Greenland research institute halts new US partnerships to protect data and scientists

Greenland's leading environmental and natural-resource research centre is stopping new collaboration with US partners to protect its data and scientists, its head said on Wednesday.

Josephine Nymand, director of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, said the institute had decided to engage only in projects with US partners with whom it was already working or had worked before.

The decision comes amid tension over President Donald Trump's vows to seize the mineral-rich island.

In an interview with Greenland's public broadcaster KNR, Nymand said the decision was based on a need to protect the institute's data and scientists. She cited the Trump administration's deletion of large amounts of scientific data and its refusal to allow some foreign scientists into the United States.

Nymand said she could do little to help compatriots if they were detained on arrival in the United States, and that this was why the institute had decided it was best not to go there in the current situation.

The source says Trump's administration has cut billions of dollars in public research funding and fired government scientists since he returned to the White House in January 2025. It also says reports and data on climate and the environment have been targeted for large-scale deletion from government websites.

The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources conducts research on Arctic ecosystems and monitors Greenland's environment and biological resources.