Students
“In the UK we have very strong partnerships between the public and private sectors and a map-based approach to planning”
Chris Starr, Director and Principal Lecturer for MSc Forest Business Management.
The reconnaissance trip examined the Tunsbergdalsbreen glacier which has a regular shape and behaviour which make it ideal for monitoring climate change. It is the largest outlet valley glacier of the Jostedalsbreen ice cap in southern Norway and the largest ice cap in Europe. It was Katy’s first expedition as leader.
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I wanted to experience living and working on a glacier for an extended period of time, in order to start preparing for potential future polar trips,” she said. “The skills I learned will enable me to guide other people and keep them safe on a glacier.”
In 2008 Katy took part in a five week expedition to the Hardangervidda Plateau in Norway.
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As well as spending time on the glacier, learning movement and crevasse rescue skills and sleeping in snow holes, I trained in leadership and management skills... This was not only relevant to mountaineering but could also be transferred to many situations in work and life.”
After graduation, Katy hopes to build a career in outdoor activities, perhaps even starting her own outdoors personal development business.
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In the meantime, she aims to take part in more polar expeditions as well as mountaineering training working with people in the outdoors and indoors at the Lakeland Climbing Centre, Kendal.
From the land of Nepal
In the mountainous Himalayan republic of Nepal, glaciers are melting at a terrifying rate–risking the water supplies of hundreds of millions of people in neighbouring India.
Deforestation is also gathering pace, destroying the habitat of many endangered species.
Nepal is a biodiversity hotspot and a pretty good indicator of what the future holds for the planet as climate change impacts on the natural environment,” warned University of Cumbria forestry lecturer Chris Starr.
Against this backdrop, he welcomed a group of Nepalese community forest managers to the Newton Rigg campus for a three-week study programme.
The visit–funded by the UK Government’s Department for International Development–enabled the visitors from the Livelihoods and Forestry Programme (LFP) to see for themselves the latest British initiatives in forest management.
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In the UK we have very strong partnerships between the public and private sectors and a map-based approach to planning,” explained Chris.
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We took our visitors to woodlands and forests in the Lake District, Lancashire and Scotland, as well as visiting the Forestry Commission headquarters in Edinburgh. Using their forests for carbon trading with the rest of the world is a potential source of revenue for Nepal, as is eco-tourism, but the country must protect and manage its forests in the first place, especially as the majority of Nepal’s rural population depend on the country’s forests (about 40 per cent of the actual territory) for their livelihoods.”
The LFP project already works directly with over 1.4 million people who depend upon the forest for their survival. As a new federal government in Nepal begins to develop a national forestry plan, Chris hopes that overseas trips by their foresters to the Newton Rigg campus–home to the University’s National School of Forestry–will help them to develop more effective management regimes.
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