René Dumont
Encyclopedia
René Dumont was a French
engineer in agronomy
, a sociologist
, and an environmental politician
.
He was born in Cambrai
, Nord, in the north of France
. His father was a professor in agriculture
and his grandfather was a farmer. He graduated from the INA P-G, as an engineer in agronomy
. First sent to Vietnam
(1929) at the end of his studies, he was disgusted by colonialism
and returned to Paris
to spend most of his career as a professor of agricultural sciences (1933–1974).
René Dumont started his career as a promoter of the use of chemical fertizers and mechanisation. He wrote articles in "La Terre Française" (Pétainist
weekly journal), favoring agricultural corporatism. However, he was one of the first to denounce damages from the Green Revolution
("Révolution Verte") and to fight agricultural productivism. He was an expert with the United Nations
and FAO
, and wrote about 30 books. He traveled widely and had a good understanding of farming issues in underdeveloped countries.
He was preaching for
He considered development not to be so much a question of money, fertilizer
, or seeds, but a carefully balanced result of the three. He advocated relations between humans and their fields relied foremost on relations between humans themselves, social relationships being the basis for a proper agricultural and industrial development. Finally, he believed the basis for good social relationships between humans was good relationship between men and women, thus arguing demography control relied on women emancipation.
Ahead of his time, the most famous French agronomist, well-known for his red-pullover, surprised French people by showing on TV an apple and a glass of water
, telling them how precious these resources
were, and predicting the future price of oil
. Dumont was one of the first to explain the consequences of what was to be called globalization
, demographic explosion, productivism, pollution
, shantytowns, malnutrition, rift between northern and southern countries. He was also one of the first to use the word "développement durable" (sustainable development
).
He ran for President in 1974 as the first ecologist candidate, and won 1.32 % of the votes. His campaign director was Brice Lalonde
. That election opened the way to political ecology
. The French political ecology was founded by Dumont and is under-developed countries oriented, against war, against capitalism
and for solidarity. Some consider it not sufficiently rooted in deep ecology
.
Dumont is considered to be the forefather of the French Green Party
. In a statement, France's Green Party called Dumont "the man who made it possible to bring environmental policies in a direct and natural manner into the political world".
He wrote a best selling book, "L’Afrique noire est mal partie" (1962).
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
engineer in agronomy
Agricultural science
Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. -Agriculture and agricultural science:The two terms are often confused...
, a sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, and an environmental politician
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
.
He was born in Cambrai
Cambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
, Nord, in the north of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. His father was a professor in agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and his grandfather was a farmer. He graduated from the INA P-G, as an engineer in agronomy
Agricultural science
Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. -Agriculture and agricultural science:The two terms are often confused...
. First sent to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
(1929) at the end of his studies, he was disgusted by colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
and returned to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to spend most of his career as a professor of agricultural sciences (1933–1974).
René Dumont started his career as a promoter of the use of chemical fertizers and mechanisation. He wrote articles in "La Terre Française" (Pétainist
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
weekly journal), favoring agricultural corporatism. However, he was one of the first to denounce damages from the Green Revolution
Green Revolution
Green Revolution refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1970s, that increased agriculture production around the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s....
("Révolution Verte") and to fight agricultural productivism. He was an expert with the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
, and wrote about 30 books. He traveled widely and had a good understanding of farming issues in underdeveloped countries.
He was preaching for
- demographicDemographyDemography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
control - energy savings
- international cooperation to help poor nations
- soil quality preservation and remediation
He considered development not to be so much a question of money, fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
, or seeds, but a carefully balanced result of the three. He advocated relations between humans and their fields relied foremost on relations between humans themselves, social relationships being the basis for a proper agricultural and industrial development. Finally, he believed the basis for good social relationships between humans was good relationship between men and women, thus arguing demography control relied on women emancipation.
Ahead of his time, the most famous French agronomist, well-known for his red-pullover, surprised French people by showing on TV an apple and a glass of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
, telling them how precious these resources
Natural Resources
Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...
were, and predicting the future price of oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
. Dumont was one of the first to explain the consequences of what was to be called globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, demographic explosion, productivism, pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
, shantytowns, malnutrition, rift between northern and southern countries. He was also one of the first to use the word "développement durable" (sustainable development
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
).
He ran for President in 1974 as the first ecologist candidate, and won 1.32 % of the votes. His campaign director was Brice Lalonde
Brice Lalonde
Brice Lalonde is a former green party leader in France, who ran for President of France in the Presidential elections, 1981. In 1988 he was named Minister of the Environment, and in 1990 founded the green party Ecology Generation...
. That election opened the way to political ecology
Political ecology
Political ecology is the study of the relationships between political, economic and social factors with environmental issues and changes. Political ecology differs from apolitical ecological studies by politicizing environmental issues and phenomena....
. The French political ecology was founded by Dumont and is under-developed countries oriented, against war, against capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and for solidarity. Some consider it not sufficiently rooted in deep ecology
Deep ecology
Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependence of organisms within ecosystems and that of ecosystems with each other within the...
.
Dumont is considered to be the forefather of the French Green Party
Les Verts
' is the name of various green political parties in French-speaking countries such as:official name:*Les Verts in France;*Les Verts in Luxembourg ;*Les Verts in Benin;*Les Verts in Mauritius;...
. In a statement, France's Green Party called Dumont "the man who made it possible to bring environmental policies in a direct and natural manner into the political world".
He wrote a best selling book, "L’Afrique noire est mal partie" (1962).
Writings (selection)
Cuba, ¿es socialista? Editorial Tiempo Nuevo S.A., Venezuela, 1970.- Voyages en France d'un agronome, Nouv. éd. rev. et augm., Paris: Génin, 1956
- Révolution dans les campagnes chinoises, Paris: Éd. du Seuil, 1957
- Terres vivantes, Paris: PlonPlon (publisher)Plon is a French book publishing company, founded in 1852 by Henri Plon and his two brothers.The Plon family were Walloons coming from Nivelle, France. One of their ancestors is probably the Danish typographer Jehan Plon who lived at the end of the 16th century.-History:The Editions Plon were...
, 1961, engl. Lands Alive, Merlin Press, 1964 - L’Afrique noire est mal partie, 1962, engl. False start in Africa, New York, Praeger 1966
- Nous allons à la famine, engl. The hungry future, New York, NY [etc.] : Praeger, 1969
- Types of Rural Economy: Studies in World Agriculture, London: Methuen, 1970
- Notes sur les implications sociales de la "révolution verte" dans quelques pays d'Afrique, Genève, 1971
- La campagne de René Dumont et du mouvement écologique : naissance de l'écologie politique; déclarations, interviews, tracts, manifestes, articles, rapports, sondages, récits et nombreux autres textes, Paris : Pauvert, 1974
- l'Utopie ou la Mort, 1973, engl. Utopia or Else ..., Universe Pub, 1975
- Agronome de la faim, Paris : Laffont, 1974
- Chine, la révolution culturale, Paris: Seuil, 1976
- L'Afrique étranglée, 1980, Nouv. éd., rev., corr. et mis à jour: Paris: Éd. du Seuil, 1982, engl. Stranglehold on Africa, London : Deutsch, 1983
- (with Nicholas Cohen), The growth of hunger: a new politics of agriculture, London [etc.]:Boyars, 1980 - This book is based on René Dumont’s ideas as contained in the 1975 publ. La croissance de la famine.
- Finis Les Lendemains Qui Chantent
- T.1 : Albanie, Pologne, Nicaragua, Paris: Seuil, 1983
- T.2 : Surpeuplée, Totalitaire, La Cnine Decollectivise, Paris: Seuil, 1984
- T.3 : Bangladesh-Nepal, "L'Aide" Contre Le developpement, Paris: Seuil, 1985
- Pour l'Afrique, j'accuse: le journal d'un agronome au Sahel en voie de destruction, Paris : Plon, 1986
- Un monde intolérable: le libéralisme en question, Paris : Éd. du Seuil, 1988
- Démocratie pour l'Afrique : la longue marche de l'Afrique noire vers la liberté, Paris : Éd. du Seuil, 1991
- La culture du riz dans le delta du tonkin, Paris: Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 1995
Secondary literature
- J.-P. Besset, René Dumont, une vie saisie par l’écologie, Paris: Stock, 1992
- Marc Dufumier (dir.), Un agronome dans son siècle. Actualité de René Dumont, Association pour la création de la Fondation René Dumont/Éditions Karthala/INA P-G, coll. « Hommes et Sociétés », Paris, 2002
- « René Dumont, un agronome d'exception » in: Ingénieurs de la vie : la revue des ingénieurs de l'INA P-G, Mazarine, Paris, 2005
- René Dumont, citoyen de la planète Terre, a documentary by Bernard Baissat, co-production La Lanterne/France 3, 105 minutes, 1992 more information
See also
- Claude Bourguignon
- Alain LipietzAlain LipietzAlain Lipietz is a French engineer, economist and politician, a Member of the European Parliament, and a member of the French Green Party.-Education:...