Postdoctoral Fellowship in Geography at the University of Basel

Job: Postdoctoral Fellowship in Geography at the University of Basel, Switzerland

We would like to draw your attention to the following job offer:
One-year position in Geography at the University of Basel, Switzerland, starting around January/February 1st 2014:

Identification of Potential Intervention Mechanisms for Improving Small-scale Farmers Livelihood and Reducing Land Degradation with the Support of PES in the Communal Farming Areas of Northern Namibia
Position and eligibility

The department of Physical Geography and Environmental Change (www.physiogeo.unibas.ch) at the University of Basel is seeking a postdoctoral fellow (or someone with similar experience, i.e. Master’s Degree and around 5-years working experience) to lead the project outlined below for one year. The position is funded by the Syngenta Foundation For Sustainable Agriculture and aims at identifying and initialising applied activities linking livelihoods of small-scale farmers and PES in north-central Namibia.

We are seeking a young scientist preferably from a southern African country to undertake or coordinate this project. Women are especially encouraged to apply. While the postdoctoral will be based in Basel, around 2-5 months will be spent in Namibia undertaking fieldwork. The project is embedded in further activities of the University of Basel in Namibia.
Suitable candidates should have some basic knowledge of soil management, the reality of farming in drylands, experience with development cooperation, a thorough knowledge of the relevant stakeholders in Namibia and some basic knowledge about dealing with larger data sets (statistics).
Project

Payments for Environmental Services (PES) offer opportunities to fund soil quality and yield improvements on cropland through Carbon (C) credits, and the improvement of other ecosystem services such as biodiversity or the provision of clean water. The project already had a first phase. For further information please see the job announcement (pdf).

Fostering soil and land management aimed at increasing landscape Carbon stocks is best done by promoting existing practices that rely on a high SOC status on cropland or the surrounding pastures and forests used by farmers for firewood or timber supply. The second phase of the project will therefore focus on:
1. An assessment of the actual area where integrated farming could be introduced and thus in the case of Carbon, the potential to earn credits; the quality of the organic Carbon, in particular in the soil, and thus its longevity and potential to earn Carbon credits.
2. An identification of land management practices that offer an improvement of yields and environmental quality as well as farm income; the incentives required to engage farmers, government and NGOs to in activities related PES; identification of potential stakeholders for the implementation phase; suggestions on the structure of development projects that support the implementation of the feasible land management practices; and the dissemination of results to stakeholders in Namibia and the scientific community.
The activities of the postdoctoral fellow supported in this project will focus on point 2 but include the information gathered concerning point 1.
Application

Please submit to Lena Bloemertz: lena.bloemertz@unibas.ch
* CV and a motivation letter (together in one pdf file – with your surname as title of the document)
* a published paper or equivalent and the name of at least two referees.

For further questions and the submission of an application please contact:
Lena Bloemertz, Physical Geography and Environmental Change, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Email: lena.bloemertz@unibas.ch

Application deadline: 30th of November 2013