René Gommes

After a degree in botany (1972) and a doctorate in bio-geochemistry (1977, University of Liege, Belgium, and EC Joint Research Center at Ispra, Italy), René Gommes worked for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as a data processing specialist in a regional African crop monitoring program in Algeria (1978-79). Since then, my interest has gradually shifted to agrometeorology, after joining the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as an agroclimatologist in a food security project in Tanzania (1980-85). In 1986, he moved to FAO headquarters in Rome, where I have been the Coordinator of the Agrometeorology Group of FAO from 1994, then (from 2008) the Leader of the “Climate impact team” after FAO established the Climate, Energy and tenure Division. In 2010, he took up a position as a senior scientist in the FoodSec Unit at the EC Joint Research Center at Ispra, where I have been working mainly on crop insurance in Ethiopia. His experience covers the technical, scientific, operational and institutional aspects of weather and climate impacts on agriculture, international contacts and scientific collaboration, the organization of international technical meetings and training at various levels, from field observers to university.