Bay Area Tropical Forest Network
San Francisco Bay Area events: forests & conservation
Join us for an art exhibition and lecture on the impacts of small scale gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon featuring artist Maisie McNeice and PhD candidate Jimena Diaz Leiva.
Thursday November 21, 2019 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Stattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705.
A conversation with University of Wisconsin soundscape ecologist Zuzana Burivalova, Conservation Metrics CEO Matthew McKown, and Mongabay Founder Rhett A. Butler on the potential for bioacoustics to improve conservation outcomes. This Mongabay WildTech / Bay Area Tropical Forest Network event is generously being hosted by the Palo Alto Patagonia store.
Satellites have revolutionized forest monitoring, but there remains a major gap in biodiversity monitoring since we can’t directly measure factors like hunting, sub-canopy fires, and degradation very well from space. Bioacoustics — the use of sound recorders in nature — can help fill the gap. By capturing an entire soundscape, they can document a wide range of animals and detect very minor changes in ecological communities. They can also be useful for real-time interdiction by detecting gunshots, chainsaws, and the sound of motorbikes and truck engines and relaying alerts to local communities or authorities.
But the really exciting aspect comes from making audio data available to scientists. The beauty of bioacoustic data is researchers can run algorithms to map soundscapes, allowing us to better understand ecological communities, what works and what doesn’t work in conservation, and track biodiversity trends.
The combination of networked bioacoustic devices and camera traps could eventually transform the field of conservation.
Speakers:
Moderator:
Doors open at 7pm for snacks, beverages, and networking. The discussion panel starts at 7:30pm.
Space is limited so please RSVP to reserve your spot.
Join us on May 24 from 6:30-8:30 pm for a Mongabay / Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN) event held at the Patagonia store in Palo Alto.
The event will feature a conversation with Robin Martin and Greg Asner about cutting-edge conservation technology.
Robin Martin and Greg Asner have pioneered the use of advanced LiDAR and spectrometer sensors to study tropical forest ecosystems, revealing information about biodiversity, habitat function and health, and ecosystem services. Their work has been widely profiled by the likes of Science Magazine, National Geographic, and hundreds of other outlets. They’ve now turned their system to coral reefs, which may support the development of the first comprehensive global reef monitoring system in an era when the world’s corals are deeply threatened by rising temperatures, growing carbon emissions, and unsustainable fishing and extraction. Rhett Butler, founder of conservation news web site Mongabay.com, will talk with Robin and Greg about how technology can help protect an conserve these critical ecosystems.
Admission is free and open to all, with refreshments (including wine and beer) courtesy of Mongabay and the Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN).
WHEN:
May 24 from 6:30-8:30 pm
WHERE:
Patagonia Palo Alto store
525 Alma St
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Join us on April 5 from 6-8:30 pm for a Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN) event held at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University.
The event will focus on jaguar conservation in the Gran Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina, a dry tropical forest ecosystem that is fast being destroyed for industrial ranches and farms. Anthony Giordano of S.P.E.C.I.E.S and the Chaco Jaguar Conservation Project will discuss efforts to protect jaguars and their habitat.
The Gran Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina is disappearing faster than any other habitat on earth, including the Amazon Rainforest. Rapid deforestation due to unsustainable cattle-ranching is fragmenting the last frontier of jaguars, causing conflict between the predators and people as their natural prey vanishes. By building trust and solving the growing conflict problems between people and jaguars brought on by severe habitat loss, the Chaco Jaguar Conservation Project is leading efforts to protect jaguars at the far southern end of their range. Our grand vision? Integrate our knowledge of the jaguar’s ecology into a working strategic framework to connect and restore the forests and savannas across the region with the most unique mammal species in the western hemisphere.
Admission is free and open to all, with refreshments (including wine and beer) courtesy of Mongabay and the Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN).
WHEN:
Thursday, April 5 from 6-8:30 pm
WHERE:
Department of Global Ecology Conference Room
Carnegie Institution
Stanford University
260 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
On January 10th, 2018 BATFN is co-hosting an event with The Orangutan Project at The Foster art gallery in Palo Alto.
The event will feature The Orangutan Project’s Founder and President Leif Cocks, who has worked with orangutans for over 30 years and has dedicated his life to re-introducing captive and orphaned orangutans into the wild. Cocks, who also recently authored Orangutans My Cousins, My Friends, will speak about the plight of orangutans and his plan for saving great red apes from extinction.
Cocks will be joined by Gary L. Shapiro, Co-Founder of The Orangutan Project and the head of The Orangutan Project-US and Orang Utan Republik. Shapiro has spent more than 40 years working with orangutans.
The Foster gallery features the works of Tony Foster, a watercolor artist who has traveled the world to capture the beauty and wonder of nature through watercolor paintings.
Tickets are $15 and 100% of the proceeds will go to The Orangutan Project, which is working to protect, rescue, rehabilitate, and re-release wild orangutans. Wine, beer, and snacks will be served.
Ticket price: $15.00
Location: The Foster, 940 Commercial St, Palo Alto, CA 94303
Date: Jan. 10, 2018, 6:30 p.m.
Join us November 13 from 6:30-8:30 pm for a special event co-hosted by the Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN), Mongabay and The Foster, watercolor artist Tony Foster’s beautiful art gallery in Palo Alto.
Our guest speaker is Zuzana Burivalova, a Princeton ecologist who specializes in tropical forest conservation and bioacoustic monitoring of forest ecosystems. For the past nine months, Burivalova has served as the research lead for a Mongabay project that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of several popular conservation interventions. Burivalova is now producing a series of featured articles in collaboration with Mongabay journalists. In her presentation, she will speak about her conservation effectiveness findings and methodology. Her remarks will be followed by discussion. Guests will also be able to view Tony Foster’s landscape watercolors, which are wonderfully presented at The Foster gallery.
Snacks and refreshments will be served.
Admission is free and open to all but please RVSP so we know how much food and drink to purchase.
There is an accelerating effort among scientists, forest and wildlife managers as well as technologists and interest groups from NASA, Google and the Jane Goodall Institute to harness new technologies. These technologies, which include satellite sensors, drones, camera traps and DNA detectors, can be used to improve and maintain forest and wildlife conservation; fight and expose illegal, unsustainable practices; and prevent the use of dangerous fuels and chemicals. Our panel will discuss what is new and what is working in this area. They will also discuss what 21st century technology might soon be available to protect and create healthy and safe environments in the Bay Area and throughout the world.
SPEAKERS
Rhett Butler
Founder and CEO, Mongabay
Topher White
Founder and CEO, Rainforest Connection
Crystal Davis
Director, Global Forest Watch
Virgil Zetterlind
Director, Protected Seas; Chief Technology Office, Conserve.IO
5:30 p.m. check-in
6 p.m. program
Tickets:
$20 general admission
$8 for Commonwealth Club members
FREE for students
https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2017-09-27/can-technology-drive-conservation
Join us on May 24 from 6-8:30 pm for a Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN) event held at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University.
Admission is free and open to all, with refreshments (including wine and beer) courtesy of the Bay Area Tropical Forest Network.
WHEN:
May 24 from 6-8:30 pm
WHERE:
Department of Global Ecology Conference Room
Carnegie Institution
Stanford University
260 Panama St
Stanford, CA 94305
Join us on June 6 from 6-8:30 pm for a Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN) event held at the Goldman School of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley.
The event will focus on Brazil’s cerrado, a tropical woodland ecosystem that is fast being destroyed for industrial ranches and farms. Dr. Arnaldo Carneiro, a researcher at National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), will present his findings on how companies can expand responsibly, while the Union of Concerned Scientists will provide an overview of the current political battle going over the future of the Brazilian Cerrado, which is home to 5 percent of the world’s remaining biodiversity.
Admission is free and open to all, with refreshments (including wine and beer) courtesy of the Bay Area Tropical Forest Network and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
WHEN:
June 6 from 6-8:30 pm
WHERE:
Goldman School of Public Policy: Living room
University of California
2607 Hearst Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94720-7320
The Center for Global Development, together with The Nature Conservancy California Chapter and the University of California Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), is hosting two upcoming events in the Bay Area to launch the book Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change. The events feature Dr. Jonah Busch, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, who co-authored the book with Frances Seymour.
Monday, March 6th
5:30 – 7:30 pm
The Nature Conservancy California Chapter
201 Mission Street, 4th Floor
San Francisco, CA
Please RSVP to [email protected]
Thursday, March 9th
4:30 – 6:30 pm
Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA)
Giannini Hall 248
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
From the authors:
“Why Forests? Why Now? should be mandatory reading for people who already care deeply about tropical forests, as well as for those who remain not yet convinced.”
—Alec Baldwin, Actor and international advocate for forests and indigenous peoples
“Seymour and Busch highlight an important achievement of global climate negotiations—agreement on cooperation to reduce tropical deforestation—and suggest an effective path for the realization of this goal.”
—Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Light refreshments will be served