The Lake House of ÚLfljótsvatn
House for our summer volunteers - guesthouse - residency for writers and artists in the winter
Land dedicated to reforestation
The Lake House of Úlfljótsvatn has been leading an international volunteering program since 2015. Every summer, the IFA hosts volunteers to plant trees for carbon sequestration, assist local forestry associations in maintaining their forests (path-making, building timber infrastructures, branch cutting), and learn about environmental improvement and climate change action.
The program started under the ERASMUS+ initiative of the European Commission, through the European Voluntary Service (EVS) which became the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) in 2020.
In January 2022 the IFA received a Quality Label for its ESC volunteering project. This label certifies that we carry out high quality solidarity activities in compliance with the principles, objectives and quality standards of the European Solidarity Corps. Obtaining a Quality Label is a precondition for leading European volunteering programs. We lead this project in cooperation with Rannís - The Icelandic Centre for Research which manages the European grants and fundings in Iceland for the European Commission.
The IFA has also welcomed short-term volunteering groups with other organizations in the past such as Working-Abroad, Worldwide Friends (Veraldavinir) and Seeds Iceland. The only program currently active however is the ESC volunteering program.
We received Rannís at Úlfljótsvatn to talk about our project. In this video, Einar Örn Jónsson, project manager at the IFA in charge of the volunteering projects, talks about the importance of tree planting to prevent soil erosion and to tackle climate change, and about the essential role the ESC volunteers have in achieving that goal. The video shows our volunteer wall of fame, and heavily eroded area on our land where vegetation has completely disappeared and needs to be restored.
English subtitles are available in the settings of the video.
The Lake House of Úlfljótsvatn
Úlfljótsvatnsbær
Grafningsvegur Efri
805 Selfoss
Iceland
+354-783-9531
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