Dr. Yolanda Lopez-Maldonado
My Projects
Previous projects
ALLSA 2015. Academia Latinoamericana de Liderazgo Socio-Ambiental | LatinAmerican Academy of Socio-Environmental Leadership.
ALLSA 2019. Academia Latinoamericana de Resiliencia de los Sistemas Alimentarios | LatinAmerican Academy for Food Systems Resilience.
Groundwater Maya Project: At this project I explored the role of culture as a co-determinant of resource conservation by investigating the current ILK and local values of rural Mayan communities in Mexico. I did this using an in-the-field approaches in the form of a workshops, interviews, and participatory engagement activities. Overall, I found that the loss of cultural values can be linked to environmental quality and resource degradation. Interestingly, it can be argued that cultural revitalization in indigenous communities has the potential to bring back community-based conservation. Thus, identifying underlying values, knowledge and believes, allows to better understand the link between the revitalization of spiritual and cultural values of nature. Summary
Current projects
LICCI. Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts. Personal profile here. LICCI – Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts. The Contribution of Local Knowledge to Climate Change Research – is an ERC funded project that aims to bring insights from indigenous and local knowledge to climate research. Latest update: "Fresh from the Field".
Project: “Inequality and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Multi-scale Analysis of Tradeoffs, Synergies and Interactions”, “Ojämlikheter och de globala hållbarhetsmålen: En analys av skillnader, synergier och interaktioner”). On this project I looked at how does inequality impact the achievement of SDGs by characterizing tradeoffs and synergies to achieve SDGs, in particular the interaction of Reduced Inequality (10) with Zero Hunger (2), Climate Action (13), Life Below Water (14), and Life on Land (15); and by identifying relevant and specific research questions through a participatory process with relevant stakeholders in order to build and deepen collaborations with different research users, partners and collaborators.
Project: "Inequality and the Biosphere: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in an Unequal World", "Ojämlikheter och Biosfären: Att Uppnå de Globala Hållbarhetsmålen i en Ojämlik Värld". Reducing inequalities and maintaining healthy marine and terrestrial ecosystems are pivotal to achieving sustainable development, yet the interactions between these goals have been largely underexplored. An improvement in one goal can enhance, but also undermine another goal, thereby hindering their collective achievement. In this project, we aim to identify synergies and trade-offs between the crucial ambitions of reducing inequalities and safeguarding the biosphere. BYS2 Blog here.
Upcoming projects
Stay tuned!
Other projects
In addition to the aforementioned projects, I work internationally through various networks, alliances and projects focused on indigenous rights and policies.
UNPFIIP.