Sheep grazing is an important part of agriculture in the North Atlantic region, defined here as the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Scotland. This process has played a key role in shaping the landscape and biodiversity of the region, sometimes with major environmental consequences, and has also been instrumental in the development of its rural economy and culture. In this review, we present results of the first interdisciplinary study taking a long-term perspective on sheep management, resource economy and the ecological impacts of sheep grazing, showing that sustainability boundaries are most likely to be exceeded in fragile environments where financial support is linked to the number of sheep produced. The sustainability of sheep grazing can be enhanced by a management regime that promotes grazing densities appropriate to the site and supported by areabased subsidy systems, thus minimizing environmental degradation, encouraging biodiversity and preserving the integrity of ecosystem processes.

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Abstract. The Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean are highly susceptible to landslides. Following recent landslide incidents, Jarðfeingi (Faroese Earth and Energy Directorate) has pointed out, that the risk of human lives or of property being lost or affected by landslides may be increasing. This paper aims at presenting and testing a simple qualitative approach for mapping regional landslide susceptibility in the Faroe Islands, using few key parameters. The susceptibility model holds information about both landslide initiation areas and runout zones. Landslide initiation areas are determined from slope angle thresholds (25 • -40 • ) and soil cover data, while runout zones are delineated using the angle of reach approach taking into account the presence/absence of geological benches in the runout path, which has not been considered in earlier studies. Data input is obtained from a landslide database containing 67 debris flows throughout the Faroe Islands. Angle of reach values differ significantly with the presence/absence of geological benches in the runout path. Two values of angle of reach, 21.5 • and 27.6 • , are used for calculating runout zones. The landslide susceptibility model is tested in a study area at the town of Klaksvík in the northern part of the Faroe Islands. A map validation comparing predicted susceptibility zones with a validation-dataset of 87 actual landslides in the study area reveal that 69% and 92%, respectively, of actual landslide initiation areas and runout zones are correctly predicted. Moreover 87% of the actual landslides are included in the overall predicted landslide susceptibility areas.Correspondence to: M.-P. J. Dahl (mpjd@ruc.dk)

The exposed nature of the northern Faroe Islands high relief landscape enabled widespread Holocene slope process activity and deposition of related landforms, which seem largely controlled by extreme meteorological conditions. Three different slope landforms – the large colluvial Glyvurs fan, the lower Marknastiggjur mountainside debris-flow deposits in the town of Klaksvik, and the mountain top aeolian sediment cover on Eidiskollur – were investigated by a combination of geomorphological, stratigraphic, sedimentological, chronological and modern process studies.Sporadic Holocene snow-avalanche and debris-flow activity were documented, with sedimentation starting significantly before 8000 cal yr BP in the Glyvurs fan, which still sporadically experiences activity. The largest amounts of Holocene slope sedimentation seem to occur in colluvial fans, such as the Glyvurs fan, which are located below large dyke canyons, called gjogvs. The lower Marknastiggjur mountainside consists of mainly debris-flow deposits, which started before 7800 cal yr BP. A relatively small amount of precipitation, but with high precipitation intensity after a dry summer, triggered modern small-scale debris-flows in the northern islands, also at the Marknastiggjur mountainside, early in Autumn 2000. Extensive continuous mountaintop aeolian sedimentation from cliff weathering started around 6900 cal yr BP on the Eidiskollur peninsula.No direct influence of settlement on slope process activity was found at the different investigated slope landforms in the northern Faroe Islands.

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