Alex Pfaff seminar, meeting

Notes from Alex Pfaff talk at UTK (during my visit for pdg-control meeting).

  • average impact vs differential impact – must compare against what would have happened to the area if unprotected (at current time/short-timescale, or in future?)

  • Proximity is not a good proxy of similarity (i.e. bc we protect steep slopes but farm the flat land nearby)

  • Instead use simple metrics available in GIS layers - distance from nearest road, etc.

  • Multi-use conservation works better. Why?

    1. More likely to establish protection in higher-threat areas (i.e. nearer a city)

    2. Possibly better enforcement when local interest has a stake (i.e. indigenous farmers reporting illegal logging)

  • Matching areas subsets data. Why ignore some of the data instead of just regressions on all effects? Complexity of regressions, inaccuracies of those assumptions, lack of overlap in areas…

(Joppa & Pfaff, 2010)

Breakfast meeting

Discussion of ideas from Tetlock Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, and Kevin Slavin math derived from the world to math shaping the world.

References