Maria Martinez-Harms
Natural Assets Knowledge-Action Network
Maria is a spatial ecologist interested in the science-policy interface for ecosystem services and biodiversity to inform landscape planning. By applying decision support tools like scenario analysis and conservation planning, she explores trade-offs and prioritize management alternatives that balance conservation, development, and social objectives. Her PhD focuses on synthesizing ecosystem services research to provide scientific evidence that can be used in environmental decision making. She is developing study cases in Mediterranean Chile looking at spatial and temporal changes in ecosystem services provision under global change and exploring ways to expand the current protected areas system to enhance equity in access to nature and improve biodiversity representation. Her research aims to inform international and national conservation decision-making on best practices to manage multi-functional landscapes for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services.