Green Echoes #36: Environmental reporting, opportunities and more
Hello, and welcome to a fresh new edition of Green Echoes after a long hiatus. This is your monthly newsletter from the Environmental Reporting Collective highlighting key investigative stories, data sources, funding, reporting and training opportunities and our projects across Asia and beyond.
Environmental reporting to take note of
With six decades of oil exploration in the Niger Delta, communities have been dealing with spin-off effects like gas flaring for a long time. Journalist Justice Nwafor investigates the health and environmental impacts.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls for international support to help Pakistan with a US$16 billion rebuilding effort following devastating floods. Pakistan and the UN are holding a major conference in Geneva aimed at marshalling support in what is expected to be a major test case for who pays for climate disasters.
Bill Gates is funding an Australian startup that hopes to combat methane-emitting cow burps. Agriculture is the main culprit for human-caused methane emissions, one of the biggest drivers of global warming. Australian climate technology startup Rumin8 wants to tackle this issue by feeding cows seaweed.
Protecting Sharks: One of the Most Ambitious Proposals at the CITES COP19. Given the intense debate on shark conservation, more than ten countries requested a secret ballot to protect their vote.
The Guardian reports that the first vaccine for honeybees has been approved by the US government, which will hopefully protect colonies from American foulbrood other diseases. Many bee species are significantly declining, partly due to the climate crisis.
According to a new UN assessment, the ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades. Human emissions of certain chemicals cause a hole to open up in the ozone layer each year over the Antarctic. This affects the ability of the ozone to protect life on Earth from the sun's harmful radiation.
A new study shows whales could help fight climate change and reduce CO2. They naturally store carbon in their bodies and can keep carbon throughout their lifespan, explains Kristin Toussaint of the Fast Company.
ERC’s upcoming global convening
We will have our Global Convening in a few months, where we will share information on our next investigations, grants and programs for the coming year. This is your chance to tell us what you want to see more of at our global convening and get involved!
Opportunities
Applications are open for the Journalism fund EU Professional Development Grants for Environmental Journalism 2023. This grant facility supports enabling activities and supporting services for environmental investigative journalism. Apply here.
Apply to be the Gecko Project’s new Investigative Reporter (International). The Gecko Project is a non-profit journalism organisation investigating land use's role in some of the most pressing global challenges: climate change, deforestation, biodiversity collapse, food security, and the rights of marginalised communities. Apply here.
The Reporting Award: launched in 2010, the Reporting Award award provides up to US$12,500 for a significant work of journalism, in any medium, on an under-reported subject in the public interest. Apply here.
Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award: a grant of US$12,500 to support the work of a promising early-career nonfiction writer on a story that uncovers truths about the human condition. Apply here.
National Geographic Society Grants Program: Level I Grants receive funding up to US$20,000, and Level II Grants recipients receive funding up to US$100,000. Apply here.
Do you have an innovation that supports farmers and other agriculture stakeholders to build capabilities to mitigate the effects of climate change in low- and middle-income countries? The Agricultural Innovation for Climate Resilience Programme might be right for you. Apply here.
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Data, Resources and Training
Several interesting events in the coming weeks, including:
2023 Global Investigative Journalism Conference. 19-22 September 2023, Gothenburg, Sweden. Register here.
A Course on the green recovery and transition for journalists. The Earth Journalism Network designed "Newly Green" to help journalists around the world better report on the "green recovery" (GR) and "just transition" (JT). Access the course here.
Global stories update
Every year we run a Global Collaboration and work with reporters and newsrooms worldwide to produce a collaborative piece of environmental journalism on a community-led topic.
Here’s a short update on the latest one from our Managing Editor, Febriana Firdaus
Since April last year, ERC has been working on our annual global collaboration involving dozens of journalists from 13 countries, from Kenya to China. For the stories, our reporters travelled to the remote island, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world and the longest river in Southeast Asia. We are hoping to publish the stories in April this year. Stay tuned!Join the ERC Slack community to meet and engage with fellow journalists and for more grants and other opportunities.