On May 2-3, Richard Thomas of UNU-INWEH and ELD was the guest international teacher for the Agricultural University of Iceland’s 6-month Land Restoration Training program (GRÓ-LRT) that is under the auspices of UNESCO. This institutional capacity building training programme is custom built for mid-career professionals in developing countries faced with severe land degradation.
Twenty three working professionals, 9 women and 14 men from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, participated. Kenya was the latest new country addition to the program with fellows from the National Drought Management Authority and Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation.
Participants used the Economics of Land Degradation campus modules, learning about the valuation of ecosystem services and the steps to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of sustainable land management options. The fellows used the training material to choose and develop a model case study from their own experiences and environments.
The ELD teaching is part of a long standing collaboration between the ELD Initiative and GRÓ-LRT. Richard Thomas has a long affiliation with ELD, currently being a member of the ELD Working Group.
Learn more about GRÓ-LRT.