Nature Beat #18

Updates, stories, resources and opportunities

Feb 28, 2024

Welcome to the latest edition of Global 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.

Taking The Pulse

WTO Ministerial: The World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference is underway in Abu Dhabi (26-29 February). There is hope that the meeting will agree on new limits to the billions of dollars in state subsidies that encourage overfishing — too many boats catching too many fish. Anna Holl-Buhl of WWF explains here what the Stop Funding Overfishing Coalition wants the WTO to do.

UN Environment Assembly: The sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) is also happening this week (see the previous Nature Beat for background). The meeting is a test of faith in the power of multilateralism to address the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. It will be a busy week for delegates as last week’s meeting of the Open-Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives failed to conclude negotiations on any of the 19 draft resolutions that governments are meant to be adopting at UNEA-6. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has daily coverage of the meeting.

EU policy: On 27 February, the European Parliament adopted the EU Nature Restoration law by 329 votes to 275. Under the law, countries in the European Union must restore at least 30 percent of habitats in poor condition by 2030, rising to 90 percent by 2050. Before the law can come into effect the EU Council must approve it. Read the press release. The draft law had been weakened last year by conservative Members of the European Parliament. Journalists Zia Weise and Lousie Guillot explain that the parliament may soon struggle to pass environmental laws, as right-wing anti-ecological populism is expected to grow after the June elections.

Forest 500: Global Canopy's annual Forest 500 report focuses on the 350 companies and 150 financial institutions whose supply chains and investments mean that they have the greatest influence on tropical forests — it found that most of them are failing to do enough to prevent deforestation and human rights abuses. Read the report, news story or human rights briefing.

In The Spotlight

Rachel Donald interviewed Amy Westervelt about exposing a shady network of think tanks pushing governments around the world to criminalize climate activists.
Lydia Larsen wrote about what researchers hope to learn by recruiting citizen scientists in more than 100 countries to collect DNA samples from hundreds of lakes.
Kimberley Brown reported on Ecuador’s imminent deadline for controlling illegal shark trade — failure to do so will mean the country is locked out of legal international trade in endangered shark species under the CITES convention.
Noella Nyirabihogo reported on the struggles of indigenous people evicted from ancestral land in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Virunga National Park, despite a recent law that protects their land rights (also available in French).
Juliet Grable wrote about the immense task of restoring trees and other plants on land newly exposed by the removal of dams on the Klamath River in the western United States.
Brianna Randall reports on concerns that a marine heatwave may have led thousands of humpback whales to starve to death in the North Pacific.

In Focus: Deforestation For Beef In Brazil’s Cerrado

While deforestation is falling in Brazil’s Amazon, it is rising in the country’s biodiverse savannah region, the Cerrado. Last year it rose by 43 percent. Three of the world’s biggest meatpacking companies have been accused of driving illegal deforestation there, report Esme Stallard and Leandro Prazeres.

Their story covers new research by Global Witness. It shows that the companies in question are meeting consumer demand for beef in the European Union and the United Kingdom, and that major US, UK and EU financial institutions are contributing to deforestation through their investments in the big beef exporters.

On 28 February, the World Economic Forum published a report stating that environmental protection and sustainable food production in the Cerrado could bring an extra US$72 billion to Brazil each year. Among other things, it calls for greater law enforcement, incentives for conservation on private land, sustainable intensification of agriculture on existing farmland, and regeneration of degraded land.

Tips And Resources

Mongabay launched its Data Studio, a suite of tools for visualizing deforestation, fire risk, trade flows and global environmental change.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network has a new Reporter’s Guide to Investigating Carbon Offsets.
The Earth Journalism Network’s tipsheets on covering coastal resilience are now available in Arabic, French and Spanish, as well as English. The three tipsheets are here, here and here.
The Pulitzer Center is hosting a webinar (in Portuguese) on 29 February on how to report on progress and gaps in laws in the Amazon.
Paul Bradshaw updated his ‘inverted pyramid of data journalism’ and added loads of links to useful resources.

See past editions for more tips and resources.

Robin McKie wrote about what can go wrong when conservation projects are not based on evidence of what works.
Maxwell Radwin reports that Colombia — host of this year’s UN biodiversity conference — has added hundreds of species to its list of threatened plants and animals.
The H5N1 bird flu virus has been detected on mainland Antarctica for the first time, reports Phoebe Weston.
The European Parliament approved updates to the Environmental Crime Directive, with prison terms of up to 10 years for CEOs of companies that cause large-scale environmental harm, report Sergio Colombo and Emanuela Barbiroglio.
Chris Baraniuk wrote about the cities ripping up paved areas to limit flood risk, boost biodiversity and keep cool.
The Society of Environmental Journalists appointed Aparna Mukherjee as its new executive director.
After ten years of negotiations, the EU and Côte d'Ivoire signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement to address illegal logging and associated trade.
Born Free exposed the scale of exotic pet ownership in the United Kingdom — including more than 200 wild cats, 250 primates and 400 venomous snakes.
The European Commission announced an investment of 233 million euros in 12 new environment and climate projects.
Africa’s tropical glaciers have shrunk by 90 percent.
Belgium became the first European country to recognise ecocide as an international-level crime.
James Reynolds wrote about a forgotten Argentinian who changed the attitudes to birds in Victorian-era Britain.
The Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and other groups representing private financial institutions issued a statement urging governments to adopt a robust international treaty on plastic pollution.
The Global Environment Facility published a report on its billions of dollars of investments in Africa.
India’s Green Credit Scheme could harm ecosystems by incentivising tree planting in the wrong places, reports Nikita Pandey.
Ed Stoddard skewers the hypocrisy of people in the Global North who expect rural Africans to put up with 'rewilding' in ways that they would not tolerate themselves.
IUCN has approved 33 new Important Marine Mammal Areas in the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea.
Scientists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have captured photos of the yellow-crested helmetshrike, a bird not seen for nearly two decades.

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In Focus: Ukraine’s Environment After Two Years of War

Anna Conkling wrote about the environmental catastrophe caused by Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, and the women risking their lives to document and publicize the impacts. Darya Tsymbalyuk wrote about new forms of environmental awareness emerging in Ukraine, and how nature managers there face new challenges as a consequence of the war. Viktoriia Grivina wrote about an animated adaptation of a classic piece of Ukrainian eco-literature called The Forest Song.

From The Journals

In case you missed it, my latest round-up of new research included papers on: Trophy hunting perceptions. Sacred deer dilemma. Africa-wide deforestation drivers. Self-sustaining condors. Forestation side effects. Tuna mercury. And more… Read the summaries here.

Jobs And Opportunities

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union is offering climate disinformation media fellowships —deadline 10 March.
Mongabay Africa has launched a French-language fellowship program for environmental journalism — apply by 15 March.
One World Media is offering year-long fellowships with £1000 grants — apply by 21 March.
Photographers Without Borders is offering US$5000 grants for photojournalism on communities “protecting the planet in revolutionary ways”— apply by 7 March.

Bonus content: There are 29 jobs, grants, fellowships and other opportunities listed here for The Nature Beat’s paying supporters. Paid subscriptions are less than £1 per week. A free seven-day trial is available.

On The Horizon

3 March 2024: World Wildlife Day.

11-13 March 2024: The 11th Annual World Ocean Summit & Expo takes place in Lisbon, Portugal.

11-15 March 2024: The Global EverGreening Alliance’s conference on Accelerating Nature-based Solutions takes place in Livingstone, Zambia.

10-12 April 2024: The UN Ocean Decade Conference takes place in Barcelona, Spain.

Bonus content: The full calendar for The Nature Beat’s supporters includes 51 nature-related intergovernmental negotiations, scientific conferences, report launches, and other events up until 2026. Paid subscriptions are less than £1 per week. A free seven-day trial is available.

Whose Eye Was It?

The eye belongs to a harpy eagle. Photo credit: Paul Williams / Flickr — Creative Commons

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.