Nature Beat #68
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: Ocean pledges — Reforestation potential — Mercury in food chains — Whale personhood — Firefly conservation — Returning sturgeons — News from around the world — Journalism tips — Jobs and opportunities — New research papers — And much more.
Taking The Pulse
Ocean: The UN Ocean Conference took place in Nice, France last week. Significant news from the conference included the following:
Nineteen countries announced that they had ratified the High Seas Treaty on marine biodiversity beyond national borders. That brings the total to 50 ratifications out of the 60 needed before the treaty can enter into force.
French Polynesia announced the creation of the world’s largest marine protected area — at five million square kilometres, it is the size of India, France and Thailand combined.
The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu proposed creating an even larger marine reserve, which would include their territorial waters as well as those of Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.
A coalition of ninety-five countries issued a joint statement calling for the global treaty on plastic pollution under negotiation to include targets to reduce plastic production.
French President Emmanuel Macron called deep-sea mining “predatory” and “madness”, and the number of countries calling for a ban or precautionary pause rose by four to 37.
The European Commission announced an investment of 1 billion euros for ocean conservation, science and sustainable fishing.
For more details of these and (many!) other commitments, see the UN press release and the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s conference summary. For analysis, see the story by Daniel Clery and Regina Lam, or see Luke McMillan’s scorecard assessing the likelihood and potential impacts of seven commitments made in Nice.
For reactions, see statements by BirdLife International, the Campaign for Nature, the World Resources Institute, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the World Wildlife Fund and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Climate change: The subsidiary bodies of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are meeting in Bonn, Germany from 16-26 June. These meetings allow negotiators to focus on unfinished business from last year’s Conference of Parties and make progress on decisions for the next Conference of Parties to adopt. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) has daily coverage of the talks. For more insights, see this Q&A with Jennifer Bansard who is leading the ENB team in Bonn.
One positive trend is the growing recognition that nature and climate policies need to work in synergy. WWF is urging parties to the UNFCCC to develop and implement a four-year work programme to boost nature-related climate action by increasing alignment between the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement on climate change and the Global Biodiversity Framework. Similarly, a new global report shows how countries can align their climate and biodiversity strategies. And the Nature4Climate coalition published a new paper showing how policies, plans and flows of finance can unlock the potential of nature to help us to combat climate change and adapt to its impacts.
In Focus: Mercury in Food Chains
Global emissions of mercury are falling but new research shows that ocean currents are concentrating its toxic derivative methylmercury in food chains in the Arctic — see the press release or the full paper. Another new study shows how mercury in food is affecting wolves further south in Alaska. As Bobby Bascomb reports, when the wolves shifted from eating deer and moose to eating sea otters, the mercury levels in their bodies reached unprecedented levels. Meanwhile, an investigation found high levels of toxic mercury in whale and dolphin meat on sale in Japan.
In The Spotlight
Katie Surma explored Tonga’s plan to give legal rights of personhood to whales and what this would mean in practice.
Liu Lican wrote a wonderful story about firefly conservation in China, where the insects are threatened by unsustainable harvesting, habitat loss and pollution.
After nearly being overfished into extinction, Atlantic sturgeon are returning to US rivers, reports Benjamin Cassidy.
Vast areas of wetlands in eastern Europe could be restored under a proposal for protecting against a Russian invasion, reports Christian Schwäger.
Tips And Resources
The Nature Conservancy updated its Article 6 Explainer, a clear guide to the UN’s new international carbon trading scheme and what it means for national climate plans, nature and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Alexa van Sickle summarized a recent webinar on what journalists and newsrooms can do to address the mental health impacts of reporting on climate change.
The Centre for Science and Environment has published a useful report summarizing 30 years of negotiations under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
See past editions for more tips and resources.
What Caught My Eye
A subsidiary of oil giant Chevron bought three million carbon credits generated on Indigenous forest land in Colombia without the knowledge of the communities managing the land, reports Andrés Bermúdez Liévano.
The UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN announced three new World Restoration Flagships, which are restoring almost five million hectares of marine ecosystems in East Africa, Mexico and Spain —see the press release.
Esha Joshi and Neema Pathak Broome say India’s new biodiversity access and benefit sharing regulations trample on the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
After four years of work, we have the first comprehensive list of the world’s 11,131 bird species.
John Cannon dug into a new report from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations that shows how forests contribute to social and economic resilience globally and not just for people living locally.
Global investments in nature-based solutions for water security doubled to US$49 billion in the decade to 2023.
More than 40 environmental organizations issued a statement urging European Union institutions and member states to uphold the integrity of the EU Deforestation Regulation amid pressure to weaken the law.
The first State of the World’s Saltmarshes report highlights the importance of these tidal wetlands for conserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change and enhancing coastal resilience.
Julián Reingold reported on research into what is driving the growth of the huge masses of sargassum seaweed that are causing social, economic and environmental problems in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Frontline published a deep-dive collection of twelve stories on climate change in India.
As Elizabeth Fitt reports, new research shows that more than half of the world’s mangroves could face “severe” risks from rising seas and tropical cyclones by the end of the century.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development launched its Global Drought Outlook report – climate change is making droughts more frequent, severe, harmful and costly
Fábio Bispo reported that the deputy secretary of environmental development in the Brazilian state of Rondônia brokered the sale of land in a conservation unit to his own wife.
Hundreds of tonnes of clothes discarded in European countries are being dumped in a protected wetland in Ghana, report Lucy Jordan and Mike Anane.
South Korea warns of false emails claiming that it plans to submit a proposal about giant pandas to the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Scientists and monks performed last rites for a Himalayan glacier, reports Shalinee Kumari.
Robert Nasi explains how governments can fund much of the work needed to conserve biodiversity by repurposing existing harmful subsidies.
From The Journals
US public support for the Endangered Species Act has remained consistently high over three decades — read the full paper.
Status of endangered large wildlife species following two decades of civil unrest in a biodiversity hotspot of India — read the full paper.
Most pangolin hunting in Nigeria is for local food not international markets for pangolin scales — read the press release, the full paper or a commentary by the lead researcher.
Nearly half of the 4,000-plus tree species in Mexico and Central America are threatened with extinction — read the press release or the full paper.
How To Support Global Nature Beat
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In Focus: Restoring Lost Forests
New research is refining our understanding of the potential for restoring forest cover and how this could help us to mitigate climate change. Analysis published by the World Resources Institute concludes that one-third of global forest loss between 2001 and 2024 is likely to be irreversible because of permanent changes in land use — in the tropics the figure rises to 61 percent — see the press release.
Another new study has greatly reduced previous estimates of the global area of land available for forest restoration. Earlier studies had mapped where reforestation is possible without fully accounting for whether reforestation would be feasible or even desirable. This meant they included areas with other land uses and potential for social conflict, or key non-forest ecosystems such as grasslands.
For more detail on the study, see the authors. The new estimate implies that restoring forest cover could mitigate roughly five percent of human-caused carbon emissions. This is still an important quantity. But it shows that forests are only part of the solution. Reducing emissions is crucial. And as Maxwell Radwin’s excellent new feature story makes clear, reforestation is difficult.
Jobs And Opportunities
UNESCO has grants of US$30,000 to US$150,000 for investigative journalism exposing misleading narratives and boosting public understanding of climate change and related mis- and disinformation — deadline 6 July.
Inside Climate News is hiring a senior editor and a California environmental reporter.
Conservation Optimism seeks submissions for its seventh short film festival — deadline 17 August.
The Fetisov Journalism Awards are open for entries — deadline 15 September.
The China-Global South Project is offering US$550 for stories on how mining is affecting local communities in Africa — apply here.
The Earth Journalism Network is offering in-person and virtual reporting fellowships for journalists to cover the COP30 climate change conference in Belem, Brazil.
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.
Introducing Planet Ficus
My other newsletter is Planet Ficus. It is devoted to stories about 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
23-27 June 2025: The 18th Biennial Conference on Communication and Environment will take place in Hobart, Tasmania.
29 June - 4 July 2025: The annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation takes place in Oaxaca, Mexico.
7-25 July: The 30th Session of the International Seabed Authority Assembly and Council (Part II) takes place in Kingston, Jamaica.
14-23 July 2025: The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development takes place at the UN headquarters in New York City, United States.
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 white-breasted fruit dove. Photo credit: Daniel Levitis — Wikimedia 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.
Must be so much work putting these together! Thank you for this. My employment situation is pretty precarious at the moment, otherwise I'd launch into a paid membership ASAP...