Fjölrit RALA - 05.12.1999, Page 7

VlGDÍS FlNNBOGADÓTTIR
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The story of the degradation of ffagile land and the desertification of Iceland, for
one thousand years until this century, is in many ways similar to what is happening in
many places in the world today. The result is often the tragedy that has struck the dry
areas of earth in recent times: famine. With hunger, when nature fails to provide,
comes war and social unrest, as we are seeing in parts of Africa even today.
The Icelandic story is not only an account of losses and mishaps. The predecessor
to the Icelandic Soil Conservation Service was established as early as 1907, and it is
therefore one of the oldest operating soil conservation institutes in the world, if not the
oldest. And there have been many successes: encroaching sand has been restrained,
we know how to stop and prevent soil erosion, we know how to manage the land. We
are continually leaming more about how to establish lush vegetation cover, for multi-
ple use by people and animals.
Iceland’s achievements may not be large on a global scale, but they are great all the
same. And they have a symbolic value as well as a practical one. If we can change our
deserts into green land here on the edge of the Arctic Circle, at the border of the habit-
able world, we can send a message to the rest of the world that this is possible any-
where. And in fact that message would not only be aimed at the rest of the world, but
just as much at the Icelanders themselves, who for centuries did not try to grow any-
thing here because they were convinced that it could not be done.
Icelanders have mostly been focusing on their own problems, but they have gained
knowdedge that can be shared and put to good use elsewhere. Their work towards un-
derstanding degradation of Icelandic ecosystems eamed them the Nordic Nature and
Environmental Award in 1998. And equally, we can certainly leam more from other
countries. Intemational co-operation is vital in the world-wide struggle against deserti-
fícation.
Environmental scientists perhaps shoulder one of the greatest responsibilities of all
people today: to study, to educate, to provide means to heai the wounds that mankind
has inflicted on the Earth, to hamess knowledge in order to make a better world for us
all to live in. I have endless admiration for such scientists because, in the frnal analy-
sis, they seem to be motivated by the same classical love and reverence for the ‘'pale
fields and mown meadows” that have become an intergral part of the Icelandic na-
tional identity.
These proceedings, and the accompanying book “Rangeland Desertifícation pub-
lished by Kluwer Academic Publishers, are the ffuit of a meeting that took place in my
office, some years ago. I am pleased that it has tumed out to be such an excellent sci-
entific contribution. On behalf of all of us involved in preparing the workshop and this
publication I thank all of you that contributed to such high quality work.
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir