News

Today the fellows of this year’s six-month training programme visited the Icelandic International Development Agency (ICEIDA) and the Directorate for International Development at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA).

The Vice-Rector of UNU, Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, visited UNU-LRT at its headquarters at Keldnaholt yesterday.  He was introduced to the current fellows of the six-month training programme, the UNU-LRT staff, some studies committee members, and the Director of SCSI and the Rector of AUI.  Prof. Takeuchi is also the Director of UNU-Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) in Tokyo and we had good discussions on the importance of sustainable use of natural resources, restoration of degraded land, and the mutual benefits of creating cooperation between UNU-ISP and UNU-LRT.

Fellows attending this year’s six-month training programme have arrived.  This is the second group of fellows attending the programme since it became a UNU training programme.  The fellows this year are eight and come from Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Mongolia and Uganda.

Bulgamaa Densambuu from Mongolia was in the first group of fellows participating in the LRT programme in 2007.  She is currently the head of the Research and Technology Department at the Mongolian Society for Range Management (MSRM) and is starting her post doctoral program at the New Mexico University, NM, USA.  Bulgamaa says that the LRT training was a great opportunity that gave her a better understanding of the importance of capacity building in the field of land management in Mongolia.  Since attending the programme in Iceland, Bulgamaa has worked towards integrating research and knowledge transfer to local people, directly applying experience and knowledge she accumulated during the LRT programme.  She coordinates several projects at the MSRM.  One is the creation of a nationwide network of institutions with the aim to enhance flow of data and information on rangeland health in order to improve decision-making at the policy level.  Another project she oversees is how to transfer knowledge, gathered from previous projects on rangeland rehabilitation, to herders and other rangeland-user groups.

The UNU-LRT team in Iceland sends you their best wishes for the upcoming Festive Season and a Happy New year 2011!  At the end of the year we look back at the progress made, and achievements and milestones reached in 2010.  Please see our recap here.     

Jafaru Adam Musah from Ghana was a LRT fellow in 2009. He has taken on many new responsibilities in his work since returning from Iceland.  One is the “Ghana Environmental Management Project” (GEMP). GEMP’s prime objective is to assist communities to identify local and community-based activities that can help mitigating desertification and drought.  Jafaru says that the training he got during the LRT programme has given him good skills for such a work and has motivated him to participate in such projects.