The Sun plays an important role in defining the environment of Earth and around. It is a source of life, but in some occasions may represent a danger as well. In this presentation a concept of Space Weather and Space Climate will be explained.

Tropical mountainous regions are often identified as landslide hotspots because of the growing population pressure. However, very little information is available for understanding landslide processes in these environments. This thesis investigates the interactions between landslides and land use and management in a rural environment located on the Rift flanks west of Lake Kivu (DR Congo).

Dans le cadre de la défense de thèse de Jean-Claude Maki Mateso, le Dr Yannick THIERY du BRGM (France) donnera un séminaire illustrant les travaux du BRGM sur les glissements de terrain en contexte tropical avec une focus sur ses travaux récents au Malawi et/ou en Nouvelle Calédonie.  

Over the last decade, the economic literature has produced a wealth of evidence that demonstrates that agricultural sectoral growth is not only good for poverty reduction, but in most contexts, it has a larger poverty-reducing effect than growth in other sectors. However, sectoral evidence covers a few cases, and more empirical studies are necessary due to heterogeneous factors between countries.

Trace elements are chemical elements present in low concentrations in the environment, including: (1) essential elements for plants and/or animals (such as Cu, Mn, and Zn), which sometimes cause human deficiency (frequent for Mo and Se) and toxicity when concentrations are below or above certain thresholds, respectively; and (2) elements with no identified biological role, which only cause toxicit

Chocolate manufacturers are increasingly investing in sustainable cocoa sourcing practices. Nonetheless, following two decades of sustainability initiatives in the cocoa sector, numerous severe, intractable, and often interrelated environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges remain.