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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.

During the six-month training in Iceland, the UNU-LRT fellows go on two different field excursions. Last week the fellows undertook their second field excursion, this time to the West and North Iceland. The focus was on land degradation in Iceland, implementation of restoration work, restoration vs. reclamation and an introduction to Icelandic cultural background through stories and historical sites.

Last week the UNU-LRT fellows went on a three day excursion to the south and southeast of Iceland. The focus of the trip was on climate change and how it affects ecosystems and societies in the area. In the trip, the fellows got a good overview of how glaciers can tell us about past climate and be used as indicators of climate change. The Vatnajökull National Park was visited where the fellows walked up to the outlet glacier Skaftafellsjökull and observed how the glacier has retreated during the last century and how the rate of retreat has increased in the last decades.

Last week, the UNU-LRT fellows met and discussed with the renowned scientist, wildlife conservation activist and UN Messenger of Peace, Dr Jane Goodall, in a masterclass held at the University of Iceland. The masterclass with the UNU-LRT fellows and graduate students from the University of Iceland, was a part of Dr Goodall‘s program in Iceland, where she also gave an open lecture and met with conservation and wildlife enthusiasts.

This week UNU-LRT welcomed this year’s international guest lecturer, Dr Patrick Shaver. He gave a series of lectures on ecological processes and grazing management principles; land health, inventory and monitoring; and grazing management schemes and case studies. Dr Shaver also gave an open lecture at the National Museum of Iceland on the management history and condition of rangelands in USA and how rangeland condition today is historically tied to policy and actions in the past.

Recently the UNU-LRT fellows visited Gunnarsholt, the headquarters of the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI) in South Iceland. The Director of SCSI, Mr Sveinn Runolfsson, welcomed the group and presented each fellow with the book Healing the land by Roger Croft, which tells the story of land reclamation and soil conservation in Iceland. Ms Anne Bau, biologist at SCSI, showed the fellows around Gunnarsholt and the facilities there. The fellows will live in Gunnarsholt for two months in the summer or from mid-June to mid-August while they work on their individual research projects.