UTSA student to travel to Mexico to study impact of environmental policy

Daniel Large is a master's of public administration graduate student traveling to Guadalajara early next year to study a unique conservation policy

By Jesus Chavez
Public Affairs Specialist

(July 29, 2015) -- Daniel Large, a public administration graduate student with the UTSA College of Public Policy, cares what happens to the environment and the impacts this has on society. In the coming months, he will begin his study on the effects that an innovative conservation incentive program is having on communities in Mexico.

“I’ve always been really interested in environmental conservation policy,” said Large. “It’s important to me that we understand the myriad of effects that policies can have on conservation efforts and our communities as we get deeper into the 21st century.”

Large will travel to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico as a UTSA-Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social Occidente (CIESAS) Research Fellow. His research fellowship is funded through a partnership with CIESAS and the UTSA Mexico Center.

In Guadalajara, Large will collaborate with CIESAS researchers to gather data on Mexico’s Payment for Environmental Services (PES) program and public policy. He hopes to understand its effects on the environment, the changes in local populations’ socioeconomic status and the political implications of the work.

PES programs have grown in number over the past decade. The programs assign monetary value to environmental services, such as healthy watersheds, crop pollination and carbon sequestration, which are provided freely by local ecosystems but are undervalued by mainstream economics and risk being developed. Participating landowners are incentivized to engage in conserving these natural resources on their land in order to receive PES payments from the Mexican federal government. Mexico’s PES program was founded in 2003 and has expanded to become one of the largest PES applications in the world.

Large will interview and interact with local landowners, scholars, government officials and other conservation entities in the region. Additionally, he’ll look at the implications of the Mexican national government’s collaboration with its local communal governments, including “ejidos” and indigenous agrarian communities.

“Daniel is an extremely talented and dedicated scholar, who is carving out an important research niche while still in a master’s program,” said Francine Romero, associate dean of the UTSA College of Public Policy and Large’s faculty advisor. “His research trip to Mexico will allow him to delve deeper into the questions surrounding this unique conservation program by giving him the opportunity to work with the people directly involved.”

Large will use the data gathered to craft a series of research papers and presentations, including one to be prepared for the UTSA Mexico Center. The trip is a component of his Independent Study Course as part of his studies at the UTSA Department of Public Administration.

After he graduates this December, Large hopes to cultivate a career combining environmental conservation with the policy and research skills he’s picked up as a UTSA student. He currently works with the Edwards Aquifer Authority as a habitat conservation plan coordinator for threatened and endangered species living in the San Marcos and Comal springs ecosystems.

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