Holocene Palaeoenvironmental History of the Central Sahara

Roland Baumhauer (* 1956) received his Diploma degree of geography, geology and mineralogy in 1980 and his Ph.D. degree in 1985 from the University of Würzburg, Faculty of Geosciences. After his Habilitation in 1991 he was appointed to the University of Trier, serving as a Professor of Applied Physical Geography from 1991 to 2002. From 1996 to 2002 he held the position of Vice-President of the University of Trier and as an Interim-President from 1999 to 2000. In 2002 he was appointed to the Würzburg University, serving as Chair of the Department of Physical Geography and Dean of the Faculty of Geosciences from 2005 to 2007. He was elected as a Fellow of the Commission of Geomorphology of Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He has contributed some articles to the fields of geomorphology and palaeoecology of arid and semiarid regions, environmental history, environmental change, and application of geography to problems concerning the record of climate change and interactions between the environment and life.Jürgen Runge (*1962) has worked since almost 25 years as a Physical Geographer and Environmentalist on the evolution of tropical landscapes, former and recent environmental changes and on questions related to tropical and subtropical land use in subsaharan semi-humid and humid regions in Africa. After basic studies in Geography, Geology, Soil Science and Botany at the Universities of Giessen and Göttingen, he regionally specialized on West and Central Africa as an assistant Professor at the University of Paderborn. In 2000 he was appointed as a full Professor for Physical Geography and Geoecology with regional focus on subsaharan Africa at Frankfurt University. In 2003 Runge and his colleagues from different scientific disciplines set up the 'Center for interdisciplinary research on Africa' (Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Afrikaforschung, ZIAF, www.ziaf.de) where he recently has the position of the Vice Director. In 2005 he tooks over the editorship of 'Palaeoecology of Africa'. Since 2007 he is working as a consultant on extractive industries and lives in Bangui, Central African Republic.