Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2016, Blaðsíða 18

Starts with a shot of the Icelandic
national spirit “Brennivín“
Puffin
Smoked puffin with blueberries,
croutons, goats cheese, beetroot
Minke whale
Date purée, wakame, teriaky
“Torched“ Arctic charr
Cucumber, truffle ponzu vinaigrette
and yuzu mayo
Icelandic roll – 4 pcs
Gravlax roll with Brennivín (Icelandic
traditional Snaps) and dill. Avokado, mango,
cucumber, dill mayo, rye bread crumble
Market fresh Ling
Miso and yuzu marinated spotted ling
with zucchini, chorizo, apples
and Beurre Monté sauce
Rack of icelandic lamb
Onion purée, slow cooked leeks,
chimichurri, baked carrot
And to end on a high note ...
Icelandic Skyr
Skyr infused with birch,
berries, white chocolate
crumble, and sorrel granite
7.990 kr.

Sushi Samba
Þingholtsstræti 5 • 101 Reykjavík
Tel 568 6600 • sushisamba.is
Laugavegur
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Amtmannsstígur
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Our kitchen is open
17.00–23.00 sun.–thu.
17.00–24.00 fri.–sat.
Amazing
7 course menu
A unique
Icelandic
Feast
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2016
18
Wetlands And
Taxpayers Drained
“The drained wetlands of Iceland emit 20 times
more CO2 than the country's car fleet”

By SIGRÍÐUR Á. ANDERSEN
Editors note: this is a response to Ari
Trausti Guðmundsson's opinion ar-
ticle from Issue 14.
Wetlands are the biggest store of
carbon on land. During 1950 – 1990
the Icelandic government encour-
aged and fully subsidized drain-
ing of half of the country’s wet-
lands. The drainage ditches and
canals are estimated to be 33,000
km (20,500 miles) long, equal to 25
times around the North Atlantic
island. Iceland is the same size as
the state of Kentucky. The drain-
ing was believed to be necessary
to meet the country's growing de-
mand for agricultural goods, meat
and dairy products. Iceland has
never allowed any substantial im-
port of these products.
Around only 15% of the drained
wetlands has been turned into
useful cropland. So, is 85% of this
huge investment in mud digging
over several decades at taxpayers’
expense just sitting there? If only.
By draining the wet soils contain-
ing high organic carbon content,
access is given to atmospheric
oxygen. The carbons accumulated
in the soil for centuries are there-
fore oxidized. The oxidation leads
to formation of vast amounts of
CO2 and other greenhouse gases.
Draining and degradation of wet-
lands turns them into a net source
of greenhouse gas emissions.
In the case of Iceland, the an-
nual emissions from the wet-
lands alone are 72% of the annual
anthropogenic greenhouse gas
emissions, leaving the country’s
automobiles with less than 4%
and the big fishing fleet with only
3%. This fact finally became pub-
lic last October in the Minister of
Environment’s written answer to
a reiterated request I put forward
at the Parliament of Iceland, Alth-
ingi. However, the government
has for many years been fixated
on reducing CO2, emissions from
cars. To serve that purpose it has
used taxes on fuels and cars to fa-
vor diesel oil over gasoline, a poli-
cy that is now considered an utter
failure leading to more emissions
of soot and NOx. It has also man-
dated and subsidized imports and
blending of ethanol and other
biofuels (agricultural products!)
to gasoline and diesel fuel with
dubious environmental results.
Even if we believed the 5% blend-
ing of expensive biofuels reduced
CO2 emission by 5%, the overall
reductions for Iceland would only
be 0,2%.
At the same time efforts to
close the draining canals and
restore the wetlands to stop the
emissions have mostly been pri-
vate enterprises, either by land-
owners themselves or industries
interested in offsetting their CO2
emissions.
The Kyoto protocol has up until
2013 been somewhat indifferent on
the emission figures for drained
wetlands. According to the pro-
tocol, emissions from wetlands
drained before 1990 are not includ-
ed in national emission figures.
This is a huge flaw in the protocol
as the emissions from drained
wetlands keep on for decades and
centuries. It would be similar to
excluding annual emissions from
an automobile of a model older
than 1990. This flaw in the pro-
tocol became more apparent af-
ter the IPCC (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change) agreed
in 2013, upon Iceland’s initiative,
to take into account restoration of
wetlands when estimating reduc-
tion in submission of greenhouse
gases. Restoring wetlands can
now rightly be counted as an off-
set to meet national targets even if
emissions from drained wetlands
are still not included in emission
numbers.
The lesson to learn from this
is that when deciding on a policy,
especially when it entails reloca-
tion of resources by taxation, it is
imperative to take into account all
the relevant facts and not let the
end justify the means. Those who
are really serious about reducing
greenhouse gas emission should
be looking into the predominant
causes of emission and tackle the
problem at its roots. War on car
owners has highly distorted the
task at hand.
Sigríður is an MP for the Indepen-
dance Party.
SHARE:
gpv.is/wet16
OPINION