Nature Beat #10

Updates, stories, resources and opportunities

Welcome to the latest edition of the The Nature Beat. If you are new here, read my About page to find out what this newsletter is, who I am and why I am doing this. Or just dive in. You’ll find news, reporting resources, job postings, links to some great stories and a look ahead to what’s coming up in the world of biodiversity and nature policy.

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Happy New Year! Along with the usual mix of stories, resources and opportunities, this edition of The Nature Beat looks ahead at some of the main things that will affect our living planet in 2024.

First though, I want to thank everyone who has subscribed to the newsletter. It really helps me to know that there are real people out there receiving and reading it. After two months, I'm pleased to say that there are now nearly 500 of you, in 74 countries.

The idea of The Nature Beat has been rolling around in my head for a couple of years. I've been trying to figure out how best to use my knowledge and networks to contribute to the great transformation that climate change and biodiversity loss make necessary.

My mission here is to enhance understanding of the challenges facing us and the solutions on offer. I will do this by supporting journalists and anyone else interested in issues such as biodiversity and conservation, ecological restoration and nature-based solutions to climate change.

In the first two months of The Nature Beat, I published 22 newsletters, including nine editions of the weekly updates like this one, seven summaries of new research in academic journals, and six original articles. I wrote 22,500 words and provided 560 links to great journalism, NGO reports, scientific research papers, press releases, and so on.

It takes time and mental energy to pull this all together. If you can spare £1 a week for a paid subscription, it would help me to develop the newsletter and keep it going for everyone else who cannot afford to pay. If you can’t afford to pay, that’s okay too. The Nature Beat will remain free to read.

Paying subscribers get some bonus content including access to the full calendar and the full list of jobs, grants, fellowships and other opportunities. They also have permanent access to the Archive, which will grow in value as I start posting more special content. And they will be able to start conversations when I launch the Chat function next week.

Whose eye is this? Answer below

Taking The Pulse: What’s In Store In 2024?

Governments should begin implementing the promises they made at the COP28 climate change conference. This includes pledges by groups of countries to transform food systems, halt deforestation and bring action on climate change and nature loss together.

Most governments will also be publishing an updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, showing how they will work to achieve the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. That’s the deal agreed in late 2022 by Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) — so, most countries other than the United States.

The new NBSAPs and national targets must be ready before October, when Colombia hosts the 16th Conference of Parties to the CBD. With Colombia in the driving seat, this conference should help to align action on climate change and nature loss. It will set the tone for the COP29 climate change conference starting ten days later in Azerbaijan, where a new financial target will be one of the top issues.

While action to protect and restore nature is accelerating, it receives only a small fraction of the finance it needs. I expect this to be a big theme of 2024, and not only at the climate and biodiversity COPs. For example, there is booming interest in the potential for markets for biodiversity credits to fund conservation and restoration.

The International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits set up by France and the United Kingdom is now seeking views about how to develop a high-integrity market that avoids some of the challenges of carbon markets. It will propose a framework ahead of the CBD conference in Colombia.

There will also be progress this year towards a new global treaty on plastic pollution. A revised draft text of the treaty was published on 28 December. The final two sessions of intergovernmental negotiations take place this year in Canada and South Korea.

Countries will also start ratifying the High Seas Treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. The treaty won’t enter into force until 60 of its signatories have ratified the agreement.

Something else to look out for early in 2024 is the European Parliament’s vote on the European Union’s new Nature Restoration Law. The law will require EU member states to implement restoration measures on at least 20 per cent of land and marine areas by 2030, and in all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

Finally, 2024 is a super-year for democracy. More people than ever before will have an opportunity to vote, as more than 60 countries and the EU are holding elections. The outcomes will be significant — a warning comes from Argentina, whose newly-elected President Javier Milei is reducing legal protection of forests and other natural resources.

With voters increasingly concerned about nature and the climate, expect a deluge of misinformation and disinformation from those invested in the status quo.

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In The Spotlight

• Ben Goldfarb called it a “banger”, so I had to read this feature by Ryan Devereaux and Jimmy Tobias about why people get away with killing legally protected grizzly bears in the United States.

• Rachel Nuwer goes deep on a project in Kenya aiming to restore grasslands and increase soil carbon storage while boosting biodiversity and providing economic benefits to traditional livestock herders.

• Sam Jones interviewed Spain’s environment minister Teresa Ribera about how a major agreement to save a vast area of wetlands had to balance environmental, social and economic concerns.

• Melissa Gaskill reports on scientists in the United States developing artificial reefs to restore corals and protect coastlines.

• Amrita Gupta calls for more support for responsible journalism as it is part of the solution to the climate crisis.

Tips And Resources

• Carbon Brief had eight journalists at the COP28 climate change conference. You can hear insights from all of them in this recording of a webinar on the conference’s key outcomes.

• The latest episode of the Environmental Investigation Agency’s podcast explains updates to an online tool that maps and tracks wildlife and forest crimes.

• Nature positivity is a new buzz phrase. But what does it mean and can it be achieved? Professor E.J. Milner-Gulland of the University of Oxford will cover this and more in a webinar on 9 January — register here.

• The US Global Change Research Program is running webinars on chapters of its Fifth National Climate Assessment — the webinar on 12 January is about climate change and ecosystems.

• The World Federation of Science Journalists has launched a directory of journalists belonging to its member associations.

• Researchers analyzed wildlife-related stories in Ugandan newspapers and suggested ways to improve coverage.

What Caught My Eye

• In India, Down To Earth republished an insightful column that its founding editor, the late Anil Agarwal, wrote in 1991 ahead of the following year’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It is worth reading again, decades later.

• For Mongabay, John Cannon summed up ten notable books on conservation and the environment published in 2023.

• The Dhaka Tribune reports that wildlife populations have grown considerably in Bangladesh’s portion of the Sundarbans, the world’s biggest mangrove forest.

• At the end of a six-year project aimed at tackling corruption in relation to natural resources, the nongovernmental organization TRAFFIC reflects its achievements.

• Lawmakers in Brazil approved using conservation funds to pave a road through the Amazon rainforest.

• Wildlife writer Sy Montgomery shares some of her stories in this interview with Sam Matey.

• A new type of illegal logging threatens Liberia’s forests and climate mitigation.

• Athar Parvaiz wrote about challenges facing field biologists in conflict zones.

• The academic journal Science asked experts about how the US Endangered Species Act has evolved and what its future might hold.

• Hugo Struna and Paul Messad interviewed France’s Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Sarah El Haïry, about national and EU progress on nature last year.

• Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron outlined France’s priorities in relation to global action on climate change, biodiversity loss and inequality.

• Todd Wilkinson reports on the ‘zombie deer disease’ spreading in the United States, sparking concerns it could jump the species barrier and infect people.

• The Blue Marine Foundation, co-founded by former environment journalist Charles Clover, is taking the UK government to court for ‘illegally squandering’ fish stocks.

From The Journals

In case you missed it, my final round-up of new research last year included papers on: Hot issues for conservation. Even more bird extinctions. Declining natural capital. Can corals recall heatwaves? Uneven insect declines. Concerns over national security arguments. Read the summaries here.

Jobs And Opportunities

• Mongabay India is offering a free masterclass in environmental video journalism and is inviting applicants for video reporting grants — the deadline for both opportunities is 8 January 2024.

• EJN has grants for journalists to cover environmental crime in the Amazon — deadline 12 January 2024.

• The Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT offers nine-month fellowships. Apply by 15 January 2024.

• Indian environmental filmmakers can apply for grants from Nature inFocus — deadline 21 January 2024.

• Apply here to enter your work for the Canadian Journalism Foundation Award for Climate Solutions Reporting — deadline 26 January 2024.

• The Association of British Science Writers seeks entries for its 2024 Awards — deadline 31 January 2024.

• Newsweek is seeking a science editor in London and a remote-working science editor in Germany — no deadlines appear on the ads.

Bonus content: There are more jobs, grants, fellowships and other opportunities listed here for The Nature Beat’s supporters.

On The Horizon

23-25 January 2024: The Bern III conference on cooperation among biodiversity-related UN conventions takes place in Bern, Switzerland. The aim is to support implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

5-9 February 2024: The 66th meeting of the Global Environment Facility’s Council takes place in Washington DC.

6 February 2024: The European Commission plans to present the EU’s 2040 climate target.

9 February 2024: The 1st meeting of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund’s Council takes place in Washington DC.

12-17 February 2024: The 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP14), will take place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

26 February – 1 March 2024: The Sixth Meeting of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) will take place in Nairobi, Kenya.

Bonus content: The full calendar for The Nature Beat’s supporters includes another 30 nature-related intergovernmental negotiations, scientific conferences, report launches, and other events up until 2026.

Forests and Awe

In case you missed it, here something I posted last week:

Whose Eye Was It?

The eye belongs to a large-eyed bronzeback snake. Photo credit: Siddarth Machado / Flickr — Creative Commons

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Thanks for reading. For past editions, see the Archive. If you found it interesting or useful, please share and subscribe. If you want to get in contact, you can reach me at: thenaturebeat@substack.com.