Nature Beat #52

Updates, stories, resources and opportunities

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.

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Taking The Pulse

The last quarter of 2024 was filled by an exhausting frenzy of intergovernmental negotiations — on biodiversity, on climate change, on desertification and on plastics. One by one, they failed to meet their respective challenges. All seems relatively quiet now, but that will soon change. Here is a quick look ahead at just some of the coming year’s main events for nature and climate:

Biodiversity: In February, the suspended COP16 biodiversity conference will resume in Rome. Among other things, negotiators need to agree a strategy for ‘mobilizing’ US$200 billion a year by 2030 for conservation. See the meeting documents here.

Climate change: Also next month, countries are supposed to submit their updated climate change plans — called nationally determined contributions — under the Paris Agreement. Many will miss the deadline — see the World Resources Institute’s tracker. Later in the year, the International Court of Justice will issue its advisory opinion on the obligations of states with respect to climate change. And in November, Brazil will host the COP30 climate change conference in the city of Belém in the Amazon rainforest.

Other COPs in 2025: There will also be Conferences of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, and the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions — which concern hazardous waste and chemical pollutants.

Plastics: Negotiations towards a plastics treaty will resume. Will this be the process in which ambitious countries finally reject the blocking tactics of polluters? — there are reasons for hope according to Magnus Løvold.

Deep-sea mining: Member states of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) are due to agree a new Mining Code to regulate deep-sea mining. On 1 January, Leticia Carvalho officially assumed the role of ISA Secretary-General — see the ISA’s press release for a summary of her inaugural remarks.

EU Deforestation Regulation: In December, the European Union’s anti-deforestation regulation will enter into force, having been delayed by one year. It requires companies selling commodities such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, and timber to ensure that their production is “deforestation-free”.

Whose eye is this? Answer below…

In The Spotlight

• Nomsa Maseko and Rob Wilson wrote about the social and ecological consequences of illegal trade in succulent plants from South Africa.

• Sarah Brown reported on claims that jaguars are saving human lives in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands by controlling prey in which deadly parasites live.

• Bayu Asya Isminanda and Finlan Adhitya Aldan investigated the illegal trade in endangered pig-nosed turtles from Papua, Indonesia.

• Geri Emiri, Ingrid Gercama, Nathalie Bertrams and Vjosa Čerkini investigated a trend among crime bosses in Balkan countries to keep trafficked tigers and lions as pets — available in 13 European languages.

Tips And Resources

• On the IPBES podcast, Rob Spaull spoke with Patrick Greenfield from The Guardian and Sahana Ghosh from Nature India about the challenges and opportunities when covering biodiversity news.

• Altin Raxhimi has written a new guide to science journalism in Albanian.

• The Global Investigative Journalism Network has a webinar on 27 January about how to access free satellite images.

See past editions for more tips and resources.

What Caught My Eye

• Kirsten Freja Young and Brendan Godley make the case for a new North Pole marine reserve.

• The International Emissions Trading Association released an analysis of the biodiversity credits market.

• The latest State of the Apes report focuses on the impact of disease and other health considerations on apes and ape habitats.

• The US government is providing US$125 million in grants for wildlife crossings in 16 states.

• Ben Payton wrote about prospects for Africa’s emerging biodiversity credits projects.

• Vibha Varshney says the Global Environment Facility — the financial mechanism for the UN conventions on biodiversity, climate change and desertification — needs an overhaul and new funders.

• The near-extinct Siberian Crane is recovering thanks to habitat protection, reports Shreya Dasgupta.

• Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli shocked the country’s conservationists by calling for “fewer tigers, less forest”, reports Abhaya Raj Joshi…

• … meanwhile, as Hans Nicholas Jong reports, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto said it is okay for oil palm plantations to replace rainforests because “oil palms are trees, right? They have leaves, right?”.

• On 30 December, Indonesia’s Minister of Forestry announced plans to use 20 million hectares of forest for food and energy projects —see reaction from Greenpeace.

From The Journals

• Researchers identified 32 legally traded reptile and fish species that pose high invasion risk to the United States — read the full paper.

• How rocket launches threaten global biodiversity conservation — read the full paper.

• Navigating the hype and risks around use of artificial intelligence for conservation — read the full paper.

• A proposed new conservation tool: ‘ecological peace corridors’ — read the full paper.

• Large-scale ecological restoration contributed to increases in bird diversity in China’s Yangtze River Basin — read the press release or the full paper.

• Microplastics and other tiny particles of human origin are abundant in seafood — read the press release or the full paper.

• Environmental DNA can boost biodiversity monitoring in forest carbon markets — read the full paper.

• Regional patterns of wild animal hunting in African tropical forests — read the press release or full paper.

• One quarter of freshwater animals are threatened with extinction — read the full paper.

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In Case You Missed It

Nature in Black and White

Jobs And Opportunities

• The Earth Journalism Network is hosting a three-day virtual media workshop (in two time zones) during the week of 3 March 2025 for journalists in coastal countries to learn about the 30x30 marine conservation target — deadline 16 January.

• The Indianapolis Star is hiring an environment and natural resources reporter.

• Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Program is open for applicants from biodiverse tropical countries — deadline 19 January.

• Nature is hiring a senior news reporter — deadline 20 January.

• The Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT is seeking a new director.

• The Earth Journalism Network is offering organizational grants of up to US$20,000 to boost environmental journalism in the Asia-Pacific region — deadline 30 January.

• The Association of British Science Writers is accepting entries for its 2025 Awards — deadline 31 January.

• The One World Media Awards are open for entries — deadline 6 February.

Bonus content: There are 36 jobs, grants, fellowships and other opportunities listed here for Global Nature Beat’s paying supporters. Paid subscriptions are less than £1 per week.

On The Horizon

20-24 January 2025: The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting takes place in Davos, Switzerland.

20-24 January 2025: The 64th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on Wetlands takes place in Gland, Switzerland.

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.

Whose Eye Was It?

The eye belongs to a Siamese crocodile. Photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar / Flickr — Creative Commons

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