Pilar Cornejo

I am professor at ESPOL, and the Director of the Pacific International Center for Disaster Risk Reduction. I have been teaching undergraduate Oceanography and Aquaculture for over 34 years, and Aquaculture and Climate Change at the postgraduate level. I have worked with climate variability impacts upon socioeconomic sectors in the humid tropics of the Americas, as well as in integrated water management, environmental sustainability, and disaster risk reduction. I have also served in several international committees and coordinated regional programs. For a period of six years, I became a policymaker as the first Secretary of State for Risk Management in Ecuador, making use of science for implementation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) actions, building up the Ecuadorian DRR system. I also belong to the GEO family.   Currently my work focusses on Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Resilience, Sustainable Cities and Nature Based Solutions for DRR and Climate Change Adaptation, with emphasis on delivering public policy options to move forward the 2030 Agenda.