polar Record, Special Issue: “International Law for Sustainability in Arctic Resource Development,” 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247419000287.
• Anne Merrild Hansen and Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “In the Shadow of the Mountain: Assessing early impacts on community development from two mining prospects in South Greenland” 6(2) The Extractive Industries and Society, 2019, 480-488. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2019.01.012.
• Anne Merrild Hansen and Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “Improving Public Participation in Greenland Extractive Industries” in Current Developments in Arctic Law: Vol. V, Kamrul Hossain and Anna Petrétei (eds), Arctic Law Thematic Network [2018] 29-33. Open-Access: www.ulapland.fi/news/Volume-5-of-the-Current-Developments-in-Arctic-Law-is-out!/10917/26bee361-9cee-4d63-9804-64607438a0fb
• Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “The Principle of “Full Reparation” for Environmental Damage and Very Small States” in Responsibilities and Liabilities for Commercial Activity in the Arctic: The Example of Greenland, Vibe Ulbeck, Anders Møllmann and Bent Ole Gram Mortensen (eds), Routledge Research in International Environmental Law [2016].

Martin and Jonathan are both masters students in Polar law. Martin defended his masters thesis, “Perspectives on Colonialism in Northwest Greenland”, in Spring 2021. He showed that the legal and political history in Avanersuaq is marked by colonial behaviours and attitudes that defined and excluded the Inughuit. Greenlandic and Danish authorities reproduce these colonial patterns today, leading to contemporary problems for the Inughuit. Martin also published an article on this subject in the Arctic Yearbook, and presented his findings at the 14 Polar Law Symposium. He is currently working as an intern at NAMMCO to find ways the organisation could include user knowledge in its management advice framework.

Jonathan decided to wait for the fieldwork before submitting his thesis, entitled “Free, Prior Informed Consent in Greenlandic Extractive Industries: Is it Really Free?” In his thesis, he explores the colonial legacy on international law on the Indigenous peoples of Greenland and the effects it has had on recent projects. His fieldwork in Nuuk consisted of dispelling the notion that Greenland was dependent on external standards. Jonathan found that Greenlanders have been very adaptable in tailoring international standards to fit the unique geography and society in Greenland. Jonathan will give a lecture at the 15th Polar Law Symposium in October of 2022 on his topic at the University of Iceland campus, where he is a PhD Candidate in Political Science as of August 2021.

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Contact information:
Rachael Lorna Johnstone, rlj@unak.is
Martin Binachon, binachon.martin@gmail.com
Jonathan Wood, wood.jonathan.w@gmail.com

Read more about the whole research project here