News

UNU-LRT was honoured to welcome a distinguished guest last week when the ambassador of Ethiopia to the Nordic countries, Ms Woinshet Tadesse, paid a visit to the programme. The ambassador and Mr Daneal Tenkir Arga, Counsellor II at the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia based in Stockholm, were introduced to the activities and facilities of UNU-LRT. Furthermore, a continued fruitful collaboration between UNU-LRT and local Ethiopian institutions, working on land restoration and sustainable land management, was discussed and recommended.

About three weeks ago, the annual UNU-LRT six-month training programme started with 12 fellows, seven men and five women. The fellows this year come from six different countries in Central-Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The countries are: Ethiopia (2 fellows), Ghana (3), Mongolia (2), Niger (2), Uganda (2) and Uzbekistan (1).

The Programme Director of UNU-LRT, Dr Hafdis Hanna Aegisdottir, was the key-note speaker at a panel discussion organized by the Permanent Mission of Iceland and the Group of Friends on Decertification, Land Degradation and Drought, in partnership with UNCCD, FAO and IAEA, in New York on 28 February.

Mr Salifu Wahabu, a former fellow of UNU-LRT from 2013, defended his Master´s thesis earlier this month in his home country. The title of his thesis was: “Impact of Charcoal Production on Soil Properties and Vegetation in the Central Gonja District of the Northern Region, Ghana”. He has now graduated with an M.Phil. in Environmental Science from the University of Ghana, Legon in Accra.

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.