Draft:Klaus Butterbach-Bahl

Professor Klaus Butterbach-Bahl is a German biogeochemist and the head of the Danish Pioneer Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures (Land-CRAFT) at Aarhus University’s Department of Agroecology in Denmark. He also serves as a principal scientist at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany.

Professor Butterbach-Bahl is internationally recognized for his pioneering work on nitrogen cycles and greenhouse gas emissions, focusing on their impacts on agriculture, ecosystems, and the climate. His research explores the biogeochemical processes driving emissions and seeks practical, science-based mitigation strategies to address climate change challenges. His studies span diverse ecosystems worldwide, including rice paddies in Southeast Asia and China, grasslands in Inner Mongolia and Tibet, and livestock systems in East and West Africa. His work in Denmark emphasizes sustainable agriculture, and he also investigates ecosystem resilience and adaptation under changing climate conditions.

In addition to his scientific contributions, Butterbach-Bahl has significantly advanced global collaborations in environmental research. He has played a crucial role in training early-career scientists and fostering international partnerships to tackle issues related to climate change, ecosystem sustainability, and environmental protection. Notably, he was instrumental in establishing the Mazingira Centre at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya, the first high-tech laboratory in sub-Saharan Africa to measure livestock systems' environmental impacts.

In 2024, Professor Butterbach-Bahl received the Nobel Charitable Trust Prize in recognition of his groundbreaking research on greenhouse gas quantification and his studies on biosphere-atmosphere exchange. This honor underscores his lasting contributions to environmental science and his leadership in understanding and mitigating the effects of agricultural practices on global emissions.