Beef, Banks & the Brazilian Amazon: Using Geospatial Data to Investigate Deforestation · Disruptive Fridays #29

February 25 2022 · 3PM CET · ✚ gCal ✚ iCal

Sam Leon (Head of Data Investigations, Global Witness, UK) and Louis Goddard (Senior Data Investigations Adviser, Global Witness, UK).

PART OF THE DISRUPTION NETWORK LAB PROGRAMME SERIES CHALLENGING CORRUPTION: EMPOWERING FUTURE VOICES

This Disruptive Fridays discusses the the impact of corruption in relation to environmental damage. Focus will be the role of Brazilian beef companies in driving the climate crisis and the role of big-name banks and investors in driving tropical deforestation.

Cattle farming is a major driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, with the 'big three' international beef trading companies continuing to source cows from farms implicated in illegal forest clearance. Over the past two years, Global Witness has been working directly with Brazilian state government data and information collected by local NGOs to map these companies' supply chains in unprecedented detail, revealing tens of thousands of hectares of illegal deforestation and blowing holes in the 'deforestation-free' narrative promulgated by the companies' official audits. 

In this session, Louis Goddard will discuss the specific data analysis techniques underlying Global Witness's Amazon work, the broader data ecosystem around deforestation in Brazil, and opportunities for future investigative work in this area. The session is moderated by Sam Leon, Head of Data Investigations at Global Witness.

SPEAKERS:

Louis Goddard (Senior Data Investigations Adviser, Global Witness, UK) 

Louis Goddard is a Senior Data Investigations Adviser at the campaign group Global Witness, where he applies computational techniques to generate investigative leads. In addition to tropical deforestation, his work currently covers rare earth mining and the fossil gas industry. Before Global Witness, Louis worked as a data journalist at The Times of London and did a PhD in contemporary poetry. www.globalwitness.org

 Sam Leon (Head of Data Investigations, Global Witness, UK)

Sam Leon started Global Witness’s Data Investigations Team in 2016. Since then he has overseen a range of data-driven research from anti-money laundering investigations into anonymously owned property in London to exposés on how major banks are financing tropical deforestation. His work now focusses on using computational techniques to challenge and expose the corporations driving the climate crisis. 

The event is part of the Disruption Network Lab programme series Challenging Corruption: Empowering Future Voices funded by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) as commissioned by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany.