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Marcela Cely-Santos is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in using different lines of evidence to understand socio-ecological change and explore opportunities for biodiversity conservation in tropical agri-food territories. Marcela holds a MS in biology from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, and a PhD in environmental studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Most of her work explores the different dimensions of bee declines and their relationship with agrarian change. She has evaluated the effects of habitat factors and land uses on bee diversity, the intersections between rural livelihoods and pollination, and the loss of biocultural heritage associated with native bees in the Colombian Andes. Her concerns for the bees took her to join the Art-Sciences collective Cuenco con las manos, developing artistic interventions and objects to explore kinship and empathy with the bees; and to be part of a research collective exploring pesticides and their ecological impact in Colombia. Marcela has also approached other themes in her work. As adjunct researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute in Colombia, she conducted research to understand the relationships between gender, rural livelihoods, and biodiversity for Afro-descendant communities in the Colombian Caribbean; delineate social approaches for the design of nature-based climate adaptation projects; and to outline novel methodological approaches that examine the links between livelihood sustainability and biodiversity conservation. Marcela is also part of an interdisciplinary group of scholars conduct research on the "Diverse pathways to nourishment: Understanding how agricultural biodiversity enhances food security and nutrition”, funded by the US National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center SESYNC. She is also member of the “Red Nacional de Abastecimiento Agroalimentario de Colombia RENAAC”, an initiative promoting food systems sustainability in Colombia. As a Carson Fellow, Marcela is working on the project entitled “Inclusive vitality: human-bee journeys in the tropical countryside”.
RCC Research Project: Inclusive Vitality: Human-Bee Journeys in the Tropical Countryside
Selected Publications:
- with D. Valbuena and D. Obregon. "Agrochemical Pesticide Production, Trade, and Toxicity Levels: Narrowing the Information Gap in Colombia." Journal of Environmental Management 286, no. 4 (2021): 112141. DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112141.
- "Bee Villains." In Feral Atlas: The More-than-Human Anthropocene, edited by A. Tsing, J. Deger, A. Keleman-Saxena, and F. Zhou. Stanford: Stanford University Press (digital).
- "Intersections between Rural Livelihood Security and Animal Pollination in Anolaima, Colombia." Geoforum 104 (2019): 13–24.
- with S. Philpott. "Local and Landscape Habitat Influences on Bee Diversity in Agricultural Landscapes in Anolaima, Colombia." Journal of Insect Conservation 23 (2019):133–46.
- with R. Duarte, N. Cardona (Cuenco con las manos). "'Si yo fuera una abeja (If I were a bee)'", card game. XVII Regional Art Salon, Colombian Ministry of culture.