Inaugural meeting of ENCHPOPGOS network

The inaugural meeting of the ENCHPOPGOS network will take place on 25th to 27th September at Robinson College, Cambridge. ENCHPOPGOS, the European Network for the Comparative History of Population Geography and Occupational Structure, brings together scholars from all over Europe who are or plan to work on similar projects and are committed to working in a commensurable and common framework over the period 1500-1914 to create datasets not merely of national occupational structures but scalable datasets at the local and regional levels.

The network is co-ordinated by Dr Leigh Shaw-Taylor, Director of CAMPOP, and Dr Alexis Litvine.

Climate change and Syrian War revisited

A new study, just published in the journal Political Geography, shows that there is no sound evidence that global climate change was a factor in causing the Syrian civil war.

Claims that a major drought caused by anthropogenic climate change was a key factor in starting the Syrian civil war have gained considerable traction since 2015 and have become an accepted narrative in the press, most recently repeated by former US vice president Al Gore in relation to Brexit. This study, led by Professor Jan Selby at the University of Sussex, and co-authored by new Cambridge Geography professor Mike Hulme, takes a fresh look at the existing evidence for these claims as well as conducting new research into Syrian rainfall data and the experiences of Syrian refugees.

Geography, materialism, and the neo-vitalist turn

Professor of Cultural and Historical Geography Matthew Gandy and Research Associate Sandra Jasper have published a new paper in Dialogues in Human Geography entitled 'Geography, materialism, and the neo-vitalist turn'.

The paper addresses a growing body of geographical literature that adopts a neo-vitalist approach to the understanding of nature and the human subject and the wider political and ethical tensions that such an approach can bring about.

'Keep it local' approach to protecting the rainforest can be more effective than government schemes

Conservation initiatives led by local and indigenous groups can be just as effective as schemes led by government, according to new research by a team led by Cambridge Geography Research Associate Judith Schleicher. In some cases in the Amazon rainforest, grassroots initiatives can be even more effective at protecting this vital ecosystem. This is particularly important due to widespread political resistance to hand over control over forests and other natural resources to local communities.

Into the Inferno nominated for an Emmy

Congratulations to Professor of Volcanology Clive Oppenheimer whose documentary Into the Inferno (directed by Werner Herzog) has been nominated for 'Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary' in the 2017 News and Documentary Emmy Awards. The awards will be presented on 5 October 2017.