Pioneers into Practice crosses the pond
In The News
10 Nov 2014
10/11/2014
A 2010 pioneer develops his professional work on sustainability, innovation, climate change and ecosystem conservation in Latin America.
Cesar J. Galarza, Argentinian, PhD in Law in 2003 at the University of Santiago de Compostela began developing his working career in university management and research on climate change taxation system in Spain, later specializing in environmental consulting.
This consulting work, and he´s currently developing in the country of his birth, has its beginnings around the 2008´s , culminating in 2012 when he had the opportunity to find the Pioneers into Practice Programme, so that from then it was becoming his profession and his passion, and to get the advantage to work there, one of the planet’s most privileged framework environmental settings.
Although, after obtaining his doctorate, he had ongoing relationship with environmental issues, but it was from 2008, working as an academic secretary and researcher at the CEU Institute of Environmental Disciplin of Valencia (oriented research, environmental education and communication) where Cesar was linked strongly with matter through research projects in taxation and climate change. From here, his encounter in 2010 with the Pioneers into Practice Programme was a natural step to take advantage and belonging to the first edition, still got more available opportunities.
As he said: “Through joining in the research teams related to taxation and climate change (e.g. Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms, energy, means of transport, households, etc.), my environmental interest and passion grew deeper allowing me to connect my work with those fields.
Its placement at the “Department of environmental quality, renewable energy, integrated water cycle and climate change, of the City of Valencia” with the project: “Peoples and low-carbon cities – Covenant of Mayors” gave him the opportunity to make direct contact and participate in the various activities and actions carried out by the City of Valencia for the fulfillment of the “Agenda 21” and the commitments made by signing the “Covenant of Mayors”, in order to make this metropolis an example in the fight against climate change by implementing a model of sustainable city with a high quality of life and active social participation.
In his words: “Working inside Valencia Municipality as a direct witness of the projection and implementation of several measures in the fight against climate change carried out by this city allowed me to discover a world of professional possibilities related to the mitigation and adaptation to climate change. I am highly sure that it was that step the starting point in my new professional career related to sustainability”.
After participating in the PiP Programme, he has continued for time involved to academia while specializing in different aspects of sustainability and climate change. After that he began his career as an independent consultant working with institutions such as the OECD, the CO2 Evolution Consulting, Endesa and Chair of Taxation and Climate Change.
During the last year, 2013, already established in Argentina, he focused the acquired hand-on experience from the previous years in the environmental field to set up his own consultancy “Eco Ideas, Servicios & Gestión”. That project joins several professionals´ expertise from different countries around Latin America and Europe with enthusiasm for the environment to give sustainable solutions to private and public institutions.
As it is his belief: “My participation in the PiP Programme opened a new world to me. Thanks to it, I am currently doing what I really enjoy for a living: working for a more sustainable world: environmentally, economically and socially”.
Among others, he has collaborated with the Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina (WWF Associated) and the National Agricultural Technology Institute in the management and coordination of payment schemes for environmental services as a method of innovation to promote the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems and achieve sustainable economic development in a key region for global biodiversity such as the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest located on the border at the junction of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay importance; and with the Government of the Province of Corrientes in plans, programs and projects for sustainable development and innovation.
