Lecture Description
Many governments, corporations, and non-profit organizations have a strong motivation to protect rainforests and take action against deforestation, particularly if this deforestation occurs as a result of exportable commercial commodities such as coffee or cocoa. However, there have traditionally been significant limitations in measuring and detecting coffee region deforestation at scale. We have developed a more accurate approach to detecting deforestation that addresses these limitations due to recent advances in satellite imagery and machine learning, and welcome collaboration with coffee companies. We believe that this innovation has the potential to become an important new tool for the coffee sector in its efforts to combat deforestation and mitigate climate change. It can not only underpin future research but also has important policy implications for organizations on the ground. Indeed, in the context of an expanding regulatory environment led by a more demanding civil society, it provides an accurate, consistent, and transparent way for organizations to report on deforestation events in their supply chains and monitor them. At the same time, we hope that it will open a broader discussion regarding the potential for machine learning to apply new innovations to systemic problems that plague the coffee sector.
Date: Sunday, April 14, 2024
Time: 11:30am - 12:30am
Room Number: S403AB
Instructor
David Browning (he/him)
CEO, Enveritas, Inc
David Browning is CEO of Enveritas, a non-profit organization, that provides sustainability assurance for the coffee industry. David previously led TechnoServe’s global coffee practice for 13 years. He also partnered with the Gates Foundation to work with ~200,000 smallholder coffee farmers in East Africa. He has served as a trusted counselor for many of the world’s leading coffee companies on sustainability strategy, and also formerly worked for McKinsey & Company. He holds an M.B.A. from Yale University, a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master’s degree in Advanced Finance from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.