Gustavo García-López
Biography
Gustavo is an engaged researcher, educator, and community organizer in training from the islands of Puerto Rico. He has a transdisciplinary background in socio-environmental sciences, combining political ecology and environmental planning and public policy with decolonial studies of Latin America and the Caribbean. His work focuses on transformative eco-social initiatives and movements, bridging ideas of the commons, self-management, insurgent ecologies, environmental and climate justice, and just transitions. He has experience in Puerto Rico, Mexico and, more recently, Portugal, and maintains strong involvement with international networks and initiatives. He is currently an Integrated Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, where she is part of the Ecology and Society Workshop (ECOSOC, https://ces.uc.pt/pt/ces/ecosoc/) and the Risk Observatory (OSIRIS, https://ces.uc.pt/osiris/), and coordinates the project EJMapping: Counter-mapping environmental justice conflicts in the European periphery: the case of Portugal. Previously, he held the Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague (2019-2021, extended to 2022); he was an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Planning of the University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras (2015-2019); and a Marie Curie Experienced Researcher (postdoctoral fellow) in the H2020 ITN European Network of Political Ecology - ENTITLE (2014-2015). He holds a PhD in Public Policy and Political Science from Indiana University (2012), a Master's degree in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge (2005), and a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences and Geography from the University of Puerto Rico (2004). He is a co-founding member of Post-Extractive Futures (an initiative of several collectives to promote thinking and action toward post-extractive societies); the Climate Justice Network (bringing together academics and practitioners in research and education); JunteGente (a meeting space for grassroots initiatives for eco-social justice in Puerto Rico); and the editorial collective of the political ecology blog Undisciplined Environmenta (https://undisciplinedenvironments.org/). He is also part of the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact of the South, a platform that brings together people from diverse collectives and Latin American countries to create collective visions and solutions for ecosocial transformation (https://pactoecosocialdelsur.com/). He lives uprooted from his lands, but finds home and guiding stars in his daughter, Maia. His life is sustained by broad networks of care- of people, spirits, memories and ecologies.
ORCID
Projetos
TRANS-Lighthouses
More than green - Lighthouses of transformative nature-based solutions for inclusive communities
EJMapping
Counter-mapping environmental just conflicts in the European periphery: The case of Portugal
SWIFT
Supporting Women-led Innovations in Farming and rural Territories
COMCHA
Community-based change: local and traditional knowledges in NBS
CO3
COntinuous COnstruction of resilient social COntracts through societal transformations
BIOASSEMBLER
Integrating bio-inspired assembly into semiconductor manufacturing technology for biosensors
Latest Publications
Book Chapter
García-López, Gustavo (2026), Making decolonial environmental justice futures in Puerto Rico, in Aurora Santiago-Ortiz and Jorell Melendez-Badillo (org.), Interrogating the future of Puerto Rican studies. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, [In press]
Book Chapter
Andreucci, Diego; García-López, Gustavo (2025), From colonialism to sovereignty: Political ecologies of the energy transition, in Jessica Hope, Elia Apostolopoulou, Ariadne Collins (org.), The New Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology. London/New York: Routledge
Article in Scientific journal
Andreucci, Diego; López, Gustavo García; Franquesa, Jaume; Nieves, Larissa González (2025), "Energy sovereignty from below: Visions and practices of socioecological transformation in Puerto Rico and Catalonia", Human Geography, OnlineFirst