We're reclaiming Iceland's Deserts - here's how

Mossy Earth October 1, 2025
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🌲 Our team at Mossy Earth shares a passion for the outdoors and the preservation of our natural world. As such, we work with one mission in mind, to restore wild ecosystems, support wildlife and biodiversity and help fight climate change. On this channel you will find the stories behind our efforts to protect and restore wild areas. Our work covers a wide range of ecosystems from the mountain tops to the bottom of the ocean, every ecosystem and species is worth fighting for. You can become a member and start restoring nature with us here: https://mossy.earth/

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🌳 Reclaiming the desert is a difficult task but it is something we can tackle together because of our members! To join them you can learn more here: https://mossy.earth MOSSY EARTH MEMBERSHIP =============================== The rewilding membership that restores nature across a wide range of ecosystems. 🌲 Support a diversity of ecosystems 🐺 Rewild habitats to bring back biodiversity 🦫 Fund neglected species & ecosystems Learn more and become a member here: https://mossy.earth 🙌 And if you are already a member you can also help plant some extra trees here next year! https://www.mossy.earth/platform/fund-extra-campaigns/14 📝 FIELD NOTES CHANNEL =============================== Where we post more regular and raw on the ground updates from many of our projects https://www.youtube.com/@MossyEarth-FieldNotes 🔎 ABOUT THIS PROJECT =============================== Iceland is known for its vast open landscapes shaped by massive volcanos and expansive glaciers. Native birchwoods, the only woodland type to form in Iceland, are also an important part of the landscape. They offer food and shelter for biodiversity, help stabilise soil, provide wind breaks, and sequester carbon. At one point, it is thought that 25-40% of Iceland was covered in birchwoods. Now, it's just 1%. This project, in partnership with the Iceland Forest Service and private landowners Kári and Ragnheiður, aims to restore birchwoods to an area about 120km east of Reykjavik in the southern uplands of Iceland, where natural succession could take centuries or even millennia. Read more here: https://www.mossy.earth/projects/reforesting-iceland 🇮🇸 WATCH PREVIOUS VIDEOS =============================== PART 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-r2EetCtO0 PART 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ-dSxYonog PART 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ALrtLpQls PART 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywX-oj2Bck&t PART 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG_vMjn6NEA&t ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS =============================== 0:00 Introduction 1:35 The Desert 3:20 The Lupine Question 8:09 Our Project 🎬 CREDITS =============================== Project management: Ellie Parkes Filming: Duarte de Zoeten and Julie Schleiss-Andreassen Writing: Duarte de Zoeten Editing: Duarte de Zoeten, Thomas Berry and Thomas Hikin Scoring: Duarte de Zoeten 🔬 SOURCES =============================== - The Icelandic volcanic aeolian environment: Processes and impacts — A review: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187596371530015X - Does the Nootka lupin facilitate or impede colonization and growth of native birch in Iceland?: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259715143_Does_the_Nootka_lupin_facilitate_or_impede_colonization_and_growth_of_native_birch_in_Iceland - The Environment Agency - Managing Invasive Plants: https://ust.is/library/Skrar/Ensk-sida/ICV-sjalfbodalidasida-2018-2019/NatureConservationManagement Invasive plants Alaskan Lupin.pdf - Icelandic Terrestrial habitat types: https://www.natt.is/en/flora-funga/habitat-types/terrestrial-habitat-types - Spatial distribution of forests and woodlands in Iceland in accordance with the CORINE land cover classification: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267372939_Spatial_distribution_of_forests_and_woodlands_in_Iceland_in_accordance_with_the_CORINE_land_cover_classification - The effect of vegetation reclamation on birds and invertebrates in Iceland: https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/14943/1/2013_MS_Brynja_Davidsdottir.pdf - Effects of sandplain revegetation on avian abundance and diversity at Skogasandur and Myrdalssandur, South-Iceland: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237597869_Effects_of_sandplain_revegetation_on_avian_abundance_and_diversity_at_Skogasandur_and_Myrdalssandur_South-Iceland - The effect of insect herbivory on seed production of Lupinus nootkatensis, an introduced species in Iceland: https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/afe.12368 - Invasion of a Legume Ecosystem Engineer in a Cold Biome Alters Plant Biodiversity: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5996276/ - Facilitation of afforestation by *Lupinus nootkatensis* and by black plastic mulch in south-west Iceland: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02827580903117404 - Negotiating contested landscapes : The lupin controversy in Iceland: https://www.ssns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Kuprian_2018_Vol_49_pp_25_37.pdf - Floral hazards: Nootka lupin in Iceland and the Complex politics of invasive life: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280603045_Floral_hazards_Nootka_lupin_in_Iceland_and_the_Complex_politics_of_invasive_life - The interaction between native insect herbivores, introduced plant species and climate change in Iceland: https://opinvisindi.is/server/api/core/bitstreams/fba2cce0-f516-4429-b971-b8ae7312d3d4/content - History of afforestation in the Nordic countries: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237656493_History_of_afforestation_in_the_Nordic_countries

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