Press Release

The Max Planck Institute’s "Perspectives from the Global South" team released an Executive Report at COP30, showcasing regenerative agriculture and resilient food systems. The report highlights Indigenous knowledge, land restoration, and climate adaptation, urging policy makers to align with local realities. It includes insights from Global South communities and supports sustainable farming solutions. more

A new international study shows that medieval communities around Lake Constance actively boosted biodiversity. Combining fossil pollen, archaeobotanical evidence, and historical records, researchers document a sustained rise in plant diversity peaking around 1000 CE. The findings demonstrate that human activity can enhance biodiversity while sustaining food production, offering timely lessons for modern conservation strategies in the Anthropocene. more

New isotopic analysis of fossil teeth uncovers how dietary flexibility determined survival or extinction over the last 150.000 years more

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by an interdisciplinary team of researchers challenges long-held assumptions about the origins of agriculture more

Before the ‘Out of Africa’ migration that led humans into Eurasia and beyond, new research shows that humans expanded their niche to include African forests and deserts. The authors argue that human populations learning to adapt to new and challenging habitats was key to the long-term success of this dispersal.
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