{"id":34649,"date":"2025-05-19T11:17:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T17:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/?p=34649"},"modified":"2025-05-21T09:02:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T15:02:01","slug":"investigadora-del-catie-monica-arias-es-la-nueva-representante-de-cirad-en-la-plataforma-agroforesta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/2025\/05\/19\/investigadora-del-catie-monica-arias-es-la-nueva-representante-de-cirad-en-la-plataforma-agroforesta\/","title":{"rendered":"CATIE researcher M\u00f3nica Arias is the new representative of CIRAD in the AgroForesta platform"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Through agroecological transition and the strengthening of international dialogue, the scientist promotes more sustainable and friendly production in the region.<\/li><\/ul><p>The Latin American Agroforestry Scientific Network (AgroForesta), of which CATIE is a member, announced the incorporation of researcher M\u00f3nica Arias as the new representative of the French International Cooperation Center for Research and Development in Agronomy (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cirad.fr\/en\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.cirad.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CIRAD<\/a>), under the coordination of Arlene L\u00f3pez Sampson of CATIE and the presidency of Vincent Gitz of CIFOR-ICRAF.<\/p><p>Arias holds a PhD in evolutionary ecology, a master's degree in ecology, evolution and systematics and a bachelor's degree in biology, with extensive professional experience in insect ecology and their relationship with their host plants. She is currently working on the ecology of pests and diseases of cocoa and coffee.<\/p><p>In France she is part of the Plant Health Institute of Montpellier (PHIM) and in Costa Rica she works at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/bosques-y-biodiversidad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Forests and Biodiversity in Productive Landscapes Unit<\/a> of CATIE, studying pests and diseases of cocoa and coffee, how management practices and climate affect them and how their natural enemies can control them. This research is aimed at finding solutions to the socioeconomic, environmental and climatic challenges faced by those involved in agriculture.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cafetales-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34650\" style=\"width:579px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cafetales-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cafetales-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cafetales-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cafetales-1536x1153.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cafetales-2048x1537.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cafetales-16x12.jpg 16w, https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Cafetales-600x450.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><p>The new CIRAD representative was pleased to join the AgroForesta network and highlighted the areas in which she will be able to contribute with her work. \u201cI seek to learn more about the ecosystem of pests and diseases within the plot and the effect that the existing biodiversity in surrounding forest patches or in other elements of heterogeneous landscapes has on the regulation of these pests and diseases, in order to propose solutions that come from ecology and help reduce the use of agrochemicals,\u201d she says.<\/p><p>Her work will also enrich AgroForesta's mission in the generation of knowledge, policies, technologies and innovative practices to promote sustainable development in rural communities through interdisciplinary and participatory approaches such as citizen science.<\/p><p>\u201cThere is an increasing paradigm shift, that research questions are not only conceived by researchers but also come from farmers and people who are in the field every day, and how they see the new challenges posed by globalization and climate change,\u201d she explains.<\/p><p>AgroForesta promotes key lines of research such as livelihoods and gender equity, participatory innovation, product and service valuation, resilience and transformation, policies and tools, as well as biophysical processes and biological diversification.<\/p><p>These lines of research are applied to crops such as coffee and cocoa using various tools and methodologies such as statistical models, bioeconomics, artificial intelligence, mechanistic and multi-agent modeling, participatory diagnostics, integrated pest and disease management, genetic improvement, agroforestry design, and digital agriculture, conservation and regeneration.<\/p><p>Therefore, the role of professionals such as Dr. Arias in AgroForesta is fundamental to create bridges of knowledge among all the actors involved in the agricultural value chain.<\/p><p>\u201cLike CATIE, CIRAD's mission is also to conduct cutting-edge research, but also to supervise students and train this human capital at the regional level, working side by side with farmers and the problems they face,\u201d she concludes.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\"><div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>More information:<\/strong><br>M\u00f3nica Arias<br>Researcher at the Forests and Biodiversity in Productive Landscapes Unit<br>CATIE<br>CIRAD representative at the Latin American Agroforestry Scientific Network (AgroForesta)<br><a href=\"mailto:monica.arias@cirad.fr\">monica.arias@cirad.fr<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>Written by:<\/strong><br>Eber V\u00edquez Le\u00f3n<br>Communications and Marketing Office<br>CATIE<br><a href=\"mailto:eviquezleon@gmail.com\">eviquezleon@gmail.com<\/a><br><a href=\"mailto:comunica@catie.ac.cr\">comunica@catie.ac.cr<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>La Red Cient\u00edfica Agroforestal Latinoamericana (AgroForesta), de la cual forma parte el CATIE, anunci\u00f3 la incorporaci\u00f3n de la investigadora M\u00f3nica Arias como nueva representante del Centro de Cooperaci\u00f3n Internacional Franc\u00e9s para la Investigaci\u00f3n y Desarrollo en Agronom\u00eda (CIRAD), bajo la &hellip; <\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34649"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34757,"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34649\/revisions\/34757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catie.ac.cr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}