About Carl Ureta

Dr. Carl Ureta is an environmental scientist and ecological economist specializing in climate resilience, environmental stewardship, and sustainable natural resource management.

At Compassion International, Carl provides technical leadership in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, environmental stewardship, and creation care. He leads the development of climate services, geospatial tools, and evidence-based approaches that translate complex climate and environmental information into practical action. This includes developing the Integrated Response Information System (IRIS), which helps the organization monitor hazards and climate extremes, assess emerging risks, and support timely decisions before, during, and after disasters. By bringing together climate and disaster risk information, community reports, and program data, IRIS enables National Offices and Frontline Church Partners to better understand how children and communities are affected and make appropriate program adjustments. His broader expertise includes strengthening community resilience, advancing nature-based solutions, improving food, energy, and water security, and helping churches and communities prepare for and respond to disasters and environmental challenges.

Carl holds a Ph.D. in Forest Resources with a specialization in Ecological Economics from Clemson University, an M.Sc. in Environmental Science, and a B.Sc. in Economics specializing in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics from the University of the Philippines.

Roots of Resilience: Connecting Local Perceptions and Spatial Intelligence to Strengthen Communities

Community resilience begins with understanding how people depend on land, water, food, energy, and other natural resources. Environmental changes, rising food prices, and disasters can disrupt farming, livelihoods, and access to basic needs. To better understand these interconnected pressures, Compassion International works with local churches to identify emerging concerns and areas requiring support. Through its Environmental Stewardship and Creation Care (ESCC) Policy, Compassion developed the Integrated Response Information System (IRIS), a set of GIS-enabled tools that combine local observations, risk information, early warnings, and rapid impact reporting.

One component of this system gathers contextual insights about communities through the perspectives of local churches: the Climate Impact, Food, Energy, and Water Survey (CIFEWS). CIFEWS is a short pulse check completed by committees of local church partners. It captures their observations of recent environmental and disaster events, perceived levels of food insecurity, and reported concerns related to water, energy, health, livelihoods, and family well-being. It helps a large global organization listen systematically to many small and widely dispersed communities. When these observations are mapped and presented through dashboards, National Offices, specialists, and church planning committees can see where concerns are concentrated, identify areas requiring follow-up, and better understand conditions that may not be visible in national or global datasets.

While CIFEWS does not replace carefully designed household surveys, technical assessments, or key informant interviews, the information it provides offers an early picture that can be compared with other evidence and used to guide further discussion and planning. By helping the organization identify priority environmental risks and resource challenges, CIFEWS can support more locally appropriate responses. These may include regenerative agriculture, improved soil and water management, circular resource use, livelihood diversification, and disaster-risk reduction. Information alone does not create resilience, but listening carefully and seeing where concerns are occurring can help communities and organizations decide where and how to act.