THE BREN SCHOOL OF Environmental Science & Management
at the University of California, Santa Barbara

Presents

Ruth DeFries
Professor

Department of Geography and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center
University of Maryland

"Changing Dynamics of Tropical Deforestation and Atmospheric Carbon Emissions:

Science Meets Policy"

Hosted by Bren Professor Frank Davis

Introduction to Presentation

Consideration of carbon credits to developing countries for averted deforestation is high on the policy agenda.  The underpinnings for such policies rest on technical capabilities to estimate and monitor carbon emissions.  Changing dynamics of deforestation in some parts of the tropics, toward mechanized large-scale production, require new approaches for estimating emissions. I will discuss scientific uncertainties in estimating deforestation emissions and modeling carbon fluxes, using a variety of remotely sensed data inputs. The presentation will focus on two spatial scales, a state-level effort to improve modeling capabilities to estimate deforestation fluxes and a pan-tropical effort to identify hotspots that contribute disproportionately high emissions.

Biography

Ruth DeFries is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, with joint appointments in the Department of Geography and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. Her research investigates the relationships between human activities, the land surface, and the biophysical and biogeochemical processes that regulate the Earth's habitability. She is interested in using remotely sensed data to observe land cover and land use change at regional and global scales, and in exploring the implications of those changes for such ecological services as climate regulation, the carbon cycle, and biodiversity. She and her collaborators have developed a more precise approach to mapping land cover, which has singificantly enhanced researchers' ability to make more plausible projections. Dr. DeFries received her PhD from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in 1980, and her bachelor's in Earth Science from Washington University in 1976. Previously, she worked at the National Research Council with the Committee on Global Change and taught at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay. She is a fellow of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program and received a MacArthur "Genius Award" in 2007.

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