Paolo Paron is an Earth Scientist with specialization in Remote Sensing, including drones. Paolo has more than 20 years of experience in the Academic, Humanitarian and Private sectors. He is a Senior Lecturer in Earth Science and Remote Sensing at IHE Delft, Institute for Water Education and a Senior Land and Water Advisor for FAO Somalia. He has been a visiting academic at Oxford University and Darwin University.

At IHE Delft he has been teaching Geology and Geomorphology for Water Engineers, Remote Sensing for Water Resource Assessment, and a course on the use of Drones from flight to data analyses for water and environmental analysis. He is keen to test freely available remote sensing data for natural resource and hazards assessment. He combines remote sensing with field surveys. Paolo worked for FAO SWALIM between 2005 and 2010 and has been living in Africa (Kenya, Mozambique and Ethiopia) for almost 15 years.

In DOWN2EARTH Paolo has rejoined Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Somalia Project, SWALIM - Somalia Water and Land Information Management as institutional PI. He brings his long experience in field surveys and remote sensing in Somalia to the climate/water/environmental resources. His main contributions are in the Climate/Water Data Team and the Model Development Team.