Field excursion focusing on land condition, restoration and management
The UNU-LRT fellows have just finished a four day excursion to the west and northwest of Iceland. The main goal was to provide the fellows with first-hand experience on land management issues and how human land use can have a major impact on land condition. Sites were visited that illustrate how past human land use reduced the resilience of the land to the extent that when combined with natural factors it resulted in almost complete loss of vegetation and soil. Such collapsed ecosystems take very long to restore even though much effort is put into restoration, and former productivity may be hard to reach as could vividly be observed in the excursion.
The fellows spent time with a district consultant of the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI) who explained how SCSI works with farmers and other land users to improve land condition and restore land. Diverse sites were visited that show innovative solutions to halting erosion and experimental work to find what works. Communal grazing land in good condition and communal grazing land that has been under restoration were visited, and their different management demonstrated. The fellows were also introduced to the management of a local municipality, and experienced Icelandic culture through visits to a museum and historic sites as well as tasting local food.