PAST CONTINUING COMMITTEES AND CHAIRS

1978-2008

We regret to advise that Henri Le Houerou passed away quietly on 20 December 2009.

Henri was an active participant in the formation  of the International Rangeland Congress and was on the Continuing Committee from 1978-1984 and President of the IVth IRC Organising Committee for the Montpellier Congress in 1991.

Henri Le Houerou held degrees from the Universities of Tunis, Montpellier, Marseilles and Paris. At the time of his passing he was a retired research scientist with wide experience who authored some 20 books and over 350 scientific articles, including Browse in Africa: the Current State of Knowledge (Ed.) 1980; The Grazing Land Ecosystems of the African Sahel 1989; and, Agro-bioclimactic Classification of Africa (co-author) 1993.

Henri served on many expert committees and travelled widely. He was an invited speaker at more than 60 international conferences, symposia and workshops. After initial work with the Institute of Botany in Montpellier, Henri was for many years a research scientist with CNRS in Montpellier and also on release to work with FAO in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and HQ in Rome and also with ILRI ( then ILCA, the International Livestock Centre for Africa) in Ethiopia and Mali. From 1983 to 1985 he was a Senior Research Scientist and Professor of Range Synecology at Texas A&M. He was a recipient of the Chevalier du Mèrite Agricole in 1991. From 1994, he was a respected international consultant on arid land ecology, management and development and made a major contribution to the IPCC panel on Climate Change, Drought and Desertification.

His work focused on rangeland research and management, range ecology, the biogeography and bioclimatology of arid zones and programmes in arid and semi-arid environments. and perhaps more specifically, analysis of arid land ecosystems, inventory and mapping of ecosystems in North, West, and East Africa and France, research on drought-tolerant shrubs, agroforestry and bioclimatology.

He was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Honorary Member of IADIZA (Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de Zonas Aridas) as well as his continuing involvement in the IRC. In addition, he was a member of SRM, Societe Botanique de France and the Assn. Francais pour L'Etude du Sol.

Last modified: January 26, 2010