Editorial

After 17 years as Editor-in-Chief of MRD the 5 last of which together with Dr David Molden Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) I decided to step down at the end of 2016 and hand over the task to Prof. Dr. Thomas Breu Director of the Centre for Development and Environment at the University of Bern since 2013 and Executive Director of the International Graduate School IGS North-South. It has been a great pleasure for me to see the journal thrive and flourish during my time as an Editor-in-Chief of MRD. For me personally a big change came in January 2016 when I retired from the University of Bern at the age of 65 a particularity of Swiss bureaucracy. I have kept some former and assumed some new assignments at the international level; but it seemed essential both to myself and to the team to ensure that MRD’s editorial team in Bern should continue to have an Editor-inChief next door and we were very lucky that Thomas Breu signaled his interest and willingness to serve in this function. Thomas Breu has a long track record of research for sustainable development in natural resource management and governance of social– ecological systems in Southeast Asia East Africa the Horn of Africa and Central Asia often with a focus on mountainous areas; he has also published on spatial analysis of global change processes—including large-scale land acquisitions—and has coordinated a number of research projects and long-term programs based on partnerships between the global North and South. With this expertise and his profound understanding of policy and development processes he is ideally suited to further strengthen MRD’s mission.

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