Living Land

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Building on partnerships and strong stakeholder

involvement to tackle land degradation

Thorunn Petursdottir, Soil Conservation Service of Iceland

and Hreinn Oskarsson, Hekla Forest Project & Icelandic Forest Service

celand is ecologically the most damaged country

in Europe. The story of its ecosystem degradation

stretches as far back as to the Norse settlement, or

approximately 1,100 years ago when the Vikings discov-

ered this pristine volcanic island located just south of the

Arctic Circle in the Atlantic Ocean.

At the time of settlement, around two-thirds of Iceland was

vegetated with at least 25 per cent woodland cover. Due to

a harsh climate and erodible volcanic soils, the Icelandic

ecosystems were highly vulnerable to the year-round livestock

grazing and woodland utilization practised by the settlers.

Over the following centuries, unsustainable land use triggered

ecosystem degradation resulting in extreme loss of fertile soil

and vegetation. Today, around half of the original vegeta-

tion cover is lost including almost all the woodlands; leaving

approximately 42 per cent of Iceland desolated. Furthermore,

considerable to very severe erosion still occurs on about half

of the remaining ecosystems. Most of the desertification can

be directly related to mismanagement of natural resources,

but in a few cases the deserts were formed solely by volcanic

eruptions or they are located beyond vegetation limits.

Organized work aiming to halt soil erosion and further

degradation and to protect the remaining woodlands started

nationwide in 1907 when the Icelandic Government approved

the first Act on forestry and protection against soil erosion.

It was followed up by the establishment of two governmen-

tal agencies, the Icelandic Forest Service (IFS) and the Soil

Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI). Ever since, the two

agencies have actively practised and facilitated ecosystem

conservation and ecosystem restoration through diverse

reclamation and forestation projects. Furthermore, in recent

decades most of their projects have centred on stakeholder

involvement and participatory approaches in order to ensure

Image: Johann Thorsson

Severe erosion still occurs on about half of the remaining ecosystems in Iceland

iving

and