The Role of Climate Change and Migration in Social Risk Factors

Gabriela Muñoz is a researcher and professor of energy, water and climate change at the Department of Urban and Environmental Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Mexico. She is a Chemical Engineer with a Masters in Nuclear Sciences and a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Imperial College London. From 1992 to 1996 she worked in the Bacteriology and Physiochemistry Laboratory of the General Directorate of Ecology of Mexico City. From 2000 to 2008 she was a research associate at the Department of Earth Science and Engineering-Imperial College London. From 2016 to 2017 she spent her sabbatical at Stanford University researching the link between water and energy. From October 2023 to April 2024, she was in charge of the project to develop a “National methodological package and an implementation guide to collect data and information on the nexus between migration, mobility and the impacts of disasters, the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation in Mexico" funded by the International Organization for Migration. He has published articles in journals such as Environmental Science and Technology, Journal of the Cleaner Production, Sustainability and Journal of Borderlands Studies. He is a member of the National System of Researchers (level III).

Lorna Solis is Founder & CEO of Elevate, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing continued education at world-leading universities to young women who have either been forced from their homes by conflict or climate change or are working in industries affected by climate change and looking to further education so that they can use every tool possible to stay in their country of origin. Lorna created Project SHEro as an extension of her nonprofit’s work offering scholarships to refugees – including climate refugees. Project SHEro is a global climate activism documentary series that raises awareness not only about challenges but also solutions. It explores issues such as climate adaptation, climate justice, reducing emissions, food and water security, gender equity, indigenous rights, migration, and access to finance. Each episode showcases a brave young woman whose business is being affected by climate change, putting her at risk of becoming a climate refugee unless she can find ways to adapt. Local and international experts offer advice –and use cutting-edge technology or respect the old ways, to co-create the solution with her. Each SHEro is given a grant to invest in her business or continue her education.

Vanessa López is co-founder and executive director of Salud por Derecho, a non-profit foundation dedicated to globally defending the right to health through research, awareness-raising, and advocacy. Based in Spain, from where the organization works at European and global level, Salud por Derecho focuses its work on the universal access to health services and affordable medicines, global health, the fight against HIV and poverty related diseases, the right to health of undocumented migrants and the mitigation of climate change and its drivers to protect human health.

Vanessa holds a degree in Social Psychology from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a Master’s Degree in International Cooperation for Development from Comillas Pontifical University, after which she co-founded Salud por Derecho in 2004.