Professional affiliations:
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Idaho
US Society for Ecological Economics (USSEE)
Boise State’s Human-Environment Systems (HES) Center
Women in Environmental Economics and Development (WinEED)
Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center
Conservation Voters for Idaho (CVI)
Publications:
“Community-Designed Waterfront Green Space for the South Bronx.” Earth Economics, 2023. Factsheet. Publication can be found here.
“The Benefits of Green Infrastructure for Affordable Housing.” Earth Economics, 2023. Factsheet. Publication can be found here.
“The value of restoring forested wetlands.” Earth Economics, Pachama 2023. Factsheet. Publication can be found here.
“The Benefits of Schoolyard Greening.” Earth Economics, 2023. Factsheet. Publication can be found here.
“Resilience Hubs for Participatory Disaster Preparedness.” Earth Economics, 2023. Factsheet. Publication can be found here.
“Climate Change in Florida’s Rural Agricultural Areas: The case of Hurricane Ian.” Earth Economics, 2023. Factsheet. Publication can be found here.
“Incorporating Natural Infrastructure in Bogota’s Water System.” World Resources Institute and Conservation International-Colombia, 2023. Authors: Santiago Izquierdo-Tort, Diego Restrepo-Zambrano, Suzanne Ozment, Natalia Acero, Laura Bulbena, Juana Camacho, Laura Villegas Ortiz, Fabio Arjona, Patricia Bejarano, Mario Mora, and Margoth Garcia. Available at: https://www.wri.org/research/incorporating-natural-infrastructure-bogotas-water-system
“The Value of Natural Climate Solutions in Minnesota.” Earth Economics, 2023. Publication and complementary materials can be found here.
“The Value of Protecting and Restoring the Duckabush Estuary.” Earth Economics, 2023. Publication and complementary materials can be found here.
“The Collaborative Advantage: Principles for the Next Generation of Multi-Benefit Projects in Los Angeles County.” Accelerate Resilience Los Angeles, 2022. Technical Appendix available here.
“Cultivating Cultural and Environmental Value: Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden.” Earth Economics, 2022. Factsheet available here.
“In Defense of Biodiversity in Intag, Ecuador.” Earth Economics, 2022. Amicus Brief available here.
Contributor to “Litigation = Impact. LA Waterkeeper’s Litigation Impact Report highlights 30 years of legal impact in the Los Angeles region.” LA Waterkeeper, 2022. Report available here.
“ARLA’s ACWP Benefit-Cost Analysis Tool.” Accelerate Resilience Los Angeles, 2022. Technical Appendix available here.
“Economic and Environmental Benefits of Hipcamp Properties.” Earth Economics, 2022. Factsheet available here.
“The Economic Impact of Restoring the Big Quilcene River Watershed.” Earth Economics, 2022. Factsheet available here.
Eaton, M.J., Johnson, F.A., Mikels-Carrasco, J., Case, D.J., Martin, J., Stith, B., Yurek, S., Udell, B., Villegas, L., Taylor, L., Haider, Z., Charkhgard, H., and Kwon, C., 2021, Cape Romain Partnership for Coastal Protection: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2021–1021, 158 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211021
“The failure of Integrated Assessment Models as a Response to ‘Climate Emergency’ and Ecological Breakdown: The Emperor has no Clothes.” In: Globalization’s special forum on ‘Economics and Climate Emergency’. December, 2020. Co-authors: Salvi Asefi-Najafabady (ERM); and Jamie Morgan (Leeds Beckett University). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2020.1853958
“Integrating Econometric Models of Land Use Change with Models of Ecosystem Services and Landscape Simulations to Guide Coastal Management and Planning for Flood Control.” In: Environment for Development. Discussion Paper Series. May, 2019. EfD DP 19-13.
“Optimization of Decision Rules for Hydroelectric Operation to Reduce Both Eel Mortality and Unnecessary Turbine Shutdown: A Search for a Win-Win Solution.” In: River Research and Applications. Vol 33(8), 2017. Co-authors: D. Smith (USGS); P. Fackler (NCSU); S. Eyler (USF&WS); and S. Welsh (USGS).
“No Train No Grain: The Impact of Increased Demand for Rail Services by the Energy Sector on Wheat Prices—A Preliminary Analysis.” In: The International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics. Vol. 4(3), 2016.
“Shades of Shade: Determinants of Conservation Practices in Coffee Plantations for Ecosystem Services Provision in Puerto Rico, a Preliminary Analysis.” In: Global Journal of Science Frontier Research. Vol 16(4), 2016.
“Does Participation in Public Works Programs Encourage Fertilizer Use in Rural Ethiopia?” In: The International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics. Vol. 4(2), 2016. Co-authors: V. Smith (Montana State University), J. Atwood (Montana State University), and E. Belasco (Montana State University).
Blogs:
How to use forests to fend off a water and energy crisis in Colombia (Aug 2020)
Certificates/Courses:
2023 Campaign Manager Training. District 15, Ada County Dems. Boise, ID. This 2-day intensive training covered all areas of campaign management including budgeting and fundraising; messaging, communications and marketing; field work and direct voter contact; volunteer recruitment and management; strategies for voter outreach; data management; and plan development.
2023 Candidate Training. Conservation Voters for Idaho, Idaho Education Association, League of Conservation Voters. Boise, Idaho. This 2-day intensive training provided resources and answered questions to key parts of the candidacy process, including crafting a fundraising plan, reaching out to constituents, building an effective campaign strategy and developing campaign messaging.
2023 Forest Resiliency Data Synthesis Working Group. EarthLab; University of Colorado-Boulder: Participants in the working group explored how cross-scale data synthesis can drive research on patterns of forest resilience and transformation. Throughout the week, participants developed data science skills through a series of modules focused on data- and compute-intensive workflows in R and Python, participated in short field trips, built a network of fellow forest ecosystem researchers and conservation practitioners, and collaborated to investigate critical synthesis questions. Themes of the week included forest resiliency, disturbance regimes, vegetation state and structural transitions, application of data to improve forest management, remotely sensed data, UAS-enabled research, and cross-scale analysis. Examples of types of data that participants gained experience with include drone, airborne, and satellite imagery; dense point clouds; and Landfire and National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) datasets.
Diseño, implementacion, mantenimiento y monitoreo de estrategias de restauracion ecologica de Bosque Seco Tropical (2020). Fundación Natura y Enel-Emgesa, Colombia.
Aproximaciones a la Restauración Ecológica del Bosque Seco Tropical (2020). Fundación Natura y Enel-Emgesa, Colombia.
Seventh Summer Course on Sustainable Climate Risk Management (2019). Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA.
Second Summer Workshop on Climate Economics (2019). GEMMES/Agence Francaise de Developpment, Paris, France.
Climate Economics modeling with System Dynamics (2019). Ventana Systems Inc., Harvard Town, MA.
DataCamp courses (2019): Spatial Statistics, Spatial Analysis in R with sf and raster, Machine Learning Toolbox, Machine Learning with Tree-Based Models in R, Network Analysis, Network Analysis in R: Case studies, Data Visualization with ggplot2 (Part 1). Importing Data in R (part 1 and 2), Cleaning Data in R, Introduction to the Tidyverse.
Climate Modeling with System Dynamics Including Specialized Climate Issues (2018). Ventana Systems Inc. MIT, Cambridge, MA.
ESRI ArcGIS courses (2016): Building Models and GIS Analysis Using ArcGIS. Exploring Spatial Patterns in GIS. Introduction to Editing Parcels in GIS. Learning ArcGIS. Getting Started with GIS.
InVEST: An Introduction to the Natural Capital Approach (2016). Natural Capital Symposium. Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
Introduction to Structured Decision Making (2016, 2017). US DOI. National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV.
Presentations:
“Using Ecological Economics to Assist Frontline Communities” In: Canadian Society for Ecological Economics—Toronto, CA (Oct, 2023)
“Can Economics Help Save the World?” In: Panel Webinar Series Hosted by Boise State’s Hazard and Climate Resilience Institute—Boise, ID (Oct, 2022)
“Mapping urban heat mitigation effects on human health due to tree canopy cover” In: The Workshop on Environmental Economics and Data Science (TWEEDS)—Eugene, OR (Oct, 2022)
“Urban Heat Mitigation Mapping to measure the economic effects of impacts on human health and help make recommendations for more equitable and resilient communities” In: Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Symposium 2022—Gulf Shores, AL (Sept, 2022)
“The economic impacts of energy efficient stoves on forest conservation and grass-roots climate resilient development in Kenya” In: Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative (SETI) 2022 Annual Workshop—Virtual sessions. (June, 2022)
“The economic case for enhancing ecosystem services in the Gojeb watershed: avoided power revenue losses from sedimentation at Gibe III” In: High-Level Meeting on Watershed Restoration for Energy and Livelihood Security—Bishoftu, Ethiopia (Dec, 2020)
“Integrating Econometric Models of Land Use Change with Models of Ecosystem Services and Landscape Simulations to Guide Coastal Management and Planning for Flood Control”. In: 13th Annual EfD Conference—Bogotá, Colombia (Nov, 2019)
“Land Use Planning for Flood Risk Reduction: An Economic Argument.” In: Center for Environmental and Resource Economic Policy Colloquium—Raleigh, NC (2018)
“Integrating Econometric Land Use Models with Ecological Model to Guide Coastal Management and Planning.” In: Camp Resources Annual Workshop—Wilmington, NC (2017)
“Shady Business: Why do Puerto Rican Coffee Farmers Adopt Conservation Agriculture Practices?” In: AAEA Annual Meeting 2017—Chicago, IL (2017)
“No Train No Grain: Impacts of Increased Demand For Rail Services on Wheat Prices in The Midwest and the Gulf-Coast.” — 2nd Place. In: NCSU III Latin American Research Symposium—Raleigh, NC (2016)
“Participation in Public Works and Fertilizer Use in Rural Ethiopia.” In: NCSU Graduate Student Symposium—Raleigh, NC (2014)
“Safety Net Programs and Household Investment in Rural Ethiopia.” In: NCSU I Latin American Research Symposium—Raleigh, NC (2013)
“Avoiding the Resource Curse: Transforming Mineral Wealth into Economic Development, The case of Coltan in Colombia.” In: MSU Undergraduate Poster Fair—Bozeman, MT (2011)
“Celebrating the International Women Day: Women in Colombia.” In: Sack Lunch Seminar Series on Women Success—Bozeman, MT (2011)
Work in Progress:
Talking naked: a series of essay/commentaries on climate-economy models, politics in science, environment, ethics, and society. With Asefi.
To Act or to Act: a qualitative study of the coordination and commitment dilemma posed by climate change. With Harsono, NCE. Paper.
Rethinking the financing of sustainable infrastructure to address the issue of stranded assets and promote growth of the XXI century in Latin America. With Studart and Keneally, NCE. Blog.
Please, e-mail me any comments or questions.
laura villegas ortiz 