Land og skógur

Healthy forest soils are the foundation of healthy forests and all the ecosystem services we expect forests to deliver to human well-being and society, including solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises. As soils are hidden to us, it is hard to immediately see and understand the ways in which soil health is impacted, for example by climate change, pollution and forest management, such as drainage, planting, and harvest. The risks include compaction, erosion, loss of organic matter, carbon and nutrients, changes to the water holding capacity, and changes to microbial communities and soil functioning. In the private sector, there is also an increasing interest in the management of soil carbon to create credits for the carbon markets.

In Iceland, afforestation offers several potential benefits, but it also raises important concerns. One issue is that coniferous species, commonly used in afforestation, can acidify soil and groundwater, potentially reducing the quality of drinking water. Additionally, many of these species are non-native and potentially invasive, posing a threat to Iceland’s native biodiversity.

Monitoring systems play a critical role in handling risk by providing the tools and processes needed to detect, assess, and respond to potential threats in a timely and effective manner. Several countries have national forest soil monitoring systems, which measure the development in several forest soil health indicators. Across countries, the systems show great similarities in design, soil sampling methodology, and measured indicators, but there are also some significant differences, for example the funding stability, length of the time series, maximum sampling depth, sampled soil depth intervals etc.

In Iceland, a forest soil monitoring system is in the planning. In Norway, a new system is being implemented, while Lithuania has conducted one measurement campaign, Denmark a few since 1990, and Sweden several, since the 1930s.

The long-term aim of MoniForSoil is to consolidate and develop the collaboration and information exchange among researchers, students and stakeholders relevant to developing, integrating and harmonizing data collection and analysis across the Nordic-Baltic Forest soil monitoring systems, also in a wider EU and international perspective, and in a wider land use and land use change context, including the EU Soil Monitoring Law. The efforts build on the activities conducted in the annual network NorForSoil (N2023-05).

The specific workshop aims to highlight the importance of soil monitoring as a basis for effective policy development and land management in a situation with land use changes and in the context of the new upcoming EU Soil Monitoring Law. We will:

• • Introduce you to afforestation, forests, forestry in Iceland, including benefits and concerns, such as soil acidification and biodiversity.
  • Give an overview of experiences with national forest soil monitoring systems in the Nordic-Baltic region and for other countries with boreal or temperate forests.
  • Explore what is important to consider for a new forest soil monitoring system in Iceland, based on experiences in other countries, but also considering special conditions in Iceland such as volcanic soils.
  • Examine the opportunities and challenges for alignment between soil monitoring systems across different land uses in view of the EU Soil Monitoring Law, with a focus on forests, agriculture, and afforestation, but also considering heathlands, grasslands, peatland, eroded and degraded land (deserts), restored land, and wetlands.

Tuesday, September 2 at Hótel Örk, Hveragerði.

08:30-09:00 Coffee and registration

09:00-09:15 Welcome

09:15-09:50 Forests and Afforestation in Iceland, Bjarni D. Sigurðsson

09:50-10:25 Icelandic Soils: Characteristics, Challanges and Restoration Perspectives, Susanne Claudia Möckel

10:25-10:40 Coffee

10:40-11:10 Root systems – Challenges and Opportunities, Ivika Ostonen

11:10-11:30 Diversity of Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities Across Successional Stages in Icelandic Birch Forests, Hilmar Njáll Þórðarson

11:30-12:00 Panel Discussion

12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:00-13:30 Opportunities and Challenges for Monitoring Soil Across Forest and Other Land Uses, Aleksi Lehtonen

13:30-14:00 Results from NorForSoil – Similarities and Differences Among Monitoring Systems for Boreal and Temperate Forest Soils, Shun Hasegawa and Lise Dalsgaard

14:00-14:20 Forest Soil Monitoring in Japan – Current Practices and Key Challenges, Shoji Hashimoto

14:20–14:30 Coffee

14:30-14:50 Special Challenges in Monitoring Emissions from Naturally Drained and Rewetted Organic Soils – Including LULUCF Reporting, Aldiels Butlers

14:50 –15:10 Lessons Learned from Existing Monitoring of Forest Soil Biodiversity Using eDNA, Christine Martineau and Johan Stendahl

15:10-15:40 Panel Discussion

15:40-15:50 Information regarding the excursion, Aðalsteinn Sigurgeirsson

16:00-18:30 Excursion around Hveragerði

19:30-22:30 Conference dinner

The conference will take place at Hótel Örk in Hveragerði. Guests book the accommodation on the hotel’s website. Use the Promo Code FORSOIL when booking. In the booking process type in the window “Special request for your extras” whether you want a double bed or single.

Last day for booking is August 10th.

Upon arrival in Iceland, you can take the Flybus from Keflavík International Airport to BSÍ Bus Terminal in Reykjavík. From there, we can arrange transport to the conference venue.

Online participation will be available.