Nature Beat #55
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.
Taking The Pulse
Climate change: Only 13 of the 195 parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change submitted updated national action plans by the deadline of 10 February, reports Daisy Dunne. The UN has extended until September the deadline for governments to submit these updated plans, which cover the period to 2035. On 19 February, the World Resources Institute will hold a webinar on progress and next steps with this new round of national climate plans — register here.
Wildlife crime: On 4 February, INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization shared the results of the largest ever law enforcement operation against illegal logging and wildlife trafficking. Nearly 20,000 live animals were seized and 365 suspects arrested in the latest round of Operation Thunder, which took place late in 2024 and involved authorities in 138 countries. See INTERPOL’s press release for details. In related news, the European Union will provide 27 million euros to INTERPOL and partners in the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime for a new initiative to tackle organized criminal networks.
CITES: The Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) held its 78th meeting last week in Geneva, Switzerland. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has a detailed analysis and summary of the meeting’s outcomes, which will feed into the CITES Conference of Parties later this year. The Environmental Investigation Agency also wrote about the wins and losses for wildlife and forests at the meeting.
COP16: The unfinished COP16 biodiversity negotiations are set to resume on 25 February in Rome, where negotiators are meant to be agreeing a strategy for mobilizing US$200 billion a year by 2030 to protect and restore nature. On 19 February, the India-based Centre for Science and Environment will host a webinar focused on the US$200 billion finance goal.
In another webinar on the same day, Georgina Chandler of the Zoological Society of London and Roberto Ballon, a community leader and marine conservationist, will discuss what to expect from the meeting in Rome. Who will oversee the negotiations is unclear, as the COP16 president Susana Muhamad resigned as Colombia’s environment minister on 8 February. Her resignation letter included a request to Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro that she remain in place to conclude the COP16 agenda.
American Withdrawal
The Trump administration continues to weaken institutions and withdraw funding earmarked for conservation, clean energy, forest protection, and so on.
By rescinding one of President Biden’s executive orders, Trump cancelled a major scientific assessment of the state of nature across the country. The draft National Nature Assessment was just weeks from completion. But by the end of January, the federal web page for the assessment had been taken down. As Catrin Einhorn reports, its authors now plan to publish their findings through other channels.
Public data and information relating to science, health and the environment are also disappearing from many other US federal websites. The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) and other organizations representing science, health and environmental journalists have come together to demand that federal agencies restore the removed data.
The Trump administration has gutted the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and frozen funds it had committed to projects around the world. This will have a devastating effect on some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. USAID has also been a major funder of conservation. In 2023 — according to a USAID annual report that is no longer available for download — the agency invested US$375.4 million in 60 countries to conserve biodiversity and forests, fight nature crimes and support sustainable fisheries. John Platt wrote about some of the projects that USAID has supported and the impacts they have had. Ashoka Mukpo and colleagues at Mongabay reported on conservation projects now in disarray.
As Karl Mathiesen reported, the Trump administration has also rescinded a US$4 billion pledge to the UN’s Green Climate Fund to clean energy and climate adaptation programs across the world. And, as Benji Jones reported, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has frozen millions of dollars in international conservation funding.
This is just a fraction of what the administration has done in the past two weeks — other targets include the Endangered Species Act, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, the Forest Service and more.
Keeping track of all of these changes is difficult — which I guess is part of the plan. The Society of Environmental Journalists has launched a section of its website to track the new administration’s impacts on the environment, energy and journalism. On 18 February, Covering Climate Now will hold a webinar on Trump’s attacks on climate action —register here.
In The Spotlight
Iván Carrillo wrote about the decades-long effort to reintroduce California condors into the wild in the United States and Mexico.
In an extract from her book Marginlands, Arati Kumar-Rao accompanies fishermen for a traditional nocturnal hunt alongside rare dolphins in India’s Brahmaputra River, where fish stocks are rapidly declining.
Ayesha Tandon dug into the data from a new study showing that 75 percent of the sites considered to be the most important ecosystems on Earth will face at least one climate pressure by the end of the century, even under an “intermediate” scenario of climate change.
Aldem Bourscheit reported on endangered wildlife drowning in irrigation canals on farms in western Bahia state, Brazil.
Mekong Eye published a rich collection of stories on the devastating effects of four years of civil war on people, wildlife and forests in Myanmar.
Tips And Resources
On 26 February, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication has a webinar on storytelling and climate solutions — register here.
Media outlets in Latin America, Africa and Asia can get one year of free access to Agence France Presse’s climate news feed plus training from Covering Climate Now — deadline 11 March.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network published a guide to investigating all aspects of the fossil fuel industry — they have a webinar on 20 February with some of the guide’s authors.
See past editions for more tips and resources.
In Focus: Leaked and Exported Biodiversity Loss
Two new studies highlight how actions in wealthy countries have knock-on effects for distant biodiversity. Phoebe Weston reported on research quantifying the extent to which rich countries are ‘exporting’ deforestation and biodiversity loss to tropical countries from which they import beef, timber and palm oil. The research is behind a paywall but you can read more in the press release.
A second paper — also paywalled but with a press release here — warns that nature-positive action in wealthy countries can have a much greater negative impact on biodiversity elsewhere. Such a ‘biodiversity leak’ can occur, for example, when wealthy nations set aside land for nature, leading to shortfalls in food or wood that are made up by increased production in more biodiverse countries.
What Caught My Eye
Liz Kimbrough reported on research showing how land restoration worldwide can be funded with tiny fraction of global GDP.
Scientists in Tanzania are training rats to sniff out trafficked wildlife products such as pangolin scales, rhino horns and ivory, reports Lucia Torres.
For every dollar in the equity holding portfolios of Europe’s 10 largest banks, 26 cents are highly dependent on ecosystem services.
The Environmental Justice Foundation and Défense des Milieux Aquatiques have launched legal action against France for not prohibiting bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas.
Phoebe Weston reports that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’s Earth Fund will no longer fund the international certification body that assesses whether companies are decarbonising in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
John Platt wrote about species we lost in 2024 and why such lists will always be partial.
Daniel Stiles reported on organised criminal groups using Nigeria as a hub to smuggle gorillas to buyers in Asia and the Middle East.
The International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity approved by consensus a position on 30x30, the Global Biodiversity Framework’s target of protecting 30 percent of land and sea by 2030.
A UK policy requiring developers to create 10 percent more natural habitat than they destroy has fallen far short of its goal in its first year, reports Emily Beament.
From The Journals
A global analysis found that pesticides harm hundreds of non-target species — read the press release or the full paper.
A study of 119 UNESCO biosphere reserves suggests that only 18 have greater forest ecosystem function than outside areas — read the full paper.
How to increase private investment in biodiversity in Europe — read the full paper.
GPS-tracked vultures can aid in the fight against wildlife poisoning — read the full paper.
Understanding and counteracting the denial of insect biodiversity loss — read the full paper.
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In Focus: Peatlands as Climate Solutions
Peatlands store more carbon than the world’s forests and occupy just 3 percent of the total land area. But only 17 percent of peatlands worldwide are protected, according to a new study — see the press release. The authors say it is critical that countries increase protection for peatlands as their destruction would contribute significantly to global warming and climate change.
Another new study — read the press release or the full paper — concluded that conserving and restoring peatlands and mangroves in Southeast Asia could mitigate more than half of the region’s land-use related carbon emissions.
Both studies urge countries with these carbon-rich ecosystems to include their protection and restoration in the new national climate plans they are preparing under the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Jobs And Opportunities
Apply here for an NYU Stern Climate Economics Journalism Fellowship — deadline 20 April.
The New York Times seeks a climate adaptation reporter and a climate policy reporter
Dialogue Earth is recruiting a CEO — deadline 20 February.
Covering Climate Now invites journalists everywhere to submit work for its 2025 Journalism Awards — deadline 31 March.
The Society of Environmental Journalists has travel stipends for its Annual Conference — deadline 14 March.
Journalists from the Middle East can apply for free online training on climate change — deadline 23 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
25-27 February 2025: The resumed 16th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity takes place in Rome, Italy.
3 March 2025: World Wildlife Day.
5-7 March 2025: The 24th World Sustainable Development Summit takes place in New Delhi, India.
12-13 March 2025: The 12th World Ocean Summit & Expo takes place in Tokyo, Japan.
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 bald eagle. Photo credit: Thomas Helbig / Flickr — Creative Commons
Thanks for reading. For past editions, see the Archive. If you found it interesting or useful, please share and subscribe. If you want to get in contact, you can reach me at: thenaturebeat@substack.com.
Thank you, Mike. Paid subscriber.