Archive for March, 2005

Mar 05 2005

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Icelandic Wetlands Saved


Thjorsarver.jpg Lowana Veal

The Thjorsarver wetlands in South Iceland have been saved from the ravages of a hydro-electric scheme, at least for the foreseeable future.

Thjorsarver is a wetlands area that became listed as a RAMSAR site in 1990, principally because it is home to the world’s largest breeding ground for pink-footed geese, 6-10,000 breeding pairs. But many other birds nest there too, such as the purple sandpiper, red-necked phalarope, dunlin, Arctic tern, Arctic skua, ptarmigan, golden and ringed plovers, snow bunting and long-tailed duck. Botanically, it is home to 167 species of vascular plants as well as mosses and lichens, some of them rare. The insect life is rich.

Paradoxically, the designation of RAMSAR and nature reserve status should mean that the area be left untouched – but those with vested interests appeared to disregard this point. Read More

Mar 04 2005
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Ice Burks! – Schnews


bergrisi.jpg This article served as a follow-up to  the ‘Power Driven’ article published in the Guardian in November 2003.

Schnews, 4th March 2005, Issue 487

Super-cool Iceland, the eco-tourist’s wet dream, right? Maybe not for much longer if the Icelandic government has its way.

You see, they’ve got a cunning plan to turn the whole country into a heavy industry paradise for all sorts of multinational scum, damming and flooding and generally trashing nature to power up a bunch of giant aluminium smelters and other slight blots on the landscape.

This is not an early April fool – it’s already started. The construction of the giant Karahnjukar dam in the Icelandic Highlands – one of Europe’s last surviving wildernesses – is well under way. Landsvirkjun (the national power company, a government quango) has a raft of further projects that would see 25% of the entire country dam affected by 2020: some vision. Read More