In memory of Prof. Dr. Christopher Bryant, 1945 - 2026
Christopher Bryant, who served as Chair of the IGU Commission on the Sustainability of Rural Systems from 2000 to 2006, represented the last presidency of the Commission’s first phase. This period was marked by the transition from earlier Rural Geography commissions that had operated under different names and by the consolidation, from 1992 onward, of a stable focus on Rural Geography through the lens of sustainability. He was also the last sole Chair before the introduction of the co-chair model in 2006. During his tenure, he was particularly committed to ensuring that the Commission’s colloquia were held in countries of the Global South, notably the meeting organised in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State in 2002, the proceedings of which he later co-edited with E. Makhanya and published in 2004.
Educated at the London School of Economics, where he completed both his Bachelor's degree in Geography and Economics and his PhD in 1970, Bryant began his academic career with a strongly quantitative approach focused on the study of peri-urban areas, a term commonly used in the French geographical tradition and one that he preferred to the English expression rural-urban fringe. Among his most influential contributions to this field are The City's Countryside (1982), co-authored with L. H. Russwurm and A. G. McLellan, and Agriculture in the City's Countryside (1992), written with T. R. R. Johnston. These works remain essential reference points for scholars concerned with the dynamics of rural-urban interaction. His doctoral research on agriculture in the Paris region, including farms expropriated during the construction of the Paris-Nord Airport (now Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport), also explains his early and enduring engagement with the Francophone academic world, creating a bridge between Anglophone and Francophone geographical traditions that was relatively uncommon for someone born in England in 1945. Much of his academic career unfolded in Canada, particularly at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and the Université de Montréal in Quebec, reflecting a sustained engagement with both intellectual traditions.
Throughout his career, Bryant never abandoned his interest in agricultural land undergoing transformation under the pressures of urban encroachment. Over time, however, his research broadened to include rural areas situated further from major urban centres. He made important contributions to debates on the protection of farmland for agricultural production in the context of global climate change and international food security concerns in regions including the Maghreb, China and India. Increasingly, his work turned towards local development, where he came to advocate a more qualitative perspective. Characteristically, he emphasised that successful rural development depended not simply on the availability of financial resources, but on leadership, clear strategies and the empowerment of local communities.
Christopher Bryant’s intellectual legacy reaches far beyond his publications. Equally important was his ability to accompany rural communities in processes of reflection and change, and his measured, thoughtful mentorship of generations of geographers influenced by his scholarship. Those who learned from his writings, and from his example, will long miss his insight, generosity and commitment to understanding and supporting rural societies in times of profound transformation.
Prof Valerià Paül, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
In memory of our esteemed colleague and friend, Ana Firmino, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Professora Catedrática, 1954-2020.
In May 2020, Ana Firmino, an energetic Portuguese geographer, left us. She loved trees and animals, an emotion that we must understand in the context of what she considered to be a necessary and urgent transition of agriculture towards overcoming productivist practices.
I remember how, at the 2018 world conference on rural geography we organised in Galicia, she was concerned with the conditions of cattle in the intensive farms that we visited then. She was always talking about cork oaks (Quercus suber) and strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo), for her, paradigmatic trees of a smart balance between land and people. She even led an expedition from her university to Pampilhosa da Serra, after the terrible fires of 2017, to reforest the burnt area with strawberry trees. The paper explaining this experience was published in a book edited by the University of Santiago de Compostela in the context of that congress. The picture, by Cornelia Steinhäuser, was taken on one of those days in late July 2018, in a chestnut tree landscape (souto in Galician and Portuguese) we visited in Riós. She was very pleased with the place and said that it was the same than neighbouring Trás-os-Montes, Portugal, her country, of which she was very proud. As usual, she was smiling.
She wanted to visit Croatia next summer ― the conference that was going to be held there has been postponed to 2021 ― and she talked about a giant tree she wanted to know more about the Ginkgo of Daruvar. We hope to go there to honour her.
Until now, I had not grasped the meaning of the word “Smiling” in the motto of the conference that she organised in 2015 in Portugal: “Smart Answers for a Smiling Future”. I think I am beginning to understand.
Sit tibi terra levis.
Valerià Paül (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
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Em maio de 2020, deixou-nos Ana Firmino, uma enérgica geógrafa portuguesa. Amava as árvores e os animais, um sentimento que temos de compreender no contexto do que ela considerava ser uma necessária e urgente transição da agricultura para fórmulas de superação do produtivismo.
Recordo-me como no congresso mundial de geografia rural de 2018 que organizámos na Galiza se preocupou com as condições do gado nas explorações intensivas que então visitámos. Falava sempre dos sobreiros (Quercus suber) e dos medronheiros (Arbutus unedo), para ela paradigmas de um equilíbrio inteligente entre a terra e as pessoas. Liderou mesmo uma expedição da sua universidade a Pampilhosa da Serra, após os terríveis incêndios de 2017, para reflorestar a área abrangida com medronheiros. O artigo em que explica essa experiência foi publicado no livro editado pela Universidade de Santiago de Compostela no âmbito daquele congresso. A fotografia, de Cornelia Steinhäuser, foi realizada num daqueles dias de finais de julho de 2018, no souto de Riós que visitámos. Gostou muito do lugar e comentou que era igual ao do vizinho Trás-os-Montes, Portugal, o seu país, do qual se sentia orgulhosíssima. Sorria, como sempre.
Desejava visitar a Croácia este verão ― o congresso que ia aí celebrar-se ficou adiado para 2021 ― e falou de uma árvore gigante que queria conhecer: o Ginkgo de Daruvar. Haveria de lá ir homenageá-la.
Até agora, não tinha percebido o sentido da palavra “Smiling” no lema do congresso que organizou em 2015 em Portugal: “Smart Answers for a Smiling Future”. Acho que o começo a compreender.
Sit tibi terra levis.
Valerià Paül (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
In memory of Prof. Dr. Salah Abdel-Gaber Ghonim Eisa, 1951-2023
Prof. Dr. Salah Abdel-Gaber Ghonim Eisa (1951-2023) was a prominent Egyptian geographer who specialized in Rural Geography early in his career and we remember him fondly for his enthusiastic dedication to Geography. We also celebrate him for his love of poetry and the arts. Indeed, Prof. Eisa often composed poems which he recited publicly on special occasions. He was deeply committed to the internationalization of Egyptian and Arab Geography and steadfastly promoted worldwide these schools of Geography, with their particular case-studies, themes and approaches.
Prof. Eisa earned his Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees from Cairo University, and spent his professional life as a Professor at the University of Menoufia, located in the heart of the Nile Delta. He dedicated a significant part of his research to this outstanding region, focusing specifically on opportunities and challenges of water usage from the Nile River, including farmland irrigation, urban demands and leisure uses, as well as the environmental, planning and development implications of this life-giving and contested resource.
Prof. Eisa’s profound commitment to the Commission on the Sustainability of Rural Systems of the International Geographical Union (IGU CSRS) began in 2014 at the 22nd Colloquium meeting, held in Bucharest and the Carpathians. He was a regular participant to the IGU CSRS annual colloquia with his wife and, in the last occasions, with his son practitioner. The first picture captures Prof. Eisa with his son while doing fieldwork on a rural Wisconsin farm.
He was passionate about hosting the annual IGU CSRS Colloquium in Egypt. In 2022 he graciously welcomed the IGU CSRS family for the 29th Colloquium, our first in-person event post-COVID. It was a magnificent opportunity to learn in situ about his research on rural Egypt, including his deep concern about precarious rural housing. One evening, he took the participants to see some rural houses, next to a deltaic channel, where he gave detailed explanations, a moment captured in the second photo. Prof. Eisa’s goal was to convey a diverse image of rural Egypt, driven by demographic growth, tourism development and agricultural industrialization standing alongside severe environmental and planning challenges such as pollution, urban encroachment and shoreline retreat.
As we observed the week we spent in Egypt, Prof. Eisa inspired a powerful school of Egyptian Rural Geography. Today, his many doctoral students carry on his teachings at universities across Egypt. In order to spread his research worldwide, and to promote knowledge of the Rural Geography of Egypt, Prof. Eisa included among the materials which he prepared for the 29th Colloquium the book titled Egyptian Contributions in Congresses, Conferences and Colloquia of the International Geographical Union, a nearly 400-page volume of his papers presented at IGU CSRS colloquia since 2014, translated into English. One of his articles contributed to these colloquia appeared as a peer-reviewed paper in the journal of the Catalan Society of Geography. Reading it is a good tribute to him. His thoughtful presence, kindness and deep commitment to Geography will be fondly remembered by the entire global rural geographic community.
Dr. Valerià Paül, Co-Chair of the IGU CSRS, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Santiago de Compostela
Dr. Holly Barcus, Vice-President of the IGU, previous Co-Chair of the IGU CSRS, Professor of Geography at Macalester College
