David Gibbs
Research Associate
David is a Research Associate in Global Forest Watch (GFW) and Land & Carbon Lab (LCL). Although he works on a variety of research projects, his primary focus is on geospatially monitoring forest carbon storage, emissions, and sequestration across a range of spatial scales. He has created global models of forest carbon emissions and sequestration at 30-m resolution and worked with cities around the world to develop methods for incorporating forests and trees into their greenhouse gas inventories. His current projects include designing methods for agricultural companies to estimate land-use change emissions from their supply chains in their greenhouse gas inventories, and an improved Earth observation-based approach for monitoring greenhouse gas fluxes from all land. David has also contributed to the Forest Declaration Assessment annual progress report—which tracks global progress in stopping deforestation—since 2018.
Previously, David was a research fellow at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C., where he worked on national and sub-national climate change adaptation, ecology, and water resource management projects. Prior to that, he was an environmental scientist at the environmental consulting firm Tetra Tech in Atlanta, GA, where he assisted various levels of government with watershed management. In both positions, he used spatial and non-spatial analyses and statistics in partnership with and to support non-profits, several levels of government, other EPA offices, and private businesses.
David received his Bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University and his Master’s degree in Ecology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, focusing on the ecology of coral reefs in Fiji. In the year between college and graduate school, he was a research assistant for a coral reef ecology and conservation project in the Comoros Islands.
His favorite activities include learning to play the accordion, fencing (foil), collecting money from countries that don’t exist anymore, and writing short stories.
Insights
Research
External Publications
Projects
Global Forest Watch
Launch PlatformLaunch Platform Visit ProjectOffering the latest data, technology and tools that empower people everywhere to better manage and protect forest landscapes.
Part of ForestsLand & Carbon Lab
Launch PlatformLaunch Platform Visit ProjectConvened by World Resources Institute and the Bezos Earth Fund to develop breakthroughs in geospatial monitoring that power solutions for sustainable landscapes worldwide.
Part of Forests