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We would like to invite you to explore a new learning platform on the internet: www.4returns.earth. The platform is an online space for practitioners, policy makers, academics, environmental and business professionals to meet each other, share knowledge and learn about landscape restoration.

On 17 June every year, we celebrate the World Day to Combat Desertification. This year we also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. On this occasion, UNU-LRT highlights the importance of sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration to achieve many of the UN sustainable development goals.

This spring, UNU-LRT ran a training course in Mongolia for the second time on “Communicating Knowledge for Sustainable Rangeland Management under Climate Change – Improving Analytic and Reporting Skills”. The goal of the course is to provide training to communicate and synthesize knowledge on environmental monitoring, so that it can be translated into effective policy making for sustainable rangeland use.

Mr Abdul-Salam Mahamud Baba, a UNU-LRT fellow in 2017, has just published the results of his individual research project at UNU-LRT as a short communication article in the journal Icelandic Agricultural Sciences. Baba conducted a field experiment in Iceland to assess how insect pests, in combination with reduced water availability, can influence crop production. Insect pests are a main constraint to vegetable production in Ghana, Baba’s home country. The incidence of pests is also likely to be exacerbated by ongoing environmental changes, like the increased frequency and intensity of droughts, so an understanding of the combined effects of pest damage and environmental conditions can help in mitigating crop losses.

Once again we welcome a new group of fellows for our six-month training programme. The 2019 UNU-LRT fellows will stay for six-months at UNU-LRT to advance their knowledge and skills on halting land degradation, restoring degraded land and managing land in a sustainable way. The fellows are 21 this year, 10 men and 11 women, and come from 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Central-Asia: Ghana, Malawi, Uganda, Niger, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The fellows are all experts in their respective countries working on issues related to land use and land management.

Last week, UNU-LRT received a visit from six Mongolian specialists from three partner institutions of UNU-LRT in Mongolia. The purpose of their visit was to prepare for a course that will be held in Mongolia in May, with specialists from UNU-LRT, the Agricultural University of Iceland and the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland. The seven-day course entitled "Communicating knowledge for sustainable rangeland management under climate change – improving analytic and reporting skills” was taught for the first time last year. The course is co-organized and held by UNU-LRT and three Mongolian partner institutions. Besides working on preparation for the course, the visitors gave presentations for the staff and students at the Agricultural University of Iceland. Furthermore, UNU-LRT held an open seminar at the National Museum of Iceland where Dr Bulgamaa Densambuu, rangeland ecologist and former UNU-LRT fellow, gave a talk on means to improve land health and livelihoods of nomadic herders in Mongolia.