Caribbean Philanthropy in Action Week - Dr. Harry Ozier LaFontaine

Dr. Harry Ozier LaFontaine

Research Director - Executive President of the French West Indies and Guiana INRA Centre & CambioNet Representative: CambioNet: A New approach to Agriculture in the Caribbean/Amazon region

Harry Ozier-Lafontaine is a research agronomist (with a PhD from AgroParisTech) specialising in tropical cropping systems, with a particular focus on multi-species systems including combined cropping, agroforestry and mixed cropping/livestock systems. Passionate about the research-innovation interface, he has coordinated numerous interdisciplinary projects, training courses and working groups focusing on the agroecological transition. In recent years, he has taken a keen interest in small-scale and biodiverse farming, which is the most widespread in the French overseas territories and in the Caribbean, but also the most marginalised and vulnerable. Today, he is one of the leading specialists on issues of food sovereignty and the resilience of Caribbean territories to climate change. As President of the INRAE Antilles-Guyane Centre for 8 years, and Regional Delegate for Antilles-Guyane, he has encouraged the development of participatory science, Living Labs and transdisciplinary projects to promote the agroecological transition. As well-known figure in the Caribbean world, he has just been elected President of the Caribbean Food Crops Society, and is leading a major regional cooperation project, the Caribbean and Amazonian Bioeconomic Network (CambioNet, Interreg V Caribbean Programme), bringing together 10 island and mainland Caribbean countries and 18 institutions and organisations. Already involved in the work of the French Academy of Agriculture (https://www.academie-agriculture.fr/membres/annuaire/harry-ozier-lafontaine), he played a very active part in the Overseas Working Group, which produced policy papers on overseas agriculture.He is currently in charge of INRAE's International Relations Department for the Greater Caribbean zone.

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