Fermín Sosa Pérez
PhD Student Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Integrated Regional DevelopmentFermin is an Indigenous Zapotec researcher and practitioner from Oaxaca, southern Mexico. He is trained as a hydrologist and agronomist and has over 20 years of experience in rural development in Mexico. His professional goal and passion is to support development at the community level, building upon the potential of rural peoples, their territories and biocultural heritage, and strong social fabric.
In 2009, he co-founded the local Oaxacan NGO, Indayu A.C., which supports Indigenous and peasant communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, in rural development and territorial governance. In recent years, he has been a teaching professor in the Sustainable Regional Development program at the Universidad Bienestar Benito Juárez García (Tlacolula de Matamoros campus).
In 2025, he began a PhD in Conservation Sciences and Natural Resource Use at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Integrated Regional Development (Oaxaca campus) (CIIDIR), part of Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). From 2021-2022, he served as Common Property Commissioner for his home community of San Juan Evangelista Analco, one of the highest positions in Indigenous community governance.