| Summary: | The aim of this thesis is to examine socio- economic aspects of sheep grazing on highland rangelands in Iceland in relation to sustainable land use practices by means of a literature review. Socio-economic aspects refer to the economic environment of sheep husbandry in Iceland, agricultural policies, laws and regulations on the subject, historical aspects and efforts to mitigate the environmental impacts of sheep grazing. The main findings reveal that sheep farms operate in a difficult economic environment, being highly dependent on subsidy payments. Grazing highland commons is a very cost-effective practice for sheep farmers in the short run. The legislation, regulation and implementation of sheep grazing involves several actors and a set of laws and regulations. The system is considered to be imperfect and does not lead to sustainable land management. Sheep grazing has a long tradition in Iceland although it seems likely that sheep grazing on highland rangelands was more sustainable in past times. The most important historical aspects are the sheep production systems prevailing at different times, external factors and the overexploitation of Icelandic ecosystems. In recent years, efforts have been undertaken in order to mitigate the environmental impacts of sheep grazing. The work of the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland and the Quality Management of Sheep farming agreement comprise bottom- up and top- down approaches to land management and are important steps in the right direction. However, due to several reasons, the efforts are to some extent limited in their scope and are not effective to halt sheep grazing in unsuitable areas. Tilgangur þessa heimildaverkefnis er að kanna samfélagslega og hagræna þætti varðandi sauðfjárbeit á afréttum Íslands í ljósi sjálfbærar landnýtingar. Með samfélagslegum og hagrænum þáttum er átt við rekstrarumhverfi sauðfjárbúa á Íslandi og beingreiðslukerfi sauðfjárræktarinnar, reglugerðum og lögum, sögulegum þáttum og verkefnum til að milda ahrif sauðfjárbeitar á íslensk ...
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