"Postdoctoral Fellowship in C and N Geochemistry"

Job Description

The Global Critical Zone Science Chair at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) invites applications for a two years postdoc fellowship (candidates from Moroccan or African universities). The successful applicant will conduct research in C and N Geochemistry aiming to quantify the soil C and N stocks, and isotopic composition in livestock areas in Brazilian soils (Cerrado) which are very close to those of the African Sudano-Sahelian zone which is one of the points of interest for the development of research and its application to the agronomic system of Africa (designing and development of sustainable agricultural systems). The successful applicant will provide a great understanding in global warming discussions, increasing soil C and reduce deforestation. In this sense, Brazil is today a major player in such a domain for which goals are reinforced in the intended Nationally Determined Contribution (iNDC) set in Paris during the 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change (iNDC Brazil, 2015). The Brazilian government has ambitious goals for the next years: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2025 and 43% by 2030, compared to 2005. To do so, one the commitments of the Brazilian iNDC is strengthen the Low Carbon Emission Agriculture Program (ABC) as the main strategy for sustainable agriculture development, including restoration of additional 15 million hectares of degraded pastures and enhancing 5 million hectares of integrated cropland-livestock-forestry systems (ICLF) by 2030.

Global (e.g Conant et al., 2017) and local studies (e.g Bogaerts et al., 2017, Oliveira Silva et al., 2016) show that pastures have potential to accumulate C in soil. However, these studies evaluated well-managed pastures, a quite different scenario from those commonly observed in Brazilian pastures. Brazil is the second biggest exporter of cattle beef and has the second largest herd in the world, only surpassed by India. Most of livestock production is grass-fed, extensive and spread in Cerrado, a biome which occupies an area of 204.7 million hectares in central Brazil. Pastures are the main land use in this biome, occupying more than 54 million ha. However, it is estimated that 60% of Cerrado pastures are degraded in some level (Andrade et al., 2014)

The relevance of pasture recovering and ICLF for soil C build-up and climate change mitigation suggests that this would be an efficient instrument for climate policy in Brazil. However, while the effects of Cerrado conversion to pastures in soil C has been already assessed by several studies (e.g Oliveira et al., 2016; Brito et al., 2019), the role of pasture recovering and ICLF remains largely unexplored by pervasive biome-scale analysis. Currently, is mandatory a comprehensive analysis of soil C stocks in areas under the management practices suggested by the ABC Program. Besides being critical to Brazil achieve iNDC commitments, such effort would be a useful tool for the evaluation of ABC Program and to encourage decision makers and planners to diffuse sustainable land use strategies and soil management systems. In this sense, this proposal aims to (i) quantify the soil C and N stocks, and isotopic composition in livestock areas under the management practices suggested by the ABC Program; and (ii) assess the contribution of soil C accretion in livestock areas to Brazil achieve iNDC commitments.

Criteria of the Candidate

• PhD in environmental science, soil science, surface geochemistry, or related fields from a recognized Moroccan or African university.
• At least one or two high publications record in international well-ranked journals
• Significant knowledge in environmental science studies, including experienced in soil field work and abilities in isotopic geochemistry techniques and modeling capabilities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Skilled in both field and lab work.
• Proactive, ethic, and respectful person