News

This week, the fellows visited Thingvellir National Park as well as selected farmers that live in the neighbouring areas. The fellows' assignment for the visit was to interview stakeholders in the area, which will be used in stakeholder analysis later on. The fellows interviewed farmers, staff of the National Park and others that in some way make use of the park. The focus was on sustainable land management of the natural resources within the area.

On Monday, 22 April, the UNU-LRT fellows visited Gunnarsholt, the headquarters of The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI), where they will be staying for two months during the summer. The fellows were welcomed by the director of SCSI, Sveinn Runólfsson, and Magnús H. Jóhannsson, Department Head of Research and Development, at Sagnagarður, the Visitor's Centre. Sveinn and Magnús took the fellows through the Centre and gave an overview of the history of land restoration in Iceland.

Mr. Batbaatar Amgaa, a fellow in the 2012 six-month training programme, defended his MSc thesis at the National University of Mongolia on 28 February. In his work Mr. Amgaa focused on the effects of grazing and topography on plant biomass allocation in the mountain steppe of northern Mongolia.

UNU-LRT welcomes a new staff member. Ms. Halldora Traustadottir recently started working full time for the programme as office manager. She has BA in Anthropolgy from the University of Iceland and MA in Development Studies and Educational Studies from Roskilde University in Denmark. Furthermore, Halldora was recently awarded a postgraduate diploma in Applied Gender Studies from the University of Iceland.

The fellows attending this year’s six-month training programme have arrived. This year the fellows are eleven and come from Ethiopia (1), Ghana (1), Kyrgyzstan (2), Malawi (1), Mongolia (1), Namibia (1), Niger (2), and Uganda (2); five women and six men. The training started on 12 March in Reykjavik but the fellows will also get training at the headquarters of the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland this summer.

Welcome to UNU-LRT's new website. Here you will find general information about the UNU-LRT programme, a list of all countries and fellows that have participated in the programme, fellows' projects and the programme's latest news.