Nature Beat #64
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.
In this edition you will find: Illegal logging — Bad cops — Ocean issues — Trophy hunting — Wolves — Tigers — Invasive species — Endangered primates — Journalism tips — Jobs and opportunities — New research papers — And much more.
Taking The Pulse
China’s forest footprint: A new report from Forest Trends links China’s imports of agricultural and timber products to the loss of roughly four million hectares of tropical forest between 2013 and 2022. It estimates that nearly 70 percent of this deforestation was illegal — read the press release or the full report.
Wolves: On 8 May, the European Parliament voted to reduce protection for wolves under the EU Habitats Directive. A coalition of nongovernmental organizations including WWF EU, BirdLife Europe and ClientEarth decried the move, calling it “a shift away from science-based policymaking” and urging EU member states to use national laws to protect wolves.
Invasive species: Scientists identified 145 non-native species that could threaten British biodiversity over the next decade. The top 20 threats include Asian clams, various insects, seaweeds and land plants, and even racoons — which I was surprised to see have been recorded living wild in the UK since the 1970s. See the press release or the full report.
In The Spotlight
Sofia Quaglia reported on the state of the seafloor half a century after the world’s first trials of deep-sea mining.
The Red Line Collective interviewed wildlife crime expert Allison Skidmore about her work, including going undercover to investigate tiger poaching in Siberia.
Stephanie Klarmann dug into the statistics on trophy hunting in South Africa, where hunters shot more than a quarter of a million animals over the eight years to 2023.
In Focus: Crime And Punishment
Gerald Flynn and Nehru Pry report that a former police officer in Cambodia assaulted journalist Ouk Mao after demanding that he delete footage of illegal deforestation. When Mao reported the incident, the police said he must delete footage of the assault that he had published to Facebook. Mao refused. Like other journalists in Cambodia, he has faced death threats and allegations of criminality because of his coverage of illegal logging and corruption.
In Indonesia, a police officer who was arrested for attempting to traffic 1.2 tons of pangolin scales has avoided prosecution and even been promoted, reports Ayat S. Karokaro. The officer’s co-accused include two soldiers and a civilian who say the police officer masterminded the plot, which involved taking the pangolin scales from a police evidence warehouse.
In Zimbabwe, Pamenus Tuso investigated the case of the missing cyanide queen, a Chinese national called Li Song. She was arrested in 2024, accused of illegally importing and storing cyanide, and is alleged to be linked to a poaching network that uses the poison to kill elephants and other wildlife. Tuso reports that she has skipped bail and may have fled the country.
Tips And Resources
The World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland’s GLAD Lab have an embargoed press call on 15 May on the state of the world’s forests and how much global tree cover was lost in 2024.
Katherine J. Wu wrote about how journalists can get scientific sources to drop their jargon.
The Open Notebook and the Reynolds Journalism Institute have a webinar on 21 May to introduce the Science Reporting Navigator, a new toolkit to help journalists bring more scientific evidence and context into their stories — read more or register here.
On 22 May, ocean conservation experts are holding a press briefing on what to expect at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco (June 7-8) and the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France (June 9-13) — read more and register here.
Science journalist Christian Elliott shared his tips for using Trello to keep track of freelance projects.
Richard Wainwright at Fern published a useful review of the forest-related pledges made at the last four conferences of parties to the UN climate change convention.
See past editions for more tips and resources.
What Caught My Eye
Daniel Cressey wrote about proposals to dump crop waste into the sea to lock away carbon and fight climate change.
Emily Atkin wrote about how Hawaii aims to raise US$100 million a year for projects like coral reef restoration, through a small increase to tourist taxes.
African Parks, a nongovernmental organization managing a national park in the Republic of Congo, has acknowledged human rights abuses by its staff there, reports Bobby Bascomb.
Only 21 countries have updated their climate targets as required under the Paris Agreement.
The Biodiversity Credit Alliance released an updated edition of its High-level Principles to Guide the Biodiversity Credit Market.
Research has identified 113 new Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in Italy.
Scientists published a biennial report identifying what they consider to be the world’s 25 most endangered primate species — see the press release.
Perrine Fournier wrote about how to make electric vehicles without trashing forests through mining for critical minerals.
Ex-president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, wants the EU to reconsider ending a partnership aimed at preventing illegal timber trade.
A report by a parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom urges the government to do more to ensure the integrity of nature markets and drive private investment in them.
Humans have seen less than 0.001 percent of the ocean’s deep seafloor, reports Nell Greenfieldboyce.
The Finance for Biodiversity Pledge— a commitment by financial institutions to protect and restore nature through their investments — now has 200 signatories managing a combined 23 trillion euros in assets.
Thailand has a new Biodiversity Finance Plan.
The Earth Negotiations Bulletin published its summary of last week’s meeting of the UN Forum on Forests.
In Focus: Ocean Issues
The world's top seafood companies have been accused of lobbying against ocean conservation in private while publicly claiming to support sustainability, reports Edward Carver
A new report — and podcast — from the Environmental Investigation Agency highlighted how fishing nets kill tens of thousands of porpoises, dolphins and whales in European waters each year.
Philippa Louey questions the concept of the ‘blue economy’, saying that rather than promoting sustainability it perpetuates exploitative practices.
More than a quarter of a million Europeans signed a petition urging the European Union to ban bottom trawling.
From The Journals
Less than half of land with potential for forest restoration in low- and middle-income countries also has the conditions needed to attract the required investment — read the full paper or a commentary by one of the authors.
Unsustainable and illegal wildlife trade is a major threat to North Korean wildlife — read the press release or the full paper.
Conservation policies favour forests and neglect grassy ecosystems worldwide — read the full paper.
Climate change and urbanization are driving a silent epidemic of scorpion stings in Brazil — read the full paper or an interview with the authors.
Research on bat virus evolution suggests wildlife trade led to the COVID-19 virus infecting people — read the press release or the full paper.
European cemeteries are important for conserving orchid species — read the full paper.
Ten new insights in climate science — read the press release or the full paper.
How to bring environmental pressures back to 2015 levels by 2050 — read the press release or the full paper.
Do You Find This Useful?
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Jobs And Opportunities
Bonus content: There are 29 jobs, grants, fellowships and other opportunities listed here for Global Nature Beat’s paying supporters. Paid subscriptions are less than £1 per week.
The BBC World Service is hiring a science/climate journalist and senior science/climate journalist — deadline 15 May.
Apply here for a fellowship to attend the African Investigative Journalism Conference — deadline 23 May.
Conservation organization Aaranyak is offering fellowships to journalists in Assam, India — deadline 25 May.
The Earth Journalism Network has grants for journalists in Africa to produce in-depth stories on threats to great apes — deadline 4 June.
Reuters and Durham University are inviting applications for the Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship in Investigative Journalism — deadline 18 June.
The AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards are open for entries — deadline 1 August.
Introducing Planet Ficus
I’ve started another newsletter called Planet Ficus. It is devoted to stories about what I think are the world’s most fascinating plants — the strangler figs and their kin, which have shaped our world and our species in profound ways. If that sounds interesting, please subscribe — or check out the introductory post for a quick tour of what makes fig trees so important and what kinds of stories I will be sharing.
On The Horizon
22 May: International Day for Biological Diversity.
27-29 May 2025: The conference of the Public Communication of Science and Technology Network takes place in Aberdeen, Scotland.
27-29 May 2025: The 5th Global Conference of the Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) Programme will take place in Brasilia, Brazil.
9-13 June 2025: The third UN Ocean Conference takes place in Nice, France.
15-20 June 2025: The International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2025) will take place in Brisbane/Meanjin, Australia.
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 rufous night-heron. Photo credit: Wayne S. Grazio / 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.