Nature Beat #45

Updates, stories, resources and opportunities

Oct 11, 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

State of the climate: On 8 October, an international group of scientists published their annual appraisal of the state of the climate — see the press release or full paper. It notes that 25 of the 35 indicators that scientists use to track climate change are now at record extremes, and concludes that “the future of humanity hangs in the balance.” The paper calls for urgent action to address climate change through policies relating to energy, pollutants, nature, food and economy. The authors say: “The evidence we observe is both alarming and undeniable, but it is this very shock that drives us to action.”

Climate COP29: The COP29 climate change conference takes place next month in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has a preview here, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature published its COP29 position paper with ten key messages. One of the main things on the agenda is a new global goal for finance to pay for action on climate change. As Joe Lo reports, following a ministerial meeting this week in Baku, there has been some progress towards agreement on the structure of the goal, but big gaps regarding its size and who should pay.

Wildlife declines: On 9 October, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London released the Living Planet Report 2024 — see the press release or the full report. The biennial report says that monitored wildlife populations fell by an average of 73 percent between 1970 and 2020, and as Fermín Koop reports, 95 percent in Latin America. Benji Jones reports that some scientists say the report’s methodology leads to overestimates of population declines. Jones concludes: “we’re just talking about shades of decline — whether the biodiversity crisis is really, really bad, or really, really, really bad.”

Falling forests: Deforestation is increasing, despite the pledge by leaders of 140 countries to halt and reverse it by 2030, according to the 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment report. The combined area of the forest land cleared in 2023 would be big enough to host more than 9 million simultaneous games of football. Nearly 60 percent of last year’s deforestation removed primary tropical forest, contributing significantly to carbon emissions and biodiversity loss. See the press release or the full report.

Tiger reserve protests: On 4 October, 20 organizations representing people living inside tiger reserves in India issued a statement calling government plans to expedite evictions a “despotic move”. The statement lists nine demands including a judicial review and inquiry into the processes followed in notifying tiger reserves of evictions, and related “human rights atrocities”.

China: The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development is meeting from 10-12 October to formulate recommendations for the Chinese government. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has daily coverage and a summary of what’s on the agenda.

Plastics treaty: The final session of intergovernmental negotiations towards a global treaty takes place next month. In an insightful analysis, Magnus Løvold reports that Ambassador Luis Vayas of Ecuador, the chair of the negotiation committee, will produce an entirely new draft of the treaty proposal ahead of the talks. Løvold calls this “a bold move that may, when history is written, become the most significant turning point in the entire negotiation process.”

Countdown To COP16

The sixteenth conference of parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) — or COP16 — begins on 21 October. Here are some new resources:

What do different governments and non-state actors want from COP16? To answer this, Carbon Brief has produced a very useful interactive ‘who wants what’ table, and will update it during the conference — great work by Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer, Yanine Quiroz and Giuliana Viglione.
Orla Dwyer also interviewed Astrid Schomaker, the new executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Patrick Greenfield interviewed Colombian environment minister and COP16 President Susana Muhamad.
Elsa Tsioumani of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) shared her insights into the key issues on the COP16 agenda — and ENB’s executive editor Pam Chasek wrote a detailed explainer on the CBD and COP16.
Survival International has published a press briefing on what COP16 means for Indigenous peoples and, on 15 October, it will hold an online press conference on this subject — join here at 10:00 EDT/ 15:00 UK/ 16:00 CEST.

Zach St. George told the story of how timber traffickers got away with the biggest rosewood heist in history.
Constance Malleret reported from Brazil on a decades-long initiative that has reforested Rio de Janeiro’s denuded hills.
Helena Horton wrote about the tiny insects that are helping to save one of the world’s rarest bird species.
Erik Stokstad reported on new research showing that a rapid decline in the number of seed-dispersing animals threatens many plant species across Europe.

Tips And Resources

On 16 October, Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson will moderate a discussion with the 2024 MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellows about reporting climate change at local levels in the United States — register here.

See past editions for more tips and resources.

In Focus: EU Deforestation Regulation

With commodity production driving most deforestation, there have been high expectations that the European Union’s new Deforestation Regulation will help to reverse the tide. The law will require companies in the EU to be able demonstrate that the commodities they trade were not grown on recently deforested land. It is due to enter into force in December 2024, but on 2 October, the European Commission proposed delaying implementation by one year.

The proposal followed months of intense lobbying by commodity producing countries and companies. Companies that have invested in preparing for the law are unhappy at the prospect of a delay, report Maytaal Angel and Julia Payne. So are countries such as Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, says Nicole Polsterer of the nongovernmental organization Fern. This week in Indonesia, the Chairman of the National Union of Oil Palm Smallholders said a delay was not needed as commodity producing companies had spent time preparing to comply with the law’s requirements.

Nongovernmental organizations note that every moment of delay carries a cost for the world’s forests — one football pitch per minute, according to Earthsight. The carbon emissions would be equivalent to those of 188 million long-haul flights, says Global Witness. The EU member states and the European Parliament will vote on whether to approve the delay in November or December.

IUCN released a report showing that aligning agriculture and conservation need not harm food production or economic returns — read the press release or the full report.
Forest Trends published its State of the Blue Carbon Market 2024 report.
The Earth Journalism Network shared a selection of the stories on environmental crime and community-led solutions in the Amazon that its Conservando Juntos project supported.
Jake Spring and Oliver Griffin reported that Colombia will in future put its plans and pledges under the three UN conventions on climate change, biodiversity and desertification into a single document, to save time and resources and maximize synergies.
France shared details of the Third UN Ocean Conference, which will take place in Nice in June 2025.
The rate of ocean warming has nearly doubled in the last 20 years, reports Kristine Sabillo.
Anthony Boadle reports that Indigenous organizations in the Brazilian state of Para say the government did not consult them before signing a huge deal to sell carbon credits to support conservation of the Amazon rainforest.
The Institute for Public Policy Research published a report calling on the UK government to do more internationally to address the global nature crisis — see the press release or the full report.
The Secretariat to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) announced that the 20th Conference of the Parties to CITES will take place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from late November to early December 2025.
Adam Morton reports that scientists have rejected the Australian environment minister’s claim that the country has protected more than half of its ocean area.
Ajit Niranjan analyzed how and why the European Union’s leadership on nature restoration and protection has slipped in recent years.

From The Journals

Global status and ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECMs) and their contribution towards the ‘30x30’ biodiversity target — read the full paper.
Conservation agriculture improves soil health and sustains crop yields after long-term warming — read the full paper.
Why biodiversity matters in agriculture and food systems — read the full paper.
Global warming could vastly increase collisions of ships and whale sharks, the world’s largest fish — read the press release or the full paper.
Assessing the political vulnerability of national parks in sub-Saharan Africa — read the full paper.
The varied importance and geography of threats to birds and mammals in China — read the full paper.

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Jobs And Opportunities

Rocky Mountain Community Radio is hiring a rural climate reporter.
High Country News is offering three year-long fellowships, including one on climate and science — deadline 27 October.
Crooked Media is hiring a climate-focused reporting fellow.
Follow the Money is hiring a reporter to investigate stories relating to the North Sea — deadline 15 October.
The Walkley Foundations has grants for Australian journalists and media outlets to produce stories or projects with a solutions focus — deadline 12 November.
Journalists in Arabic-speaking countries can apply for a six-day workshop on reporting on climate change at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi — there are only 25 places so apply fast.
The Serrapilheira Institute and the El Clip have reporting grants for investigative stories supported by data on the Amazon’s biodiversity — deadline 5 November.

Bonus content: There are 25 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

13-18 October 2024: The 7th International Marine Conservation Congress will take place in Cape Town, South Africa.

14-18 October 2024: IUCN's South America Regional Conservation Forum takes place in Santa Marta, Colombia.

16-18 October 2024: The 5th Meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Subsidiary Body on Implementation takes place in Montreal, Canada.

21 October - 1 November 2024: The 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will take place in Cali, Colombia.

28-31 October 2024: Science Journalism Forum 2024 takes place online.

Bonus content: The full calendar for Global Nature Beat’s supporters includes 45 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 serval. Photo credit: Roland van Stokkom / Flickr — Creative Commons

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