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The annual six-month training programme came to an end this week when 11 specialists graduated from the programme at a ceremony at Keldnaholt research campus of the Agricultural University of Iceland. The total number of graduated fellows has now reached 87 of which 48% have been women and 52% men. The fellows this year came from seven different countries in Central Asia and Africa: Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malawi, Mongolia, Niger and Uganda. Lesotho is a new UNU-LRT partner country and this was the first time that fellows from Lesotho participated in the training programme.

The international conference "Grazing in a changing Nordic region" is held in Reykjavik Iceland this week. The conference brings together specialists, academics and policymakers for an interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and experiences, with the hope to contribute to sustainable management of land utilized for grazing. The fellows in the UNU-LRT six-month training programme participate in the conference and gave a presentation, titled Land tenure and policy implications on grazing: lessons from Africa and Central Asia. Ms Malipholo Eleanor Hae from Lesotho gave the talk on behalf of the UNU-LRT fellows. The talk was very well received and generated stimulating discussion.

The UNU-LRT fellows reached an important milestone in the six-month training programme this week when they presented the results of their individual research projects in an open seminar at the research campus of the Agricultural University of Iceland. As always, the individual projects spanned a range of topics including: assessment of the impact of cultivation on soil organic carbon; assessment of the impact of tree species on soil fertility in farmers’ fields in Niger; studies on the degradation of rangelands in Kyrgyzstan and Lesotho; and research on the effect of sand mines in Northern Ghana on the livelihood of local people and the ability of authorities to improve the situation with restoration interventions.