Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)

The Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) is the University of Bern’s centre for sustainable development research. Founded in 1988 as a part of the Institute of Geography, it became an interdisciplinary university centre in 2009, with the aim of fostering sustainable development-oriented research across various institutes and departments of the University of Bern.

Objectives

Our mission is to produce and share knowledge for sustainable development in cooperation with partners in the global North and South. Our goals are to:

Understand the effects of global change on natural resources and people’s lives;
Develop and disseminate context-specific and multi-sectoral innovations;
Promote, through education, learning for and from sustainable development.

Main Activities

Six thematic clusters represent key strategic opportunities for CDE to enhance the relevance and reputation of its contribution to sustainable development: