YADVINDER MALHI
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • CV
  • Resources
    • Presentations
    • Lectures
    • MSc Dissertations
    • Data
    • Videos
  • People

Travels in ecosystem science

Some observations and musings from the field and the office.
​

To get regular updates on the science-focussed postings on this blog you can follow me on Twitter (@ymalhi)

Claudia Comberti

16/5/2017

9 Comments

 
Picture
Last Tuesday our DPhil student Claudia Comberti was tragically killed in a bicycle accident involving a bus. Many of us in the ecosystems team, in the Environmental Change Institute, and in Oxford, are still reeling and devastated as we try to come to terms with with the loss of a talented colleague and friend taken from us so suddenly. There are many tributes to her flowing on Facebook and other fora. Here is mine.
 
Claudia was original, smart and had a passion for the Amazon and its indigenous peoples, in particular the Tacana II peoples of the Bolivian Amazon, with whom she lived both before and during her DPhil studies. I first met her in 2011. I was living in Ghana at the time, she had just come back from Bolivia, and she contacted me to fix a meeting at Heathrow airport on one of my short visits to Oxford. I immediately saw what potential she had and encouraged her to apply for the MSc Programme. Such was her quiet force of persuasion that by the end of the short meeting she had convinced be to pay for her to attend an ecology conference in Cambridge! She came from a natural sciences background but was moving to a social sciences and policy focus. She cared deeply about the reciprocal relationships between indigenous peoples and their environment, relationships she thought were often misrepresented, poorly understood or just ignored. Whenever our lab group discussions veered into the heavily ecological, Claudia would put up her hand and I could always predict that her interjection would be some variant of “but what about the people?”. She felt strongly that many traditional peoples did not just benefit from nature’s “services” (a form of thinking that has become very popular in our field in recent years), but many peoples actually nurtured and cultured the natural world, providing “services for nature”. I sometimes suggested to her that her ideas sometimes verged on overly romantic idealisation of indigenous peoples, and this always provoked stimulating and vigorous debate that occupied the rest of our meetings. But her ideals were also blended with a passionate pragmatism. She had already written some important papers which have had a significant influence in high level debates on indigenous peoples within the UN climate change and biodiversity conventions.  For the last two years she had also been a much-loved teaching assistant on the Environmental Change and Management MSc course.
 
She had so much to contribute to the world and is taken from us far, far too soon.
 
In the day after her death there was a spontaneous and moving cycle ride tribute where we rode from the city centre to lay a white bicycle at the scene of her death. The bike was soon decked with the most lovely flowers, scarves and poems. On Friday at 11 am around a hundred of her colleagues in the department gathered in a moment of tearful silence, followed by a few words of tribute by her co-supervisors that remembered the quirky and unique individual she was. The laughs this generated did not feel out of place – I feel she would have been there laughing with us.
 
We (her supervisors and colleagues) are thinking of other ways to honour her legacy, and some ideas will be announced in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Claudia, may the webs of connection and hope that you have spun throughout your life continue to resonate to your name.
Picture
9 Comments
Gregg Egen
18/5/2017 02:43:11 pm

This is a deeply moving tribute to Claudia, who was an acquaintance of my daughter. How gifted and loving she must have been to have left such a sudden void in the hearts/minds of so many.

Our planet has clearly lost someone who was already making a difference and whose extraordinary potential has now been stifled. It is comforting to hope that Claudia's memory will serve to enrich others well beyond this tragic event.

Reply
áo bra link
28/5/2017 04:56:05 am

Thank for sharing
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/DAMN-BRA-1918421271768322/">mua áo bra</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DAMN-BRA-1918421271768322/">bán áo bra</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DAMN-BRA-1918421271768322/">áo bra đẹp</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DAMN-BRA-1918421271768322/">áo bra giá rẻ</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DAMN-BRA-1918421271768322/">bra thiết kế</a>

Reply
Jenny Lawrence link
5/6/2017 01:20:45 pm

What a beautiful tribute to Claudia... Thank you!

When she spent time with us a couple of months ago here at Wild Spirit Lodge which is situated in the heart of the Tsitsikamma Forest on the Southern Cape Coast of South Africa, she talked in depth about her time in the Amazon. She mentioned that being back in the rain forests of our area reminded her of a previous visit seven years earlier, when walking along our paths and down to the waterfall she had been so inspired and that the experience possibly influenced her decision to go to the Amazon for her research. While she was with us, she gave a talk to all of us with our guests on the theme of her thesis, emphasising of course her core message, the interdependence of the indigenous people and their environment which is now so urgently needing protection. I commented to her then that she must ensure that this vital piece of work be presented in the appropriate forum in the UN. She humbly and quietly agreed. It is gratifying to know that this will be carried forward in her memory.I would so appreciate having access to her thesis when the time is right. This invaluable piece of her legacy will be widely shared.

In closing, I invite any of Claudia's colleagues from Oxford to visit us. Wild Spirit is a place she loved and felt at home. You will feel her presence on the forest paths and at the Medicine Wheel she helped to build!

Reply
twitter followers instant buy link
28/6/2017 07:40:27 am

Claudia you are really smart. Would you like sharing your experiences with my twitter followers

Reply
Vidmate for Windows link
22/7/2017 07:00:05 am

This is a great travel experience.

Reply
gapps app download link
11/9/2018 07:15:22 am

This is really great article and informative post kindly check
This is really great article and informative post kindly check
<a href="https://gappsapkdownload.blogspot.com/2018/06/download-gapps-apk.html">gapps app download</a>

Reply
hybrid bikes link
11/12/2019 10:06:14 am

The shape of the handle makes them quite comfortable and allows you to control the bike without having to extend your arms too much.

Reply
aliya link
23/5/2020 06:47:02 am

http://ansu.co.in
http://pinkflowers.info
http://pinkflowers.in
http://zanu.in
http://wafiya.in
http://feel-different.in
http://a-way-2-silk.in
http://pinkangelsofmumbai.in
http://antra.co.in
http://zaila.in
http://saphia.in
http://payalmehra.in
http://pancy.in
http://pallavidutta.in
http://paari.in
http://edie.in
http://dassy.in
http://dally.in
http://cadee.in
http://joya.in.net
http://juhuescorts.biz
http://thaneescorts.in
http://want2relax.biz
http://pinkangelsofmumbai.in/andheri-escorts.html
http://pinkangelsofmumbai.in/bandra-escorts.html
http://pinkangelsofmumbai.in/colaba-escorts.html
http://pinkangelsofmumbai.in/juhu-escorts.html
http://pinkangelsofmumbai.in/thane-escorts.html
http://pinkangelsofmumbai.in/vashi-escorts.html
http://pinkangelsofmumbai.in/ahmedabad-escorts.html
http://thaneescorts.in/andheri-escorts.html
http://thaneescorts.in/bandra-escorts.html
http://thaneescorts.in/colaba-escorts.html
http://thaneescorts.in/juhu-escorts.html
http://thaneescorts.in/ahmedabad-escorts.html
http://thaneescorts.in/vashi-escorts.html

http://www.a-way-2-silk.in/ahmedabad_escorts.html
http://www.a-way-2-silk.in/andheri_escorts.html
http://www.a-way-2-silk.in/bandra_escorts.html
http://www.a-way-2-silk.in/colaba_escorts.html
http://www.a-way-2-silk.in/thane_escorts.html
http://www.a-way-2-silk.in/vashi_escorts.html
http://www.a-way-2-silk.in/juhu_escorts.html
http://www.feel-different.in/andheri-escorts.html
http://www.feel-different.in/bandra-escorts.html
http://www.feel-different.in/vashi-escorts.html
http://www.feel-different.in/juhu-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/andheri-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/ahmedabad-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/bandra-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/colaba-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/chembur-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/juhu-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/nerul-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/powai-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/panvel-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/saki-naka-escorts.html
http://www.ansu.co.in/vashi-escorts.html

Reply
192.168.1.1 link
22/6/2020 07:19:55 am

Thank you for the beautiful post!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Yadvinder Malhi is an ecosytem ecologist and Professor of Ecosystem Science at Oxford University

    Archives

    August 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • CV
  • Resources
    • Presentations
    • Lectures
    • MSc Dissertations
    • Data
    • Videos
  • People