Dennis Gonguez

                                                            

                                                Independent Consultant

  

PROFILE

More than 40 years in the field of weather, climate, water, disaster risk management coupled with project management skills and experience.

 

EXPERIENCE

 

I) Air Navigation Services Inspector / Aeronautical Meteorologist   

 (July 2018   to April 2020)

  Belize Department of Civil Aviation 

• Preparation and execution of audits/surveillance of meteorological service provider
• Development and/or amending Belize Civil Aviation Regulations regarding aeronautical meteorological services
• Assessing the meteorological service provider's quality management system

 

II) Local Stakeholder Engagement Consultant with Acclimatise

(April 2018 to April 2019)

• Stakeholder engagement for the Project on the Capacity Building of Belize's National Designated Authority  and  Preparation of Country Strategy Framework for Access to Green Climate Fund (GCF)

 

III) Country Expert with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on

• vulnerability assessment, climate change impacts and adaptation with responsibility for the revision of methodologies and tools to assess impacts and adaptation
• research and systematic observation with responsibility for the revision of reports on systematic observation

 

IV) Chief Meteorologist,/Director

     National Meteorological Service of Belize (2009 to 2016)

• Responsible for the daily technical, financial and all other administrative matters of the Service
• Advised the Government of Belize and general public on threats of hydro-meteorological hazards
• Advised Government of Belize on  all meteorological matters including policy, organization and procedures. 
• Served as National Focal Point to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Liaised with the Belize National Climate Change Office on all matters related to climate science
• Served as Chair of the Subcommittee on Climate Change Adaptation of the Belize National Climate Change Committee.
• Served as Permanent Representative of Belize with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• Served as Chairman of the Technical Committee of the United Nation Development Program's Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Program (GEF SGP)
• Served as Representative on the National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC) of the Department of the Environment of Belize.
• Served as President pro tempore of the Comite Regional de Recursos Hidraulicos (CRRH) of the  Sistema de la Integracion Centro Americana  (SICA) (February to December 2016)
• Served as Country Principal for the Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
• Served as Member of Water Commission of the National Integrated Water Resources Authority (NIWRA) of Belize
• Major Achievements
• 1) Organized the first of the regional “National Consultation on A Framework for Climate Services under the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) ”, October 30th, 31st and 1st November 2013
• 2) Coordinated and organized the First National Climate Outlook Forums in the region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) under the global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS)
• 3) Organized the 55th Session of the Caribbean Meteorological Council and associated meetings , 9th to 13th November 2015
• 4) Identified funds and  supervised the development of a customized database management system for the National Meteorological Service of  Belize  (NMS (Belize))
• 5) Oversaw the modernization of the NMS (Belize) network of surface observation stations to include acquisition of nineteen automatic weather stations.

 

V) Deputy Chief Meteorologist, National Meteorological Service of Belize (2006 to 2009)

• Assisted the Chief Meteorologist with the administration of the Department
• Performed weather forecasting duties

 

VI) Senior Meteorologist, Weather Analysis and Forecast Section, National Meteorological 

    Service of  Belize  (2001 to 2006)

• Served as lead on the provision of technical direction to forecasters and assistants and products generated
• Served as section administrator/supervisor 
• Initiated and oversaw the transfer of new technologies into the operational  weather forecasting and observing environment
•  Performed weather forecasting duties

 

VII) Meteorologist, Weather Analysis and Forecast Section, National Meteorological       

     Service of  Belize (1994 to 1999)

•  Assumed responsibilities of the Senior Meteorologist in his/her absence
• Performed weather forecasting duties

 

VIII) Weather Forecaster, Weather Analysis and Forecast Section, National Meteorological        Service of Belize (1987 to 1994)

• Prepared and disseminated daily weather forecasts for the public, aviation, maritime, and agricultural sectors.

 

IX) Hydrological Technician, Hydrology Section, National Meteorological Service of

       Belize (1982 to 1985)

•  Measured  stream flows and calculated river discharges
•  Performed chemical analyses of collected water samples 

 

 

EDUCATION

 

I) Master of Science (MSc) in Atmospheric Science, South Dakota School of Mines  and   

   Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota, USA. (1999 to 2001)

•  Major: Cloud Micro-physics  and Radar Meteorology
• Master’s Thesis: In situ Evaluation of a Hydrometeor Classification Scheme for Polarimetric Radar Observables. 

 

II) Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in General Meteorology, Millersville University, Millersville,

    Pennsylvania, USA (1991 to 1994)

• Major: General Meteorology

III) Certificate in Weather Analysis and Forecasting, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology

      and Hydrology (CIMH), Barbados, West Indies (1986 to 1987)

• General meteorology with emphasis on practical applications to weather analyses and forecasting, particularly in the tropics.