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Although the inhabitants of Narsaq (Greenland) directly witness the consequences of climate change, they do not always know how they can contribute to solutions. Glaciologist Faezeh Nick and her colleagues hope to change this. They decided to plant a ‘tiny forest’ together with a local primary school to raise climate awareness and residents’ active involvement in their environment. What can we learn from this project?

That sounds like a fun project! Can you tell us more about it?

“We involve the children in the whole process. We first sow seeds of native tree species in the greenhouse, and then take care of the seedlings together. Once these are big enough, we take the children to plant them. During this work, we talk about which tree species grow best here and what care they need. We find to our delight that the residents are becoming more and more enthusiastic about what we do.”

What challenges do you encounter on such a project?

“The main challenge is logistics. Small villages are separated by fjords, mountains and glaciers. This makes moving people and belongings very difficult. There is also a clear cultural difference. It is sometimes difficult to agree something concrete with the locals. The other day I needed a tractor, but until the last minute it remains uncertain whether such a thing is actually arranged.”

Last year you received the Public Engagement Seed Fund, how did that help you?

“We used this money to send two students to Narsaq in August 2023. At first, I saw this mainly as a relief from my own duties, but gradually we found out that they connect with the pupils on a completely different level. While planting trees, the students also talked about their lives in the Netherlands as young adults, life at university and what doing research really means. That really resonates with the children.”

How do you plan to use that in the future?

“We want to send students to Greenland much more often. We also want to expand to other schools in Greenland and are toying with the idea of linking them to Dutch schools. That way they learn about each other’s life, culture and climate. Hopefully more and more schools will join in the future, and it will become an ongoing project.”

Dr Faezeh Nick is associate professor at the Faculty of Geosciences

Text: Sigrid Dekker