News

Mr Azamat Isakov from Kyrgyzstan, a former UNU-LRT fellow from 2013, has been elected a Director at his organization CAMP Alatoo in Kyrgyzstan. Previously Mr Isakov was a Coordinator for a Pasture Management Project at CAMP Alatoo, a Public Foundation established in 2004 that promotes sustainable improvement of mountain regions of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

In a letter to the UNU-LRT programme, Mr Mohamadou Habibou Gabou from Niger, a former UNU-LRT fellow from the 2013 six-month training programme, informed us about his promotion. Mr Gabou was working for the Ministry of Hydraulic and Environment in the capital city Niamey before he joined the UNU-LRT programme. Due to his completion of the programme in 2013 he has been promoted to a Director for the Ministry, which has now been split into two ministries, Ministry of Hydraulic and Ministry of Environment, Urban Sanitation and Sustainable Development, where Mr Gabou is now a Director in the town of Birni N’Gaouré, in the Region of Dosso, one of eight regions of Niger.

Dear Friends of UNU-LRT. The year 2013 has come to an end. The UNU-LRT team celebrates the milestones reached in 2013 and looks forward to the coming year. We send our best wishes for the festive season ahead and wish you a Happy New Year.

A former UNU-LRT fellow from Niger, Mohamadou Habibou Gabou, attended a conference on Climate Change, Sustainable Intensification and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa, held in Morogoro, Tanzania last week or from 13-15 November. There he gave a talk titled Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands: Sustainable Land Management practices commonly used in Niger Republic, West Africa which was well received by the conference participants.

Soils provide essential ecosystem services such as food production and carbon storage. Although soils are managed and owned locally, their degradation is a key global issue, as their ecosystem services transcend national boundaries. Sustainable soil management thus requires a global approach. Like last year, Berlin was the host city of the Global Soil Week, which was held there for the second consecutive year. This multi-stakeholder event took place in the last week of October and gathered over 450 participants from all over the world.

The Society of Ecological Restoration held its fifth world conference on ecological restoration in Madison, Wisconsin, USA from 6 to 11 October 2013. UNU-LRT was presented at the conference in an oral presentation and in a poster. The UNU-LRT Director, Hafdis Hanna Aegisdottir, gave a talk titled Education for sustainable development with a focus on land restoration - what is its impact? The poster presented, focused on UNU-LRT training and capacity building as an essential part of reaching a sustainable future. One former UNU-LRT fellow from 2011, Ms. Altantsetseg Balt from Mongolia, attended the conference. She works for the Mongolian mining company Oyu Tolgoi LLC in restoring mined land.