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

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". Professor ...

who focused on high mountains and highland-lowland linkages. He was appointed Full Professor of Geomorphology in 1968 by the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a compreh ...

, 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 age ...

, 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

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

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 in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. His post-doctoral

Habilitation thesis Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

concerned

Quaternary glaciation The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma (million years ago) and is ongoing. Although geologists describ ...

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; french: Union Géographique Internationale, UGI) is an international geographical society. The first International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871. Subsequent meetings led to the estab ...

(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 regio ...

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

Hans Oeschger Hans Oeschger (2 April 1927, Ottenbach, Switzerland, Ottenbach – 25 December 1998, Bern) was a Swiss climatologist. He founded the Division of Climate and Environmental Physics at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern in 1963 and was ...

. Messerli worked on the

United Nations University The (UNU) 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 global issues related to human development and welfare thr ...

'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 learning and knowledge sharing centre serving the eight regional member countries (RMCs) of thHindu Kush Himalaya(HKH) region - Afghanistan, Ban ...

(ICIMOD), a non-governmental 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)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

(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 UNEP ...

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 United Nations Conference on th ...

(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 p ...

*2002:

King Albert I Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...

Gold Medal *2002: Founder's Medal 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 University of Bern faculty Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal