VENNETIER Michel

A forestry engineer and holder of a PhD in ecology, Michel Vennetier has spent his entire career in liaison roles, bridging the gap between research and forest management, communicating with the public and decision-makers, and teaching at forestry colleges and universities. Between 1979 and 1995, he worked in various research centres and units in tropical regions (India, Africa, the Caribbean), as well as at the National Forestry Office in Alsace. Then, from 1996 to 2020, he led a research and development team in forest ecology at INRAe in Aix-en-Provence. His work there focused on the water balance of Mediterranean ecosystems and the impact of major disturbances (climate change, fires, diseases, scrub clearance) on forests, their health, growth, biodiversity and soils. He has coordinated several European research projects. Author or co-author of around a hundred articles in peer-reviewed journals, he has also written five books and 21 book chapters. He has served as an international expert for the Ministries of Agriculture and the Environment, and remains active in France as a member of the scientific advisory board of two Regional Nature Parks, the board of directors of two environmental associations (Forêt Modèle de Provence and Forêt Méditerranéenne), and editor-in-chief of the journal Forêt Méditerranéenne. For the past 35 years, he has been overseeing a nature reserve in the West Indies. An Officer of the Order of Agricultural Merit, he was recently awarded the vermeil medal by the French Academy of Agriculture.