News

In the first week of July, the UNU-LRT fellows participated in a 4 days field excursion. Moving from Gunnarsholt in the south the fellows went through the highlands in the south-west up to the north-west of Iceland, before heading south again through the Kjölur highland road. This was the first of a total of two field excursions the fellows will experience during their stay in Iceland. The second trip is scheduled in late August. The 2013 UNU-fellows have already been on shorter field trips close to Keldnaholt, the base of the UNU-LRT programme. The aim of these trips is to introduce the fellows to different land use practices in Iceland, land degradation problems and how they have been combated in different areas in Iceland.

Mr Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, visited Iceland on 2 – 3 July. During the visit, he learned about the activities of the UNU programmes in Iceland; including UNU-LRT. He met with Hafdis Hanna Aegisdottir the UNU-LRT Director and two UNU-LRT Fellows, Ms Olive Chemutai from Uganda and Mr Azamat Isakov from Kyrgyzstan. Ms Chemutai addressed the Secretary-General on her experience with the UNU-LRT training and how it will help her to meet the challenges at home. Her address was very well received.

Last week Dr. Jeffrey Herrick, research soil scientist from the Jornada Research Unit, USDA-ARS, New Mexico, USA, held a short course on evaluation of restoration outcome for the UNU-LRT fellows. Moreover, specialists from the Agricultural University of Iceland and the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland attended the course. Dr. Herrick’s teaching included designing and establishing monitoring and evaluation system, and gathering and managing information. Furthermore, he taught about the importance of land potential when creating restoration and management plans.