Dr. Ignacio Sánchez-Cohen
Position: Agricultural engineer and serves as researcher in the National Institute for Forestry Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Research (INIFAP) in Mexico. He is based in the National Center for Disciplinary Research on Water, Soil, Plant and Atmosphere Relationships (CENID RASPA), of INIFAP. He is the research leader of the integrated Watershed Management Research Program within this institute. In addition, he was the national coordinator of the water net of the National Council for Science and Technology of Mexico that represents 56 academic and research institutions of Mexico.
Academics: Ignacio Sánchez-Cohen holds a Bachelor on irrigated agriculture, a Master on soil and water management and a Ph D on Physical Aspects of Arid Lands from the University of Arizona in the USA. During his 31 years of research experience, he has participated in several international and national projects related to watershed management.
Publications: His publications involve several research fields around water: hydrology, climate, soils, and the social dimension of water scarcity, which links hard science to decision taking. He is member of the National System of Researchers in Mexico (level II), and has written three books, is coauthor of three, and has several book chapters as main author and coauthor. He has participated as main author, coauthor and corresponding author in 157 scientific papers.
Research focus: His research focuses on integrated water management that involves water balance at watershed level and the impacts of climatic extreme events on social variables as well as decision taking in irrigated agriculture. Main issue in his endeavors is to support the decision taking processes based on sound research results among stakeholders. In the past few years, he has participated as advisor to national agencies in Jamaica, Costa Rica and Belize. At the present, he is participating in research projects focusing on climate change impact in irrigation districts and parameterizing decision simulation models.