About José M. Rodriguez-Flores

José M. Rodriguez-Flores

Senior Analyst, Climate Resilient Water Systems

Contact

Remote Office

Work

Areas of expertise:

Hydro-economic analysis; multi-benefit land and water management; interdisciplinary groundwater analysis; resilient food-water systems analysis

José supports EDF’s work promoting agricultural and rural community water resilience across California. He focuses particularly on supporting the implementation of sustainable groundwater management and multibenefit land repurposing. His current work is focused on providing research, data analysis, and project implementation to support EDF’s multibenefit land repurposing initiatives.

Background

José earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Systems from the University of California Merced with a primary research focus on the nexus of the food-water-human system within California's Central Valley. His doctoral work primarily involved employing hydro-economic modeling frameworks to evaluate sustainable groundwater management policies, the repercussions of climate events on agriculture, and sustainable irrigation management. José has actively collaborated with interdisciplinary teams to explore multi-benefit cropland repurposing strategies, and he has also delved into the assessment of domestic well vulnerability.

Education

Ph.D., Environmental Systems, University of California Merced

M.Sc., Agricultural Economics, Colegio de Postgraduados

B.Sc., Agricultural Economics, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo

Publications

Rodríguez-Flores, J. M., Gupta, R. S., Zeff, H. B., Reed, P. M., and Medellín-Azuara, J. “Identifying robust adaptive irrigation operating policies to balance deeply uncertain economic food production and groundwater sustainability trade-offs”. Journal of Environmental Management (2023), 345, 118901.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118901

Ortiz-Partida, J.P., Fernandez-Bou, A.S., Maskey, M., Rodríguez-Flores, J.M., Medellín-Azuara, J., Sandoval-Solis, S., Ermolieva, T., Kanavas, Z., Sahu, R.K.,Wada, Y. and Kahil, T. “Hydro-Economic Modeling of Water Resources Management Challenges: Current Applications and Future Directions”. Water Economics & Policy (2023), 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1142/S2382624X23400039

Medellin-Azuara, J., Escriva-Bou, A., Cole, S.A., Rodriguez-Flores, J.M., Santos, N. “OpenAg Hydroeconomic Modeling Hub”. (2023) https://openag.ucmerced.edu/#/pages/about

Medellín-Azuara, J., Escriva-Bou, A., Rodríguez-Flores, J.M., Cole, S.A, Abatzoglou, J.T., Viers,J.H., Santos, N., and Sumner, D.A. “Economic Impacts of the 2020-2022 Drought on California Agriculture”. A report for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (2022). Water Systems Management Lab. University of California, Merced 35p. Available at: http://drought.ucmerced.edu/

Fernandez-Bou, A.S., Rodríguez-Flores, J.M., Guzman, A., Ortiz-Partida, J. P., Classen-Rodriguez, L.M., Sánchez-Pérez, P.A.,Valero-Fandiño, J., Pells, C., Flores-Landeros, H., Sandoval-Solís, S., Characklis, G.W, Harmon, T.C., McCullough, M., Medellín-Azuara, J.: A multi-benefit cropland repurposing framework", Science of the Total Environment (2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159963

Rodríguez-Flores, J.M., Valero Fandiño, J.A., Cole, S.A. et al. "Global Sensitivity Analysis of a Coupled Hydro-Economic Model and Groundwater Restriction Assessment". Water Resources Management (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-022-03344-5

Whipple, A. A., Safran, S. M., Zeleke, D., Wells, E., Deverel, S., Olds, M., Cole, S., Rodríguez-Flores,J. M., Guzman, A., Medellín-Azuara, J., Grenier, J. L. "Resilient Staten Island: Landscape Scenario Analysis Pilot Application." Prepared for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2022). SFEI Publication #1079, San Francisco Estuary Institute, Richmond, CA 

Fernandez-Bou, A.S, Ortiz-Partida, P.,  J., Pells, C., Classen-Rodriguez, L.M., Espinoza, V., Rodríguez-Flores, J.M and Medellín-Azuara, J.. “Regional Report for the San Joaquin Valley Region on Impacts of Climate Change”. California Natural Resources Agency (2021). Publication number: SUM-CCCA4-2021-003

Fernandez-Bou, A.S., Ortiz-Partida, J.P., Classen-Rodriguez, L.M., Pells, C., Dobbin, K.B., Espinoza, V., Rodríguez-Flores, J.M., Thao, C., Hammond-Wagner, C.R., Fencl, A., Flores-Landeros H., et al. "3 challenges, 3 errors, and 3 solutions to integrate frontline communities in climate change policy and research: lessons from California." Frontiers in Climate (2021): 104.https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.717554

Rodríguez-Flores, J. M., Medellín-Azuara, J., Valdivia-Alcalá, R., Arana-Coronado, O. A., and García-Sánchez, R. C. "Insights from a calibrated optimization model for irrigated agriculture under drought in an irrigation district on the central Mexican high plains." Water 11.4 (2019): 858. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11040858