GRÓ LRT Fellows Explore Snæfellsnes peninsula

This Tuesday, the GRÓ LRT fellows travelled to Snæfellsnes for a full-day excursion focused on sustainable land planning, protected areas and regional cooperation.

The group started the day in the beautiful town of Grundarfjörður, where they were welcomed by Nanna Vilborg Harðardóttir, Project Manager for Planning and Environmental Affairs. Nanna introduced the fellows to the municipality’s Blue-Green sewage system solutions, which aim to make the system more environmentally friendly and better equipped to handle heavy rainfall and snowmelt. The work is part of the EU-funded ICEWATER project, which focuses on water solutions in urban areas.

After lunch with delicious salmon and shark tasting, the group continued to Hellissandur and visited the Snæfellsjökull National Park Visitor Centre. Eva Dögg Einarsdóttir, Head Ranger, introduced the work of the national park and the Snæfellsnes Regional Park, which is the first and only designated UNESCO Man and Biosphere reserve in Iceland. Eva Dögg also spoke about the national park’s focus on education and awareness in the local community. To support this goal, the visitor centre has a dedicated classroom for students from kindergarten through upper secondary school, who visit regularly throughout the week.

The excursion also included stops at Saxhóll crater and Arnarstapi, where the fellows enjoyed the coastal scenery and took a short break. On the return journey, the group stopped at Ölkelda to taste the natural mineral water before heading back to Reykjavík.

As with earlier field trips, the excursion offered fellows a valuable opportunity to connect classroom learning with real examples of land planning, conservation, regional collaboration and landscape interpretation in Iceland.