Since April 2008, I work as Officer of Economic Affairs at the UN-ECLAC (CEPAL), in Santiago, Chile. The previous two years, I was a visiting researcher at UNAM, in Mexico City. During the previous five years, I have conducted research at IIASA, in Laxenburg, Austria. Previously, I worked four years within the Mexican federal government. My skills focus on interdisciplinary analysis of economic vulnerability to disasters in Latin-America, mainly focused on risk reduction and vulnerability. In my research, I design adaptation strategies and integrate disaster prevention instruments into development planning to reduce poverty and inequity in Latin-America.

 

CAREER HISTORY

 
Officer of Economic Affairs, Disaster Evaluation Unit
I assess disaster impacts by economic sector in Latin-American countries and the Caribbean. Based on public policy and data analysis, I suggest mechanisms to increase actions' effectiveness towards disaster prevention, disaster risk- and emergency management, as well as to optimize public expenditure to adapt to climate change and to reduce vulnerability.
 

- UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO (UNAM) – March, 2007 to present – Mexico City

Postdoctoral Researcher, Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera

I analyzed the economic impact of climate change and natural disasters upon different economic sectors in Latin-America. Based on econometric models (both spatial and temporal), policy assessments and stakeholders’ consultation, I used to suggest policy alternatives to optimize public spending aimed at reducing vulnerability, low economic growth and poverty, i.e. projects for UNDP and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

- INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS (IIASA) – 2002- 2007 – Laxenburg, Austria

Research Scholar 2003-to 2007, Luis D.Colosio Fellow 2002

I conducted research on the negative economic consequences of natural disasters in developing countries within the framework of markets liberalization, with emphasis on agriculture and poverty.

In 2002, I was awarded the Colosio Fellowship, which IIASA awards to one Mexican researcher once a year.

- THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHCP) - 1996-2001 – Mexico City

Head of the Economic Analysis Department: I worked on the Statistical Analysis of Mexican Customs Operation and elaborated studies of Balance of Trade by industry. I displayed weekly reports on the Mexican trade balance.

I implemented intelligent data basis on foreign trade and designed them to update themselves on real time.

 

ACADEMIC HISTORY

- VIENNA UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS (WU-Wien) - 2001-2006 - Vienna, Austria

Doctoral program on economic and social sciences (Doktor der Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften)

      Dissertation title: “Reducing Economic Vulnerability in Mexico: Natural Disasters, Foreign Trade and Agriculture”.

    - UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA METROPOLITANA  - 1994-1999 - Mexico City

     MSc and BSc in Economics, Economic Development and Planning

     Thesis: “Considerations on Agricultural Policies in Mexico”.

   - UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA METROPOLITANA – 1996-1999 - Mexico City

     Academic Counselor (1997-1999) and Divisional Counselor (1996-1997)

      I collaborated within the planning of the annual university budget, research rules design and teaching criteria review. I was member of the steering committee for careers curricula at the Social Sciences Faculty.

 

AWARDS and GRANTS

¨ START-IHDP-IIASA. “Grant of Vulnerability to Global Change.” Washington, DC, 2004

¨ World Bank. “Grant for Disaster Risk Reduction”. Washington, DC, 2003.

¨ International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. “Colosio Fellowship”. Laxenburg, Austria, 2002

¨ Soroptimist of the Americas. “Youth Citizenship Award”. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. May 1994

¨ The Soroptimist Foundation, Region Mexico. “Mexico Youth Citizenship Award”. Tijuana, Mexico. April 1994

¨ The Soroptimist Foundation, Region Mexico. “Chiapas Youth Citizenship Award”. Chiapas, Mexico. March 1994

 

MAIN PUBLICATIONS

 Books

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2008). Reducción de Vulnerabilidad a Cambio Climático en México: Agricultura, Pobreza y Desarrollo (Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change in Mexico: Agriculture, Poverty and Development). Ed. CEPAL and UNAM. Mexico City. In Press.

Monograph

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2007). Socio-Economic Vulnerability to Natural Disasters in Mexico: rural poor, trade and public response. Serie Estudios y Perspectivas CEPAL, No. 92. LC/MEX/L.819. ISSN: 1680-8800. ISBN: 978-92-1-121661-5. CEPAL / ECLAC - Economic Commission for Latin-American and Caribbean Countries. United Nations (UN). Mexico City.

Book chapters

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2006). Subsistence farmers’ Strategies to Cope with Natural Disasters in Chiapas: Financing, Productive Reorientation and Emigration. In: Human Vulnerability to Environmental Change. ISSN: 1842-5313. University Valahia at Targoviste, Romania.

Papers

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O.  and Sandberg, Krister (2008). Spatial econometrics model of natural disasters and emigration in Mexico. Climatic Change Journal, Stanford, USA.

 

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O.  and Sandberg, Krister (2008). Spatial analysis of economic vulnerability to natural disasters in Mexico: agriculture, poverty and emigration. Disasters Journal. Overseas Development Institute. London, UK.

    Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2008) Stakeholders' views in reducing rural vulnerability to natural disasters in Southern Mexico: hazard exposure and coping and adaptive capacity. Global Environmental Change and Climate Policy Journal. Special Issue of Global Environmental Change 18 (4) 2008, pp. 583-597. Oxford, UK.

Conde, Cecilia and Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2008). Cambio Climático en Latinoamérica y el Caribe: Impactos, Vulnerabilidad y Adaptación (Climate Change in Latin-America and Caribbean Countries: Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation). Journal: Ambiente y Desarrollo, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, 2008. Santiago, Chile.

Conde, Cecilia, Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. and Magaña, Victor (2007). Fighting Climate Change in a divided World. Thematic Regional Paper: Latin America. Human Development Report 2007/2008 (HDR). United Nations Development Program (UNDP). New York, USA.

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2005). Vulnerability to Natural Disasters in Mexico and Emigration. In: IHDP Update Newsletter, 01/2005. International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP). Pp. 12-14. ISSN: 1727-155X. Bonn, Germany.

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2003). The Trade Mexico-European Union. Análisis Económico No. 37, Vol. XVIII. 1er. Semestre 2003. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco. ISSN: 0185-3937. México, DF.

Philosophy essays

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2008). Dualismo y polarización histórica en Iberoamérica. Journal El Cotidiano, No. 149, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Azcapotzalco. ISSN: 0186-1840. Mexico City.

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2006). Diseño de la Democracia en México (Democracy Design in Mexico). Journal: El Cotidiano, No. 136. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. ISSN: 0186-1840. Mexico City.

Reports

Zapata-Martí, Ricardo and Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2009). Cambio Climático y Desastres en América Latina y el Caribe: Tendencias observadas y posible evolución de los desastres. For: Project Economics of Climate Change DFID/CEPAL, DSDHS. Economic Commission for Latin-America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), United Nations. Santiago.

Zapata-Martí, Ricardo, Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. and Bello, Omar (2009). Evolución de la Epidemia de Dengue en el Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia en 2009. Joint misión: Economic Commission for Latin-America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).  Santiago.

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2006). Stakeholders’ Views in Reducing Rural Vulnerability to Natural Disasters in Southern Mexico: Hazard Exposure, Coping and Adaptive Capacity. Report. START, Washington, DC.

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2004). Mexican Agriculture and its Vulnerability to Natural Disasters and Trade. In: Lessons Learned from Natural Disasters Management in Developing Countries. Provention Consortium and the World Bank. Washington, DC. 

Working papers

Alfaro, Julio, Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. and Linne, Kerstin (2008). “Sistematización del Análisis de Riesgos y Oportunidades MasCafé México” (Sistematization of the Risk and Opportunities Analysis Mascaré Mexico). Project: Public-Private Partnership for Analysis of Agricultural Climatic Risk in Africa, Asia and Latin-America. German Office for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

Conde, Cecilia and Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2008). “Climate Change in Latin-America and Caribbean Countries: Impacts, Vulnerability and the need for Adaptation”. Challenges on Climate Change in Latin-America. Foundation Futuro Latinoamericano (FFLA-Equator), The International Development Research Centre (IDRC-Canada) and Department for international Development (DFID-UK).

Conde, Cecilia and Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O. (2008). “Climate Risk Analysis for Coffee Growers in Mexico”. Project: Public-Private Partnership for Analysis of Agricultural Climatic Risk in Africa, Asia and Latin-America. German Office for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

Freeman, P. Bayer, J., Mechler, R., Saldaña-Zorrilla, S., Martin, L., Warner, K. (2002). Estimating post-disaster liquidity supply for Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic and El Salvador, Inter-American Development Bank . Regional Policy Dialogue. Working Paper. Washington, DC.

Recent journalist articles

   

— Newspaper: El Universal.  Mexico City. La Sociedad en la Reforma del Estado (The Society in the State Reform).        Jan 2, 2009.

— Productores de Café: un ejemplo de red social efectiva (Coffee producers: an effective social network). Dec, 27, 2008.

— La Crisis y el Campo (The crisis and the countryside). Mexico City, October 18th., 2008.

    — Autotransporte vs. Trenes: eficiencia de mercado y cambio climático (Road transport vs. Trains: market efficiency and climate change). September 20th, 2008. 

    — Las lecciones pendientes del terremoto de 1985 (Pending lessons from the 1985 Earthquake). Sept, 20th, 2008.

    — PEMEX, Propuesta a Fondo (PEMEX, a sweeping proposal). July 3rd, 2008.

    — El metro debe ampliar capacidad (The Subway should expand capacity). May 22nd, 2008.

Peer reviews

Journal: Zonas Áridas (Since 2007), Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Center for Arid Zones Research (Centro de Investigaciones de Zonas Áridas - CIZA). Lima, Peru.

Journal: Investigaciones Geográficas (Since 2004), UNAM – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Institute of Geography. Mexico City, Mexico

Journal: Análisis Económico (Since 2003), UAM – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Campus Azcapotzalco, Departament of Economics. Mexico City.

   LEGISLATION 

  Design and elaboration of: “Project of Law for Administrative Subsidiarity on Natural Disasters Prevention”; Presented to the Senate of Mexico (Senado de la República), Mexican Federal Congress. Mexico City, January 22th., 2008

 

   MAIN PRESENTATIONS

· GTZ- German Office for Technical Cooperation - Iquitos, Peru. September 16-18, 2009. “Land Planning in the Andean-Amazonian Region”. 

 

   FFLA-Equator, IDRC-Canada and DFID-UK

Regional Consulting Meeting on Priorities, Capacities and Challenges on Climate Change Research in Latin-America and Caribbean Countries

“Climate Change in Latin-America and Caribbean Countries: Impacts, Vulnerability and the need for Adaptation”.

Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. January 24th and 25th, 2008.

·   NSF - U.S.A. National Science Foundation, The Whitman College and University of Oregon

Dissertation Initiative on Climate Change Research Symposium

“Reducing Economic Vulnerability in Mexico: Natural Disasters and Trade Liberalization.”

Kilauea, Hawaii. 3-9 de septiembre de 2007

·   Delhi World Sustainable Development Summit 2006 - Delhi, India - February, 2006

“Stakeholders’ Views in Reducing Rural Vulnerability to Natural Disasters in Southern Mexico: Hazard Exposure, Coping and Adaptive Capacity” (side event Vulnerability to Global Change)

·   IHDP 2005 Open Meeting of Global Environmental Change - Bonn, Germany - November, 2005

“Reducing Economic Vulnerability to Mexican Agriculture: incomes, natural disasters and migration”

·   IHDP CHINA and CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES - International Colloquium on Land Use and Land Cover Change in Asia - Beijing, China - October, 2004.

“Towards Spatial Analysis of Natural Disasters in Latin American and Asia-Pacific Economies”

·   START-IIASA Seminar on Vulnerability to Global Environmental Change - Laxenburg, Austria - May, 2004.

 “Vulnerability to natural disasters and trade liberalization in Mexican agriculture”

·   Regional Conference - International Association of Geomorphologists - Mexico City. October, 2003.

“Financial Vulnerability to Natural Disasters: The Case of Mexican Agriculture”

 

  

WORKSHOPS LECTURING

·   ESCAP-United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific

Training course on the DALA methodology for disasters losses assessment

Bangkok, Thailand, September 28th-October 2nd, 2009

·  ECLAC–United Nations Economic Commission for Latin-American and Caribbean Countries

Training course on the ECLAC methodology for disasters evaluation

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. August, 2009.

·  Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia-The World Bank

Training course on the ECLAC methodology for disasters evaluation

Cochabamba and La Paz, Bolivia. December, 2009.

·  ECLAC–Economic Commission for Latin-American and Caribbean Countries Training course on the DALA methodology for disasters losses assessment

Santiago. November, 2009.

 

 

WORKSHOPS ATTENDANCE 

·  NSF - U.S.A. National Science Foundation, The Whitman College and University of Oregon
Dissertation Initiative on Climate Change Research Symposium
Kilauea, Hawaii. September 10th-17th, 2007

 

·  ECLAC–Economic Commission for Latin-American and Caribbean Countries (UN)

Training course on the ECLAC Methodology for Disasters Losses Assessment

Mexico City. June 18th-22nd, 2007.

·   IAI – Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research

Globalisation, Global Environmental Change and Food Systems. 

San Jose y Nicoya, Costa Rica. 24 de Octubre – 6 de Noviembre, 2004

·   START-IIASA

Seminar of Vulnerability to Global Environmental Change

Laxenburg, Austria. 4-30 de Mayo, 2004.

 

   MEETINGS DELEGATE

·   SELA-SEGIB – Sistema Económico Latinoamericano y Secretaría General Iberoamericana – Caracas, Venezuela – September 3rd. and 4th., 2009. Seminar on Natural Disaster Response Tools.

 ·   OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - Paris, France - June 3rd. and 4th., 2008. OECD World Forum on Climate Change, Growth and Stability.

·   UNFCCC – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Vienna, Austria – August 27th.-31st., 2007. Intersessional Meeting on Climate Change, AWG 4 for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol and the Dialogue

·   European Union-Latin America Summit 2006 - Vienna, Austria, April 2006. Session: Economic Integration in Latin-America. The European Union (EU).

·   Europe-Latin America Relations - Bratislava, Slovakia, June 2005. Preparatory dialogue for the EU-LA 2006 summit. The European Commission (EC) and European Central Bank (ECB).

 

CONSULTING PROJECTS 

·   WB - World Bank and The Provention Consortium. Disaster Risk Reduction, 2003/2004

·   IDB – Inter-American Development Bank. Post-disaster Liquidity Supply for Latin-America, 2002

·   UNDP – United Nations Development Program. Human Development Report, 2007/2008

·   GTZ - German Agency for Technical Cooperation. Adaptation to Climate Change of Coffee Growers, 2007/2008

·   DFID- UK Department for international Development. Climate Change Research in Latin-America, 2008

 

LANGUAGES

Spanish (mother tounge) 

English (fluent)

German (fluent)

 
French (basic)

    GENERAL DETAILS

§         First names: Sergio Omar

§         Citizenship: Mexican

§         Family name: Saldaña-Zorrilla

§         Marital status: single

§         Place of birth: Tapachula, State 

       of Chiapas, Mexico

§         Software knowledge: Econometric-Views, SPSS, GeoDa, ArcView, MS-Office (Excel, Word, PP, Access and Outlook)

 §         Sex: male

 §         Date of birth: 21st May, 1976