| Established | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Director | Thomas Breu and Sabin Bieri |
| Location | Bern, Switzerland |
| Website | https://www.cde.unibe.ch |
TheCentre for Development and Environment (CDE) is an interdisciplinary research centre specializing insustainability science andland systems at theUniversity of Bern, Switzerland. It conducts research in many countries worldwide, with a particular focus on theEastern Africa,Southeast Asia,South America,Europe, andSwitzerland. In terms of teaching, CDE offers courses in the field of sustainable development at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral level.
CDE was established in 2009 as a strategic research centre of the University of Bern,[1] under the direction of Peter Messerli and Thomas Breu. Its origins date back to the Group for Development and Environment, founded in 1988 at the Institute of Geography of the University of Bern. This research group was headed by two professors, Hans Hurni and Urs Wiesmann, and initially based on two international research programmes, theSoil Conservation Research Programme inEthiopia[2] (1981–1998) and theLaikipia Research Programme inKenya[3] (1984–1997). Other major international research programmes followed. These includedTerre Tany[4] (1989–2000) inMadagascar, theEastern and Southern Africa Partnership Programme[5] (1999–2015), and programmes inCentral Asia,[6] theMekong region,[7][8][9] and the Andes. From 2001 to 2013, CDE was the lead institution of theNational Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South,[10][11] a Swiss-based international research programme onglobal change andsustainable development.
In 2016, UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon appointed then CDE Director Peter Messerli to co-chair the independent group of scientists drafting the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) 2019 on the UNSustainable Development Goals. Peter Messerli oversaw completion of the milestone report together with co-chair Endah Murniningtyas, former Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environment inIndonesia.[12][13]
CDE conducts research on sustainable development in the context of global change and related impacts on natural resources (soils, water,biodiversity), land systems, and the living conditions of different population groups. It employs researchers from the natural sciences, social sciences, human sciences, humanities, law, and economics. The four main areas of research of CDE’s interdisciplinary teams are:
CDE offers a full master's in Sustainabiltiy Transformations[14] and minors in sustainable development at the bachelor’s[15] and master’s[16] level, with currently over 400 students enrolled in these programmes.
TheInternational Graduate School (IGS) North-South was created in 2009[17] as part of the above-mentionedNCCR North-South programme. The IGS North-South is a doctoral programme based on an inter-university agreement between the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lausanne, and Zurich, as well as selected cooperation agreements with universities in countries of the global South and East. CDE coordinates the IGS North-South, which currently has around 100 doctoral students.
Administratively, CDE is part of the Faculty of Science of the University of Bern. The university’s Executive Board issues a performance mandate to CDE.
CDE maintains a broad national and international network with academic institutions such as ProClim,[18] the Swiss Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries KFPE,[19] td-net[20] the Swiss Academic Society for Environmental Research and Ecology (SAGUF),[21] andscnat; global scientific programmes;[22][23][24] civil society organizations; and the public sector. It hosts
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