Prof. Dr. Peter Messerli

Areas of professional focus

• Land system science and sustainable development oriented research
• Analysis of socio-ecological systems and land governance in developing countries
• Transformation of forested landscapes and shifting cultivation in Southeast Asia and Africa in the context of global change
• Knowledge production for evidence informed decision-making and transformations towards sustainable development

​Projects

• Managing telecoupled landscapes for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services and poverty alleviation
• African Food, Agriculture, Land and Natural Resource Dynamics in the context of global changes (Afgroland)
• Archetypes of transnational land acquisitions: towards a generalization of case study knowledge for informed soil governance (ATLAS)
• The Land Matrix Initiative
• Land Observatory
• Large-Scale Land Acquisitions In Southeast Asia: Rural transformations between global agendas and people’s right to food
• The Agrobiodiversity Initiative (TABI) in Lao PDR
• Lao DECIDE Info Project

Further professional interests

• Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research
• Research partnerships with developing countries
• Knowledge-based dialogues between science and society

Field experience

10 years of field experience mainly in Lao PDR, Madagascar, and Ethiopia; work experience in various other CDE core regions including Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and East Africa

Languages

German, English, French, Spanish; basic grasp of Lao and Malagasy