Ilulissat/Copenhagen - Views of icebergs and glaciers and meetings with local fishermen and hunters were part of the programme Monday when European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen continued a visit to Greenland. The visit hosted by Hans Enoksen, premier of the self-ruling territory, began Sunday and ends early Tuesday and is aimed at highlighting some of the effects of climate change in the Arctic region.
Ilulissat, Greenland's third largest town, is located some 250 kilometres above the Arctic circle.
Local inhabitants said fishing and hunting seasons on the Disko Bay off western Greenland were shorter now than just a few years ago.
The nearby Ilulissat Icefjord, listed since 2004 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, has also offered researchers insights into the effects of climate change for decades.
Both visiting leaders said there was need to tackle climate change.
"It's a global problem and for a global problem we need a global solution," Barroso said, adding that he hoped for "real progress" at a UN summit on climate change to be hosted in Bali, Indonesia at the end of the year.
"What we can do as politicians is to stop man-made climate change," Rasmussen told reporters.
Denmark was in 2009 due to host a UN summit aimed at adopting a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol on reductions of greenhouse gases.
Last month, a group of US politicians including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Greenland on a similar tour.
Greenland was also used as a venue in 2005 when Denmark hosted an informal meeting of environment ministers that last year met in South Africa. A four-day informal parley was held recently in northern Sweden.
