Icelandic Nationalism and the Kyoto Protocol: an Analysis of the Discourse on Global Environmental Change in Iceland

The paper analyses the discourse on global environmental change in Iceland in official reports and newspaper discussions around the turn of the millennium. Three competing discursive positions were found. First, Iceland can provide clean energy for the world so that aluminium smelters do not need to burn as much fossil fuels as they would have to do otherwise. Second, Iceland is responsible to the world for the protection of its environment because Icelanders have a unique land to protect - the largest unpopulated and untouched area in western Europe. Third, Iceland can help the world by contributing its vast land areas to grow grass and forests and fix carbon dioxide, in part because some of these areas are especially well suited to soil reclamation and afforestation. The study focuses on the use of nationalistic arguments for the global role and responsibility of Iceland in environmental matters.