Susana Cardenas

Susana Cárdenas is an ecologist and natural resource economist currently working as full-time professor, researcher and Co-Director of the Institute of Applied Ecology at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. She got her PhD in Ecology at UC Davis, it is a candidate MSc in Natural Resource Economics at UC Davis, and has an undergraduate degree in Finance and Economics at USFQ. Her long-term research goal is to integrate ecology, economics and environmental policy to promote sustainable development and management of key conservation areas.

Currently, her research is focused on two main topics: a) application of ecological modeling and economic valuation methods to the conservation of marine endangered species and ecosystem services, and b) tourism economics and monitoring of island ecosystems and protected areas. During the last 15 years, both research topics have been developed mainly in the Galapagos Islands working together with research and public institutions. Susana co-led the scientific team that analyzed and presented the proposed scenarios that inform the Ecuadorian government decision to declare the new open-water Hermandad Marine Reserve in 2022.