​I am a mix between an academic scholar and a conservation practitioner.  My training and background are in environmental and ecological economics but I am lucky to work with brilliant colleagues from different disciplines across the social and natural sciences, including biologists, ecologists, and anthropologists.

Conservation Payments in Selva Lacandona

Since 2010, I have been privileged to collaborate with Natura y Ecosistemas Mexicanos (Natura Mexicana), an NGO focused on the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems of Selva Lacandona in Chiapas, and in the promotion of sustainable productive activities and livelihoods in the region. Check out Natura Mexicana's website and consider financial support: https://www.naturamexicana.org.mx/

Selva Lacandona is Mexico's largest evergreen tropical rainforest remnant in Mexico, but it faces high pressure for land conversion, mostly for cattle ranching. Natura Mexicana implements a series of activities and projects, including: management and implementation of protected areas and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programmes; monitoring and recovery of keystone species (e.g. jaguar, tapir, scarlet macaw); development of community-based ecotourism projects. 

In collaboration with Natura Mexicana, I lead several multidisciplinary research projects focused on assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of conservation payments, and particularly PES programmes, in Selva Lacandona. You can see my previous publications and current projects in the Research and Project tabs, respectively.

Biodiversity Conservation and Transformative Change

I have recently expanded my geographic scope to studying and implementing biodiversity conservation payment programmes in Colombia and other contexts in Latin America. Here's some information on a current project in the Colombian Amazon: http://www.laseg.cat/en/projects/34/payments-for-ecosystem-services-long-term-effectiveness-and-motivations-for-the-conservation-of-forest-ecosystems-pes-emotive.

I have also been involved in scholarly and practitioner initiatives focused on biodiversity and transformative change, including the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) values assessment in 2022: https://zenodo.org/record/6516028#.ZA9Vj-zMJAd.