Bay Area Tropical Forest Network

The Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN) is an social network in the Bay Area broadly interested in tropical forest conservation and ecology. We gather quarterly, typically for a happy hour beverage in the Peninsula area (usually Palo Alto, San Francisco, or Berkeley). Events are free and we provide snacks and drinks. Think Green Drinks but with a focus on forests.

Our goal is to foster peer-to-peer networking in a relaxed atmosphere where ideas, data, and collaboration flow freely. This is a great opportunity to connect with media, scientists, economists, foundations, activists, artists and many others thinking about these issues. Everyone is welcome! It is a great way to get in touch with other people working on similar interests or to learn more about current issues and initiatives in forest conservation. BATFN gatherings have resulted in grants, internships, academic opportunities, and new friendships

Attendees of BATFN typically include people from a range of fields and locations, including researchers and activists working in Brazil, Indonesia, Peru, Madagascar and other exiting places. If you are interested in exploring any of these areas — professionally, academically, or just out of casual interest – you shouldn’t miss BATFN events.

Next BATFN

The next BATFN will take place Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley (2607 Hearst Ave, Berkeley, CA).

We’re pleased to announce that Van Butsic will give a brief talk about the impact of conflict on forest loss in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
Many tropical countries have experienced violent conflict in recent decades, which may pose an additional, yet poorly understood threat for forests. Conflict may decrease or increase deforestation depending on the relationship between conflict and other causes of land use change, such as mining expansion or protected area establishment. Here we examine the impact of conflict on forest loss in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Using a panel instrumental variables approach we find that: i) conflict increases forest cover loss, ii) mining concessions increase forest cover loss, but in times of conflict this impact is lessened, and iii) protected areas reduce forest cover loss, even if conflict is present. Our results thus suggest that policy interventions designed to reduce violent conflict may have the co-benefit of reducing deforestation and that protected areas can be effective even in times of war.
Doors open at 6pm for networking/conversation and Butsic’s talk will likely begin around 7 pm, followed by discussion. We’ll provide some snacks and drinks, but any food, drink, or other contributions would be appreciated.

If you are interested in attending the event, it would be helpful if you RSVP via this form or the Facebook event page so we know how much food and drink to provide. The event is open to everyone so feel free to forward to your friends.

When: 6 pm-8:30 pm, Thursday, Feb 27, 2014
Where: Goldman School of Public Policy
UC Berkeley
2607 Hearst Ave, Berkeley, CA

November BATFN

The final BATFN of 2013 took place Sunday, November 17 from 6-8 pm on board Greenpeace’s ship, The Rainbow Warrior, which was docked at Pier 15 on the Embarcadero near the Exploratorium.

The theme for the event was “An Evening Exploring Solutions to Deforestation” and involved a panel of speakers who will talk about one solution that has worked in the past to reduce deforestation. Here is video from the speakers’ portion of the event.

BATFN Meeting: Solutions to Deforestation from Paul Stoutenburgh on Vimeo.

History:

• BATFN 1 (Jun 2009): Stanford University.

• BATFN 2 (Jul 2009): Stanford University. Presentation: Tropical forest news highlights for June 2009 (Rhett Butler)
• BATFN 3 (Aug 2009): California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
• BATFN 4 (Sep 2009): UC Berkeley. Presentation: What we know and what we still need to find out about deforestation in Brazil (Maria Bowman)
• BATFN 5 (Oct 2009): UC Berkeley.
• BATFN 6 (Nov 2009): Stanford University. Presentation: Oil palm plantation expansion in Indonesian Borneo: Tipping points and tradeoffs (Kim Carlson)
• BATFN 7 (Dec 2009): Stanford University. Presentation: How rainforest shamans heal (Chris Herndon)
• BATFN 8 (Jan 2010): UC Berkeley. Presentation: An overview of REDD and what happened in Copenhagen (Rhett Butler)
• BATFN 9 (Feb 2010): RAN-San Francisco. Presentation: Palm oil and plantation forestry in Indonesia (Lafcadio Cortesi)
• BATFN 10 (Mar 2010): Stanford University. Presentation: Global policies as a framework for effective local action to reduce deforestation (Suzi Kerr)
• BATFN 11 (Apr 2010): Stanford University. Film: Owners of the Water – Conflict and Collaboration Over Rivers (Laura Graham)
• BATFN 12 (May 2010): UC Berkeley. The Climate Impacts of Cattle Ranching Intensification in Brazil. (Avery Cohen)
• BATFN 13 (Jun 2010): Stanford University. Presentation: REDD in Colombia (Brodie Ferguson)
• BATFN 14 (Sep 2010): UC Berkeley. Presentation: California Low Carbon Fuel Standard and forests (Michael O’Hare)
• BATFN 15 (Oct 2010): Stanford University.
• BATFN 16 (Nov 2010): San Francisco.
• BATFN 17 (Jan 2011): Berkeley (‘Last Nomads’ film screening).
• BATFN 18 (Feb 2011): Palo Alto.
• BATFN 19 (Mar 2011): RAN-San Francisco. (Lindsey Allen)
• BATFN 20 (Apr 2011): Google – Mountain View. (Greg Asner)
• BATFN 21 (May 2011): Greenpeace-San Francisco. (Rolf Skar)
• BATFN 22 (July 2011): Palo Alto. (Holly Gibbs)
• BATFN 23 (Oct 2011): Stanford University. (Nichol Simpson: Health in Harmony in Borneo)
• BATFN 24 (Nov 2011): UC Berkeley. (Dan Hammer: FORMA, a global real-time remote sensing system)
• BATFN 25 (Dec 2011): UC Berkeley. (Roger Leaky)
• BATFN 26 (Jan 2012): Stanford University. (Andrew Stevenson: an inside-the-Beltway look at REDD finance)
• BATFN 27 (Feb 2012): UC Berkeley. (Eco-Ola)
• BATFN 28 (Mar 2012): Berkeley. (The Borneo Project)
• BATFN 29 (Apr 2012): San Francisco. (Pandora Thomas)
• BATFN 30 (May 2012): Stanford University. (William Laurance)
• BATFN 31 (Jun 2012): California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
• BATFN 32 (Sept 2012): San Francisco (Leila Salazar-Lopez of Amazon Watch)
• BATFN 33 (Oct 2012): Berkeley (Bayu Wirayudha of the Friends of the National Parks Foundation in Indonesia)
• BATFN 34 (Nov 2012): Stanford University (Jose Fragoso on indigenous spiritual beliefs help protect biodiversity)
• BATFN 35 (Feb 2013): Stanford University (Rhett Butler on APP’s new forest policy)
• BATFN 36 (May 2013): Greenpeace-San Francisco (Amy Moas on palm oil expansion in Central Africa)
• BATFN 37 (Jun 2013): Stanford University (Claudia Stickler on deforestation and rainforest dams)
• BATFN 38 (Nov 2013): San Francisco (Rainbow Warrior: Solutions to Deforestation)The idea for BATFN emerged somewhere between the Stanford campus and nearby walking trails, as Holly Gibbs and Rhett Butler discussed ideas to strengthen the tropical forest community in the Bay Area. Both Rhett and Holly saw a huge potential for community-building around a critical research and communication area.BATFN has been a great success from the start owing to the strong and sociable community surrounding us.

To sign up to the BATFN mailing list go to http://www.tropicalforestnetwork.org.