Gisselle Vila Benites
Education: Ph.D. Candidate ’24, Clark University
Cornell Faculty Mentor: Lori Leonard, Cornell CALS/Global Development
External Adviser: Renzo Piana, Instituto del Bien Común, Peru
Themes: Increasing Food Security
Developing an Indigenous Monitoring Framework for Post-mining Environmental Remediation in the Peruvian Amazon
Giselle’s research focuses on community engagement with natural resource policies in ecologically sensitive areas in Latin America, covering policy arenas such as artisanal and small-scale mining formalization, mineral traceability, and water governance. For her postdoctoral project, she collaborates with Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Southern Amazon and local partner Instituto del Bien Común to design an environmental monitoring framework to assess the recovery potential of abandoned mining ponds. Her work aims to strengthen Indigenous governance over post-mining environmental remediation in the Amazon and enhance Indigenous food security.
Gisselle is also a Research Fellow at the Advanced Studies on Inequalities and Sustainable Development Program (Freie Universitat Berlin and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), the Center for Mining and Sustainability Research (Universidad del Pacífico, Peru), and a member of the International Coalition on Drug Policy Reform and Environmental Justice.