Gabriela
Barragan
PhD student
University of British Columbia
I studied a major in Geography and Sustainable Development with a specialization in Land Use Planning at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE). My bachelor’s dissertation involved community-based planning to elaborate the land use and development plan of a rural district in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I hold a master’s degree in Conservation Biology from PUCE and partnered with the NGO Conservation International. My researcher involved assessing the interaction between the climate and the land cover change effects on the distributions of endemic frogs species of the Andes by the year 2050. I have held several consultant positions in for private and public entities. Current research: Climate Resilient Restoration I am interested in planning and mapping forest restoration opportunities as a means to build social and ecological resilience to climate change. I am interested in identifying tradeoffs between restoration activities and human land demand to assess the viability of current and potential restored areas. My research takes place in the highly biodiverse country of Ecuador, which has shown great political interest in implementing forest restoration projects in the last several years. This research is possible thanks to funding from UBC and WWF’s Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program.