Are you a journalist interested in learning about new tools for forest monitoring and how to use this data in your reporting?

On June 2 at 6 p.m. EDT, Mongabay is hosting a webinar to demonstrate the tools we use to identify and communicate the urgent changes occurring in tropical forests across the globe. During this latest installment of our free webinar series, esteemed panelists from Global Forest Watch, Planet, and Mongabay will introduce technologies to track forest changes in near-real-time; show how the data can be used by journalists; and answer questions from participants.

If you’d like to attend, please register here.

Why learn about environmental data journalism?

The technologies to create and distribute information about global-scale forest change have never been more capable than they are today. This presents the journalism community with a powerful new opportunity to quickly identify concerning forest loss around the world and catalyze further investigation of these areas. Global Forest Watch and Planet are two pioneering sources of data and analysis that Mongabay uses regularly to identify patterns in forest change and create stories about local, incremental instances of deforestation. For examples of how Mongabay utilizes these tools, please review our Forest Trackers series.

Webinar recording

The experts

Anika Berger

Anika is a Research Analyst with Global Forest Watch (GFW) at the World Resources Institute (WRI). She supports efforts to develop new forest monitoring datasets for GFW’s online platform, analyzes drivers of deforestation, and communicates research outputs to external audiences. She holds a master’s degree in Geographic Information Science from Clark University (’20) where she developed a passion for conservation-related remote sensing and environmental research.

Tara O’Shea

Tara is passionate about realigning natural and human systems to forge more sustainable models of economic development, and has worked across the academic, nonprofit, finance and technology sectors towards this end. As the Senior Director of Forests & Land Use at Planet, she oversees the company’s strategy for leveraging its Earth observation and analytics technologies to improve global forest monitoring systems today, and account for the value of forests in the global economy tomorrow. With a decade and a half in forest, land use, and climate solutions, Tara began her career advancing ecosystem services research at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. She holds a Master of Environmental Management and International Development degree from Duke University, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Gettysburg College.

Willie Shubert

Willie is the Global Program Director for Mongabay. He leads its global nonprofit newsroom through the management of Mongabay’s grants-funded journalism projects. Willie oversees Mongabay’s Global English bureau as well as the organization’s visual and investigative journalism programs. Throughout his career, he has advanced the use of map making to draw attention on the relationship between people and their environment in the world’s most critical ecosystems. Previously as the Senior Program Officer for Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, Willie managed programs throughout Asia and led the network’s GeoJournalism initiatives. He started his journalism career at National Geographic Magazine, where he coordinated translation for the magazine’s local language editions. Willie holds a degree in Geography from Humboldt State University with concentrations in cartography, environmental economics, and Chinese studies.

About Mongabay

Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform focused on providing cutting-edge independent journalism from nature’s frontline. We pride ourselves in producing reporting that has substantial, tangible impacts around the world.