Nature Beat #4
Updates, stories, resources and opportunities
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Taking The Pulse
EU Nature Restoration Law: On 9 November, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU agreed on the text of a new EU Nature Restoration Law, to be adopted in 2024. The law will require the EU to restore at least 20 percent of land and sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. See press releases from the European Parliament and the European Commission, or read Louise Guillot’s analysis for Politico.
Deep-sea mining: The latest meeting of the International Seabed Authority Council ended on 8 November. IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin has a summary and analysis. The meeting discussed draft regulations, many of which relate to environmental impacts of economic activities, including deep-sea mining. Meanwhile, more than 1.1 million people have signed Greenpeace’s petition to ‘stop deep-sea mining before it starts’. Brazil, France, Germany and the United Kingdom are among the 23 countries calling for a moratorium.
Wildlife trade: CITES The 77th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) took place last week. Among other outcomes, Laos is now subject to trade sanctions for its non-compliance on issues including tiger farming. Read daily reports from IISD here. WWF is generally positive about the meeting — see the press release.
UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): Parties to the CBD are meeting from 12-18 November in Geneva to discuss traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in relation to biodiversity. The meeting focuses on Article 8(j) of the CBD and related provisions. See the press release and meeting website. Parties are also holding the first meeting of their working group focused on benefit-sharing from the use of digital sequence information (see the paper on this in last week’s From the Journals).
Climate action: Two reports out today (14 November) highlight inadequate progress at tackling greenhouse gas emissions. The State of Climate Action 2023 report says countries are lagging in nearly every area of policy. Among other things, it urges an end to deforestation this decade. See Fiona Harvey’s report for The Guardian. The second report is an annual synthesis of plans countries have made under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The second report is an annual synthesis of plans countries have made under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. It shows that carbon emissions are not falling fast enough to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
In Focus: Plastics Treaty negotiations
From 13-19 November, governments are meeting in Nairobi, Kenya for negotiations to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
This is the third of five negotiating sessions. The aim is to develop a treaty by the end of 2024. Expect clashes over the treaty’s scope and mode of operation. There will also be efforts to weaken the text or delay the process.
Find out more about the meeting here, or read the treaty’s ‘zero draft’. The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has annotated the zero draft, highlighting what it sees as areas of strength and gaps in the text. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has daily coverage of the talks. Experts from CIEL and from the Environmental Investigation Agency are available for interviews.
In The Spotlight
Eight jail cells and sixteen pairs of handcuffs… Nigerian journalist Damilola Ayeni tells the story of what happened when he went to Benin to find out about an elephant that died in his country.
Treat yourself to a read of Ben Goldfarb’s feature for bioGraphic about people protecting birds from glass in the window-strike capital of the United States. A sample: “Everywhere around me loomed glass, geologic in its permanence and grandeur: towers of glass, spires of glass, bluffs and fins and ravines of it, a million deceptive facets of sky glittering overhead.”
A tiny deer and rising seas: read or listen to this great story on conservation in a changing climate — by Nathan Rott and Ryan Kellman for NPR.
There are some great biodiversity stories among the winners of the Society of Environmental Journalists awards for outstanding feature reporting and the 2023 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards — congratulations all round.
Mongabay has opened an Africa news bureau led by David Akana, who shares his hopes in this interview.
Tips And Resources
Covering Climate Now webinar on 14 November — how to safeguard against mis-/disinformation relating to the forthcoming COP28 UN climate change conference.
On 16 November, Climate Tracker has an online event for journalists on Latin America and COP28. It will be in Spanish.
Earth Journalism Network webinar on 16 November — Mekong region rivers, conservation and climate action.
The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) has a new tip-sheet on deep-sea mining. SEJ is holding its 2024 Journalists' Guide to Environment and Energy on 16 November. Join online or in person.
The Wildlife Conservation Society is holding an online news briefing on 17 November on nature-related issues at COP28. Find out more or register here.
The nature crisis is just part of a wider 'polycrisis' — On 16 and 30 November, the Post Carbon Institute will host a two-part online event about understanding and responding to the polycrisis.
Jobs And Opportunities
China Dialogue seeks an Asia-Pacific editor and so does The Third Pole — deadline for both positions is 1 December.
EJN is offering media organizations up to US$15,000 for projects that address environmental and climate news fatigue in the Asia-Pacific region, and has grants for journalists to cover environmental crime in the Amazon.
Mongabay is offering partially paid internships — deadline 28 November.
Journalists from the Caribbean region have until 22 November to enter Climate Tracker’s Caribbean Climate Journalism Awards.
GRID-Arendal has grants for journalists investigating environmental crimes such as poaching and illegal logging — deadline 4 December.
What Caught My Eye
Countries are increasingly including coastal and marine ecosystems as nature-based solutions in their plans under the Paris Agreement on climate change, says a new report.
As an Ethiopian national park receives UNESCO World Heritage Site status, more than 20,000 local people face eviction.
To protect biodiversity, Colombia has started euthanizing invasive hippos who population originated with escapees from drug-cartel leader Pablo Escobar’s estate.
Two internationally important wetlands in Ukraine have been almost entirely destroyed in the war.
UK forests ‘face catastrophic ecosystem collapse’ within 50 years.
Papua New Guinea has tripled its area of protected ocean by creating two new marine protected areas with the input and consensus of local communities.
Animal-to-human diseases could kill 12 times more people by 2050.
UNDP has awarded the 2023 Equator Prize to 10 organizations protecting, managing and restoring ecosystems. Meet the winners.
Flame retardant chemicals have been found in 150 species of wildlife and are probably in many more.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prizes — and US$100,000 — to five innovative conservation projects.
The winners of Prince William’s 2023 Earthshot Prize include WildAid’s marine program and Peru-based Acción Andina, which is protected forests in the Andes.
The President And The Pangolins
In case you missed it, some big news for the world’s most trafficked animals.
On The Horizon
13-17 November 2023: Malaysia is hosting the Asia-Pacific Climate Week, the last of four regional conferences ahead of COP28.
30 November 2023: COP28, the 28th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will take place in the United Arab Emirates and will run until 12 December. See the UNFCCC’s media page.
May 2024: The UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s two subsidiary bodies will meet to finalize the approach for monitoring implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
16-21 June 2024: The World Biodiversity Forum will take place in Davos, Switzerland.
18-20 June 2024: The Nature-Based Solutions conference will be in Oxford, United Kingdom, and online
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.
21 October 2024: COP16, the 16th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, is due to take place on 21 October to 1 November.
Whose Eye Was It?
The eye belongs to a greater flamingo. Photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar / Flickr — Creative Commons
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Gone through a couple of articles and I was impressed. Great read! Keep it up Mike