Dr. Jose-Damian Ruiz-Sinoga

Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Malaga. Advisor to UNEP-PAP-FAO (1989–1994); President of the Governing Board of the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park (1998–2001); Member of the Provincial Council of Environment of the Junta de Andalucia (1995–2011); Director of the Institute of Geomorphology and Soils, University of Malaga (since 2012), and Full Member of the Malaga Academy of Sciences since 1990. Professor Sinoga’s lines of research have focused on the analysis of territorial processes, risks and vulnerabilities in the framework of global change and at different scales, specialising in (1) geomorphological processes and soil-water-vegetation relationships, (2) the incidence of the Mediterranean rainfall gradient in the degradation processes of the eco-geomorphological system and the quality of the soils, and strategies for its sustainable use, (3) the analysis of the indicators of climate crisis in the Mediterranean, their risks, vulnerabilities, and mechanisms of resilience, (4) the techniques of restoration of degraded soils in Mediterranean environments, (5) the incidence of depopulation processes in changes in land use and degradation, (6) and the realization of synthetic indices of vulnerability and resilience, as a result of the grouping of territorial, environmental, demographic, social, and economic vulnerability indices.