Petra Wallem

In 2009 received mi PhD in Biology, with speciality in Ecology. I did my doctoral thesis studying the invasion dynamics of beavers en southern Chile, Tierra del Fuego. Since then I have been involved with problems related to environmental management and transferring scientific knowledge to policy makers. My work has been focused on strategic planning and development of public policies at Regional (subnational) scale, addressing issues of environmental management and biodiversity conservation. In my last position I was challenged to coordinate a team for developing a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Information and Monitoring System for the GEF 5135 Project "Protecting Biodiversity and Multiple Ecosystem Services in Mountain Biological Corridors in Mediterranean Ecosystems of Chile". We designed a monitoring system for biological diversity and its ecosystem services in the Mediterranean ecoregionof the Andes, in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, for the Environmental Ministry of Chile. Among the initiatives we developed for this program was the establishment of the first GLORIA-Andes site in Chile, a Regional (subnational) network for monitoring of native carnivores with camera-traps, and a monitoring of forest degradation indicators, and carbon capture and storage of Mediterranean forests and shrublands with remotely sensed data. I have recently joined the Extreme Environments Lab, of the Center C+ of the Universidad del Desarrollo, as an Associated Researcher.