Green Echoes #20
Key investigative stories, data sources, funding/training opportunities and our projects from across Asia.
Happy Lunar New Year! After a short hiatus, Green Echoes is back for 2021, and we will be sending issues twice-monthly going forward.
We’ve got a packed newsletter for you, including some of the best reporting we saw over the past two months, and several great opportunities and upcoming events. As always, please respond to us directly if you have ideas, concerns, or reporting/projects you’d like to include.
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The best reporting from across Asia
According to this report by Tufan Neupane for Oxpeckers, Nepal has strict laws on wildlife crime, but a worrying pattern of lenient court sentences. Neupane digs into court documents and legal provisions to paint a picture as to why this might be the case.
Hongqiao Liu’s in-depth explainer for Carbon Brief focuses on how China could offer debt swaps to help developing countries in Asia and elsewhere tackle climate change and promote a green recovery.
Definitely check out the latest from Malaysia’s R.age, a wonderful, immersive, interactive multimedia story on the indigenous, village journalists of Kampung Ong Kangking, who are documenting the destruction of the forests they call home.
Seulki Lee takes a deep dive for China Dialogue into how South Korean companies are financing so-called ‘green’ palm oil, which, as she shows, is anything but, driving forest destruction and human rights abuses in Indonesia.
Events, Resources and Training
The Global Investigative Journalism Network has released a guide on how to use satellite technology to track ‘Dark Ships’ in the high seas – vessels that are notoriously difficult to monitor and can be responsible for crimes including illegal fishing.
From March 1 to 3, the Asian Center for Journalism at Ateneo de Manila University is hosting the Reimagining Journalism in Asia Conference, a free event that aims build a media community upholding press freedom across Asia.
The Sigma Awards, which highlights the best data journalism around the world, has launched a new slack channel for journalists to share, collaborate, and learn from their peers. Learn more and sign up here.
Opportunities
The Earth Journalism Network is accepting applications for its Ocean Story Grants to support the production of investigative stories that will call attention to critical ocean issues (Deadline 25 February).
The Metcalf Institute is accepting applications for its Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists, which will be fully virtual this year (Deadline 1 March).
The International Environmental Photography Lab is accepting applications for a six month, online mentoring program that will begin in mid-March. Note: There is an 180 Euro fee, but merit-based scholarships are available (Deadline 1 March).
For those eligible, consider applying to EurekAlert! 2021 Fellowships for International Science Reporters. It will allow winners the opportunity to attend and cover a future, in-person conference. Note: Only open to science and health journalists in China, India and a few other regions (Deadline ASAP).
Also from EJN and the East-West Center: Fellowships to journalists from Mekong Basin countries to support data-driven investigations into water security challenges and solutions. Apply here (Deadline 7 March).
A Climate Correspondent is looking for pitches for stories of the climate crisis – and solutions to it – from countries outside of North America and Europe. Details here (Rolling deadline).
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That’s all for this week – do let us know, by responding to this email, if we missed anything.
Stay safe and healthy,
Nithin Coca
The Environmental Reporting Collective is a group of reporters and editors across Asia and elsewhere, working together to rethink how environmental journalism is done. We support collaborative journalism projects that start new conversations on how our societies impact our planet. Such stories are complex and expensive. That’s why they require new approaches to research, reporting, editing and distribution.
To learn more about our work, check out our website, Investigative.Earth, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You can also let us know what you would like to see in this newsletter by responding to this email.