In 2024, we witnessed a concerning increase in wildfire activity worldwide. North and South America were among the regions hit hardest since wildfires were first recorded in 2003. Bolivia and Venezuela experienced their highest-ever carbon emissions caused by wildfires, and Brazil nearly reached its historical peak. Bolivia stood out among the many affected countries for…
Blog post by ZEF-colleague Andreas Gohlke, who works with ZEF’s Cultural and Political Change research group (ZEF-CPC). From March 24 to 28, 2025, he spent a week shadowing the National PhD in Peace Studies doctoral program at La Sapienza University in Rome. This “job shadowing” opportunity at a European partner university was made possible by…
Blog by Asrat Gella, project coordinator and senior researcher at ZEF. “I think I can smell smoke,” said one member of our research team as we entered into the sacred forests of Kaya Mudzimuvya. And she was right. Soon enough we stumbled upon what appeared to be an active charcoal making pit with logs burning…
Blog by Sara Velander and Nady Mahmoud (Junior Researchers in the LANUSYNCON Project at ZEF) share their insights from UNCCD COP 16, which was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 2-13, 2024. 2024 was a landmark year for global environmental governance, marking a “triple COP year” with consecutive high-profile events: New York Climate Week (USA),…
Blog by Clement Roux, Eva Youkhana and Christian Petersheim Bogotá, November, 2024. During our research stay in Colombia’s capital we took the opportunity to visit the Museo de la ciudad autoconstruida (MCA), or the Museum of the Self-Constructed City, located in the district of Ciudad Bolivar. To get there, we took the gondola lift, which…
Blog post by Tina Beuchelt, Constance Akurugu, Theresa Weise, Biihee Na Jaafar Natasung Pelpuo, Bushira Alhassan. Every year on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed worldwide from November 25 to December 10. This day highlights the ongoing struggle of women against gender-based violence. It serves as a…
Engaging in fieldwork is multifaceted, fraught with unique challenges and rewarding insights. I conducted my field research in Nairobi’s informal settlements Korogocho and Pumwani-Majengo because I wanted to understand the everyday dynamics around green space governance. My field study in Kenya’s capital was split up in two phases: The first phase took place from August…
This blog post takes you to the Konso Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Ethiopia. When we started our trip to visit our partner university in Dilla, southern Ethiopia, on July 23, 2024, we had no idea that the largest landslide ever recorded in Ethiopia had just taken place just a few kilometers…
ZEF’s Doctoral Studies Support Program ran a second edition of its Traveling School at the National University of Colombia’s La Paz Campus. ZEF’s German-Colombian Doctoral Studies Support Program (DSSP) and the West African Center for Sustainable Rural Transformation (WAC-SRT) recently concluded the second edition of the DSSP Traveling School, solidifying their collaborative efforts with the…
A delegation of the bilateral ZEF-led project Doctoral Studies Support Program (DSSP) paid a visit to their partners in Argentina from March 18-25, 2024. DSSP is based at ZEF and funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as part of their SDG Graduate School Program. First stop was the conference “The challenges of the…
