Bruno Messerli (17 September 1931, in Belp – 4 February 2019) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

who focused on high mountains and highland-lowland linkages. He was appointed Full Professor of

Geomorphology Geomorphology () is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features generated by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand wh ...

in 1968 by the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

, where he taught and carried out research until his retirement in 1996. He contributed significantly to the inclusion of a mountain agenda, Chapter 13 — Managing Fragile Ecosystems — Sustainable Mountain Development in

Agenda 21 Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action ag ...

, the official action plan of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the Rio Summit, the Rio Conference, and the Earth Summit, held in

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from 3 to 14 June in 1992.

Education

Bruno Messerli completed his doctorate at the University of Bern in 1962. His doctoral research concerned the geomorphology of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

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. His post-doctoral

Habilitation thesis Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

concerned

Quaternary glaciation The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial period, glacial and interglacial, interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Year#SI prefix multipliers, Ma (million ...

of mountain ranges around the Mediterranean basin.

Career

Dr. Messerli became a full professor of geography at the University of Bern in 1968. From 1978 to 1983 he served as Director of the Institute of Geography, and as Rector of the university from 1986 to 1987. In 1996 he became Professor Emeritus. Messerli was as President of the

International Geographical Union The International Geographical Union (IGU; , UGI) is an international geographical society. The first International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871. Subsequent meetings led to the establishment of the permanent organization i ...

(IGU) from 1996 to 2000. From 1996 to 2001 he served as Co-Director of the

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) was a research programme that ran from 1987 to 2015 dedicated to studying the phenomenon of global change. Its primary focus was coordinating "international research on global-scale and regi ...

’s project on Past Global Changes (PAGES), founded by Messerli's friend and colleague at the University of Bern, Hans Oeschger. Messerli worked on the

United Nations University The is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve list of global issues, global issues related to Human development ...

's Himalayan Highland-Lowland Interactive Project together with Professor Jack D. Ives. He was a principal founder of

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre founded in 1981, serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu ...

(ICIMOD), a intergovernmental agency located in Kathmandu, Nepal, and dedicated to interdisciplinary research on mountain systems. With Jack Ives, also, Messerli was one of the handful of montologists advocating for the Mountain Agenda in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Chapter 13 in Agenda 21: Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development). He was a founder of the

(ICIMOD) in Nepal and of the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), based in Switzerland. He had a long collaboration with the UN's

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

(FAO), which supervises the Mountain Agenda.

Awards

*1988:

Global 500 Roll of Honour The Global 500 Roll of Honour was an award given from 1987 to 2003 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award recognized the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world. A successor system of UNE ...

of the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

(UNEP) *1990:

Marcel Benoist Prize The Marcel Benoist Prize, offered by the Marcel Benoist Foundation, is a monetary prize that has been offered annually since 1920 to a scientist of Swiss nationality or residency who has made the most useful scientific discovery. Emphasis is pl ...

*2002:

Vautrin Lud Prize The ''Prix International de Géographie Vautrin-Lud'', known in English as the Vautrin Lud Prize, is the highest award in the field of geography. Established in 1991, the award is named after the 16th Century French scholar , who first named, in 1 ...

*2002: King Albert I Gold Medal *2002:

Founder's Medal The Founder's Medal is a medal awarded annually by the Royal Geographical Society, upon approval of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, to individuals for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery". Foundation From ...

of the Royal Geographical Society *2002: FAO - Medal for the UN - International Year of Mountains, Global Mountain Summit in Bishkek, Kyrghyzstan

Works

*with H. Oeschger and M. Svilar (ed.): Das Klima—Analysen und Modelle Geschichte und Zukunft. limate: Analysis and Models, History and FutureBerlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1980. Springer-Verlag. *with JD Ives(ed.): ''Mountain Ecosystems, Stability and Instability'' . Spec. Publ. IGU Congress Paris - Alps 1984. Mountain Research and Development *with E. Brugger, G. Furrer and P. Messerli (ed.): ''Upheaval in the mountain area. The development of the Swiss mountain area between independence and dependence from an economic and ecological point of view'' . Main publishing house, Berne 1984. *with JD Ives: *with JD Ives *with T. Hofer: ''Floods in Bangladesh. History, Dynamics and Rethinking the Role of the Himalayas'' . United Nations University Press, Tokyo / New York 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Messerli, Bruno 1931 births 2019 deaths Swiss geographers Presidents of the International Geographical Union Recipients of the Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize Academic staff of the University of Bern Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal Himalayan studies