Tribute to Michel Griffon, visionary builder and father of ecological intensification

If the term "agroecology" is now central to global strategies, it is largely thanks to the foundations laid by Michel Griffon. On graduating from France's Institut national agronomique in 1971 as an agronomist and economist, he quickly understood that the "Green Revolution" model of the 1960s, based on massive chemical input consumption, had reached its limitations.

Defender of the "Doubly Green Revolution"

In view of the urgent need to reinvent those models, he was among those who built the concept of a "Doubly Green Revolution", followed by an apparent oxymoron: "ecological intensification". His main conviction was that productivity and the environment were not mutually exclusive, and that the functions of ecosystems could be put to good use to produce more, and better. For Michel Griffon, ecology was not an obstacle but a scientific driver for guaranteeing food security.

An architect of CIRAD's transformation

He imposed that conviction at the highest level at CIRAD. "Michel played a major role in the life of our organisation and in international agricultural research", says CIRAD CEO Élisabeth Claverie de Saint-Martin, PDG du Cirad. "He was the father of the ecological intensification concept, and as CIRAD's Scientific Director from 1999 to 2004, he oversaw the organisation's shift to focus on sustainability and its integration into the French academic landscape."

A research policy builder

Michel Griffon was not just a theorist, he was a builder. He held strategic positions that shaped the French research landscape. At the Ministry for Cooperation (1982-1986), he modernised development policy by inventing sector-based programmes. At CIRAD, he set up a foresight and agricultural policy research unit in 1986. At the Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR), he headed the "Ecosystems and Sustainable Development" department, placing environmental issues firmly on the national agenda.

An unassuming, very human colleague

Those who knew Michel Griffon will remember him as a very humble man. For junior researchers, he was an inspiration, and always ready to share advice. "We shall remember him as a global citizen and a loyal servant of CIRAD, the State and our country", Élisabeth Claverie de Saint-Martin adds. His funeral was held on 15 January.