Nature Beat #51

Updates, stories, resources and opportunities

Dec 20, 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

Biodiversity: Two major reports launched this week lay out the interconnectedness of the challenges facing humanity and the need for integrated solutions. The reports were approved by nearly 150 governments at the 11th Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Plenary in Windhoek, Namibia.

The Nexus Assessment shows how biodiversity loss, water scarcity, food security, human health, and climate change are linked. Trying to tackle any of these problems in isolation will be counterproductive, it says. The report presents more than 70 options for addressing these challenges in an integrated way. Carbon Brief explains five key takeaways from the report.

The Transformative Change Assessment focuses on what is driving the loss of biodiversity worldwide, and on the changes needed to halt and reverse this trend. It calls for fundamental shifts in how humanity views, governs and manages nature and all the sectors that affect it. It says that addressing the biodiversity crisis could generate US$10 trillion in business opportunities and sustain 395 million jobs globally by 2030.

The reports launched this week are the ‘Summary for Policymakers’ versions of much longer reports that IPBES will publish next year. Each has been developed by an international team of scientists drawing on thousands of academic sources. Find both reports, press releases, primers, images and more here.

UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD): Intergovernmental negotiations at the conference of parties to the UNCCD ended in stalemate on 14 December, as countries could not agree on a mechanism for addressing drought. See Xiaoying You’s story or the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s summary. The failure of the talks came just days after a report showed that 75 percent of the planet’s land area has become permanently drier over the past three decades. The next conference of parties will take place in Mongolia, in 2026.

Climate change: At the International Court of Justice, two weeks of hearings on the obligations of states in respect of climate change ended on 13 December. The court heard oral statements from 96 States and 11 international organizations. See the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s summary of what was said. The court will issue its opinion in 2025.

In The Spotlight

On 4 December, a Cambodian journalist called Chhoeung Chheng was shot by an illegal logger near a wildlife sanctuary. He died three days later. Read Mongabay founder Rhett Butler’s tribute here.
Dialogue Earth published five testimonies from environment defenders and journalists on the threats, legal challenges and other forms of suppression facing environmental activists and organizations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction, Craig Foster, filmmaker of My Octopus Teacher, and Atmos print editor Whitney Bauck discuss alarm and wonder amid the biodiversity crisis.
Scientific American’s Science Quickly podcast has a new episode on people using artificial intelligence and high-tech wildlife monitoring for conservation work in coral reefs to rainforests — listen or read the transcript here.

In Focus: Funding For Forests And Nature

Abhaya Raj Joshi reported that Nepal’s Forest Development Fund — set up in 2019 to support conservation, restoration, research and more — has not spent any of the US$47 million allocated to it as it has not been made operational and still lacks a bank account.
Mongabay’s latest podcast explores Brazil’s planned Tropical Forests Forever Facility, which would reward countries that keep their forests standing.
The United States House and Senate passed two key conservation-related acts this week. The US Foundation for International Conservation Act (USFICA) creates a foundation that will use US government funds to attract additional investments for conservation from private companies and philanthropies. The Wildlife Conservation Society says the USFICA is expected to generate US$2 billion over ten years to support protected areas and communities around the world.
The second act is the Wildlife Innovation and Longevity Driver Reauthorization (WILD) Act. It renews the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Multinational Species Conservation Funds, which support conservation of species such as elephants, rhinos, tigers, great apes and sea turtles. It also renews the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, which supports efforts by landowners, tribes, and other local stakeholders to improve wildlife habitat on their lands.

Tips And Resources

Oliver Heffernan wrote an explainer on the causes and consequences of ocean warming.

See past editions for more tips and resources.

What Caught My Eye

Research from TRAFFIC shows the scale of illegal trade in endangered succulent plants from South Africa — in the past five years, officials there seized more than 1.6 million smuggled succulents of 600 species. See the press release or the report.
WWF reports that 234 species of plants and animals were newly-described in the Greater Mekong region in 2023.
A UN reports say investments in nature-based solutions could create 32 million new jobs by 2030.
Bird flu is spreading in zoos and killing animals including tigers and lions, reports Phoebe Weston.
What’s next for deep-sea mining? Elham Shabahat explains.
Only nine of the 139 municipalities in the Brazilian state of Tocantins have media outlets that cover socio-environmental issues, writes Cecília Alves Amorim.
Global Witness says major asset managers have been blocking biodiversity and deforestation-related shareholder resolutions despite soaring investor interest — see the press release.
Ecuador secured a US$1.5 billion debt swap that will secure US$460 million for conservation in the Amazon over the next 17 years.
Iceland has licensed two companies to hunt more than 400 minke and fin whales by 2029, reports Spoorthy Raman.
Denmark released the jailed anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, refusing Japan’s request to extradite him.
Nigerian authorities seized another 2 tonnes of trafficked pangolin scales.

From The Journals

Tree species found only in the Ecuadorian Amazon face high extinction risks — read the press release or the full paper.
Guidance for nature positive mining for the clean energy transition — read the full paper.
Very few companies are comprehensively assessing and disclosing their natural capital dependencies — read the full paper.
Indigenizing conservation science for a sustainable Amazon — read the full paper.
What (in markets for biodiversity credits) is a unit of nature? — read the press release or the full paper.
National climate change plans depend on more land than is available — read the press release or the full paper.

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Jobs And Opportunities

Bonus content: There are 37 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.

The Sidney Hillman Foundation invites entries for its prizes for investigative journalism serving the common good — deadline 30 January.
Australian science writers can submit their work for the UNSW Press Bragg Prize — deadline 31 March.
The Canadian Journalism Foundation invites entries for its award for climate solutions reporting — deadline 24 January.
Grist is offering year-long fellowships for early-career journalists to cover climate change or indigenous affairs — deadline 21 January.
ESG Mena is hiring a remote journalist with experience of environmental, social and governance (ESG), sustainability and climate change reporting, preferably in the Middle East and North Africa — deadline 31 December.
Reporters and photojournalists aged 18-30 can apply for GEO magazine’s Young Reporter Scholarship, which provides a grant of 5,000 euros and editorial support for a project to be published in French in GEO's print and online editions — deadline 17 January.
Photographers can submit their work for the 2025 Zeke Award for “outstanding visual stories documenting systemic changes leading to sustainable solutions to important issues affecting the world today” — deadline 15 January.
English-speaking West African journalists can apply for Climate Resilience for All's training on climate-change-driven extreme heat, in Ghana next February — deadline 6 January.
The Earth Journalism Network is providing fellowships for journalists to cover the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2025 in Nice, France — deadline 15 January.
Citizen journalists and social media content producers in Nepal are invited to a three-day workshop on fact-checking, journalism skills and environmental issues — apply here by 25 December.
ProPublica is hiring a climate reporter.
WIRED is hiring a senior climate writer.
PBS News Student Reporting Labs has launched its Climate/Environment Fellowship for “talented college video journalists from underrepresented backgrounds” — deadline 31 December.

On The Horizon

3-8 February 2025: The 78th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee will take place in Geneva, Switzerland (see agenda).

25-27 February 2025: The resumed 16th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity takes place in Rome, Italy.

Bonus content: The full calendar for Global Nature Beat’s supporters includes 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 resplendent quetzal. Photo credit: ryanacandee / Flickr — Creative Commons

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