For more information, please contact Dr. Ben Gottesman: blg85@cornell.edu
What is REDD+?
REDD+ is a UN program that supports developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. A forest designated as REDD+ may receive funding to support sustainable forest management activities. The REDD+ designated Upper Guinea Forest in Sierra Leone has successfully reduced deforestation whilst improving livelihoods. Yet through bioacoustics research done through the Sound Forest Lab, we now know that there are higher rates of poaching in this area than in the non-REDD+ designated forest nearby in Liberia.
I am currently working with a team to conduct reiterative model training to detect and model occupancy of key primate species (of poaching interest) to better understand habitat usage in the REDD+ and non-REDD+ forests in Sierra Leone and Liberia.