Kalina Marcela Fonseca Largo

Kalina Fonseca is a PhD candidate in Environmental and Resource Management at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. Since 2017, she has worked as assistant professor and researcher at Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi, Ecuador, focusing on socio-environmental strategies to improve local livelihoods. She has published research on water quality and nature-based solutions and actively participates in international conferences to share findings and expand her scientific network.

Breaking the Wall of Drought and Water Pollution: Kalina Fonseca's 2025 Falling Walls Engage Finalist Project is Open Science in Water.

Open Science in Water empowers communities in Ecuador’s Upper Cutuchi River Basin to monitor water quality and quantity using donated open-source equipment. The project focuses on drought and pollution risks by training citizens, especially women leading farming activities, to collect and analyze data. Working with local decision-makers, it helps co-design strategies to improve agriculture and strengthen community resilience to climate change impacts.