Nature Beat #29

Updates, stories, resources and opportunities

May 18, 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

EU Nature Restoration Law: Environment ministers from 11 EU countries have written to their counterparts in the other 26 EU member states, urging them to adopt the Nature Restoration Law when the Environment Council meets on 17 June — see the letter and the press release from Ireland, which is leading the initiative. The law had already been agreed months ago but just before its planned adoption, some EU member states demanded a pause. As BirdLife International reports, new polling shows that the law has the support of large majorities of people in EU member states that are resisting its adoption.

Land squeeze: A new report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) warns of growing threats to food production and small-scale farmers linked to a doubling of global land prices in the past 15 years. It says that ‘green grabs’ of land for carbon offsets, conservation or clean energy projects now account for 20 percent of large land deals — see the press release.

Pandemic risk: Negotiations among member states of the World Health Organization have again ended without agreement on the text of a global pandemic treaty. Negotiators will continue talks ahead of the World Health Assembly, which begins on 27 May. The Wildlife Conservation Society says the treaty must emphasize action to prevent diseases of wildlife and livestock from ‘spilling over’ to infect people.

Wildlife trafficking: The UN Office on Drugs and Crime published its four-yearly World Wildlife Crime Report. It concluded that, despite some progress, wildlife trafficking has not been substantially reduced. The report shows that from 2015 to 2021, officials in 162 countries made seizures of around 4,000 species of trafficked animals and plants. It highlights the role of organized crime groups and how corruption and technology enable illicit trade. See related press releases from the CITES secretariat and Born Free.

Forests: The UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) ended on 10 May with member governments adopting a declaration of their commitment to forests. In it, they committed to urgently accelerate actions to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation and prevent land degradation by 2030. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has a detailed summary of the meeting and its outcomes.

In The Spotlight

Trang Bùi reported from food forests in Viet Nam, where thousands of farmers are making the shift to ecological and biodiversity-friendly approaches to agriculture.
The Amazon Underworld team reported on the illegal gold miners protected by corrupt police who are dredging and changing the course of a river shared by Colombia and Brazil — the video is in Portuguese / Spanish with English subtitles.
Laura J. Martin tracks the origins and global spread of the biocide industry that has so heavily impacted biodiversity and human health.
Ecuador’s rights of nature movement has won several key legal cases since the country became the first to recognize such rights, but there is limited enforcement of judgments, reports Katie Surma.
Fermín Koop wrote a great overview of how the H5N1 bird flu virus has been spreading among marine species and how scientists are responding to the threats it poses,
Philip Jacobson interviewed investigator Andrea Crosta about new research on wildlife trafficking, the ilicit trade’s growing convergence with other forms of crime, and challenges facing law enforcement.
A short documentary by Andy Ball and Marta Kasztelan tells the story of Ly Chandaravuth who faces ten years in jail for his environmental activism in Cambodia, where authorities have already jailed 11 of his colleagues in the Mother Nature movement.

Tips And Resources

On 21 May, the Pulitzer Center has a webinar on how to report on the financiers of environmental destruction — with Jelter Meers, Josephine Moulds, Madeleine Ngeunga and Helen Bellfield.
Morgan Erickson-Davis of Mongabay.com says the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch “is most powerful tool in my reporting and editing kit”. Here she explains why and how she uses it.
In webinar on 6 and 13 June, Gustavo Faleiros and Kuang Keng Kuek Ser will share their insights on using satellite imagery and geospatial data in environmental journalism.
The Open Notebook launched its seventh science journalism master class, a free course from Emily Laber-Warren called "How to Excel at Interviewing".
The Global Investigative Journalism Network shared all of the tipsheets and presentations from its 2023 conference and updated its guide to covering extractive industries.
Wolfgang Blau, co-founder of Oxford Climate Journalism Network, gave a lecture on the challenges facing climate journalism.

See past editions for more tips and resources.

Research by WWF shows that member states of the European Union spend up to 48 billion euros each year on subsidies to nature-harming activities, and that does not even include indirect subsidies such as tax breaks, reports Orla Dwyer.
Chris Lang reports that the Kenya Forest Service is again evicting members of the Sengwer community from their homes in Embobut forest.
One year after Ecuador’s debt-for-nature swap — the world’s biggest — was announced, it still lacks key policies, reports Alejandra Padin-Dujon.
“Certainty appears to have lost its moorings” — Jonathan Watts reflects on the devastating floods in southern Brazil and how they strengthen the case for protecting the Amazon rainforest.
Emma Bryce sums up the penultimate round of negotiations towards a global plastics treaty with five key points.
In the United States, the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators and the Wildlands Network published a report on progress with habitat connectivity legislation.
IUCN launched a global ‘roadmap’ on advancing rights and equity in conservation.
The EU Environmental Crime Directive enters into force on 20 May.
Portugal has dropped plans to build an airport on a nature reserve after nongovernmental organizations launched a lawsuit.

In Focus: What Forest Governance Research Overlooks

The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) launched a global synthesis report on forest governance — see press release. The report describes how the academic literature on the topic of forest governance is increasingly focused on the role of forests as carbon sinks and sources of climate finance. It warns that this could cause policymakers to overlook the social and ecological values of forests. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin published a summary of the launch event.

Reacting to the report, an editorial in the journal Nature said: “Rich nations’ fixation on forests as climate offsets has resulted in the needs of those who live in or make a living from these resources being ignored.” It said funders should enable the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to develop a shared agenda for the study of forests that counters the narrowing focus highlighted by IUFRO.

From The Journals

Researchers tracked 0.6 billion farmland trees in India and recorded a 'severe decline' — read the full paper.
Newly detected hotspots of amphibian biodiversity in China are mostly unprotected — read the full paper.
Overcoming gender-related challenges and supporting women in conservation in Latin America — read the full paper.
Koen Kramer and Douglas Shiel make the case for expanding incentives for forest restoration to include the water cycle — read the full paper.
Arctic jellyfish and their relatives are moving poleward as the climate warms and profound effects on food webs are likely — read the press release or the full paper.
A tree-killing insect is set to spread in the United States as the climate warms — read the press release or the full paper.
Scientists want to know how the smells of nature benefit our health — read the press release or the full paper.
Climate change is the top threat to pollinators — read the press release or the full paper.
The human and financial costs of conservation for local communities living around the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania — read the full paper.
Rewetting of drained and deforested tropical peat swamp forest triggers natural regrowth and substantial carbon uptake — read the full paper.
Kent Redford and Nigel Dudley propose the concept of 'future conservation area' to enable governments to take account of rapid ecological and climatic change as they implement their biodiversity targets — read the full paper.
Remember: Wild bees depend on plants other than those they pollinate — read the full paper.
Analysis of 170 studies shows ecological outcomes are significantly better when governance systems give more control to indigenous peoples and local communities — see the full paper.

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Jobs And Opportunities

Submit your work for the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards — deadline 1 August.
The Pulitzer Center is providing grants for journalists who want to report on rainforests in the Amazon, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia — rolling deadline.
The eleventh annual Yale Environment 360 Film Contest is now accepting entries — deadline 20 May.
Journalismfund Europe has grants for organizations that provide training or other support to investigative environment journalists — deadline 23 May.

Bonus content: There are 30 jobs, grants, fellowships and other opportunities listed here for Global Nature Beat’s paying supporters. Paid subscriptions are less than £1 per week. A free seven-day trial is available.

On The Horizon

22 May 2024: International Day for Biological Diversity.

30 May – 2 June 2024: The Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will host two regional dialogues on national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) for African countries in Nairobi, Kenya.

3-13 June 2024: The intersessional meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change takes place in Bonn, Germany.

5 June 2024: World Environment Day.

Bonus content: The full calendar for The Nature Beat’s supporters includes 57 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 red-eyed tree frog. Photo credit: The.Rohit / Flickr — Creative Commons

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