Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson


Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson is Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources of Iceland and has also served as the CEO of Landvernd, the largest nature conservation and environmental NGO in Iceland, from 2011 to 2017. He serves as Minister for the Environment outside the parliament unlike the rest of the cabinet of Katrín Jakobsdóttir. In 2017 he became the first openly gay man to become an Icelandic Minister.

Education and Career

Guðmundur holds a BSc degree in biology from the University of Iceland and a master's degree in environmental science from Yale University. He has worked with research in ecology and environmental studies at the University of Iceland and at The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland. He then worked at The Institute of Freshwater Fisheries in Hólar in Hjaltadalur. Since 2006 he has been a part-time teacher at the University of Iceland, the Agricultural University of Iceland and the . He has also worked as a ranger in Þingvellir National Park and Vatnajökull National Park.
He was one of the founders of The Icelandic Association of Environmentalist and was the first chairman from 2007 to 2010. In 2011 he became the CEO of Landvernd, an Icelandic environment association. He served as CEO of Landvernd for 6 years.