International Conference on Soil Carbon Sequestration in Reykjavik
The International Conference on Soil Carbon Sequestration for Climate, Food Security and Ecosystem Services held in Reykjavik 27-29 May, was a great success according to the UNU-LRT fellows who all attended the conference. The conference participants came from impressingly many countries from all over the world. The UNU-LRT fellows had a presentation in the conference‘s plenary session on the first day of the conference titled: Soil carbon and the quest for land quality – Experiences from Africa and Asia. Ms. Wellencia Clara Mukaru gave the presentation on behalf of the eleven fellows.
In the plenary session of the conference’s last day, UNU-LRT Director Dr. Hafdis Hanna Aegisdottir gave a presentation on the UNU-LRT programme and how it links science, policy and action for restoration of degraded land. A former fellow from 2009, Ms. Tigist Araya Gessesse from Ethiopia, presented results from her studies on soil organic carbon accumulation under different land-uses in Gergera watershed, Tigray, in one of the four paralleled sessions of the conference. Her studies on the subject are a part of her PhD studies at Bonn University in Germany.
All in all, the 200 participants of the conference had fruitful three days of soil and carbon discussions and left the conference with encouragements of linking soils to the urgent environmental conversations of climate change and sustainable development.