A Year in Environmental Reporting

With 2021 right around the corner, we’ve spent the last two weeks looking back. On Twitter and Instagram, we shared the #BestofEJN2020 – a reflection of how our entire network stepped up amid a global pandemic to keep reporting on the environment. We’ve accomplished so much in 2020, despite some major challenges, and we have many more new programs, projects and opportunities coming in the new year that we can’t wait to share.  

Here’s just a taste of what EJNers were up to in 2020. 

Exploring the intersections between health and the environment 

Even before the pandemic took over the news, we launched a special reporting series on the intersections between health and the environment. That work would prove foundational, as journalists everywhere began exploring Covid-19's many impacts on the environment, climate change mitigation efforts, and more. Here’s a small sample of that groundbreaking reporting: 

• How climate change has altered the rules of Odisha’s battle against vector-borne diseases – Reporter Aniruddha Ghosal published this series in January about how the changing climate is affecting India’s malaria-elimination programs. 

• Wildlife trafficking, a recipe for next zoonotic disease outbreak – In March, Filipino reporter Jhesset O. Enano investigated the links between the illegal wildlife trade and the outbreak of zoonotic diseases, such as Covid-19. 

• Rohingya camps in Bangladesh vulnerable to Covid-19 outbreak – This report from April by Nazmun Naher Shishir spotlighted how the overcrowded conditions at Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps could be devastating to Covid-19 containment efforts. 

• Air pollution could worsen Covid-19 outbreak in South Asia – In October, our partners at The Third Pole investigated how South Asia’s lethal air pollution could exacerbate the pandemic’s severity.  

• Amid pandemic, questions arise over timing, cost of jeepney modernization – Filipino reporters Krixia Subingsubing and Mariejo S. Ramos investigated how Covid-19 was impacting Manila’s transport industry modernization plans. 

Some of our grantees pivoted their initial story ideas to look at how the pandemic was exposing gaps in issues such as poaching and air pollution. We also supported reporting on the ripple effects of the pandemic and efforts to debunk misinformation about Covid-19 and its links to the environment. 

• Why falling vulture populations could harm public health – This piece by Leopold Obi in Kenya explores the falling vulture populations in the country and what that has to do with zoonotic diseases like Covid-19.  

• Wildlife and Covid-19: What the public can do – This series by VERA Files, one of our Filipino partners, is aimed at debunking a lot of the misinformation around the pandemic. 

• Beyond lockdown: Can the Philippines sustain low air pollution levels? – Reporter Kristine Sabillo reported in May on how the pandemic was affecting air pollution in the Philippines. 

Continuing to investigate the illegal wildlife trade 

That included exploring how the pandemic was impacting enforcement and prevention measures: 

• Trafficking of rare vipers continues amid Covid-19 pandemic – Reporter Charles Njeru looked at the impact of the pandemic on wildlife crime enforcement by investigating the rare viper trade in Kenya. 

• Investigation reveals trade is rife in Eastern Europe – In Romania, Marius Daea investigated the often-unnoticed role Eastern European countries play in the illegal wildlife trade. 

• Investigation into conservation, wildlife trade and trophies far from over – In this blog from April, reporter Roberto Jurkschat explains how he went about investigating the influence trophy hunters and fashion brands have had on the leading authority on endangered species conservation.  

Documenting the pandemic’s impact on ecotourism and conservation 

This year’s relaunch of our Biodiversity Media Initiative gave us the opportunity to explore a topic that became extremely relevant this year: Ecotourism and international travel. We hosted a webinar with conservation experts from around the world on how communities could adapt to the loss of tourism revenue and just released a tip sheet for journalists to use in their reporting.  

• When Covid resets ecotourism – This two-part story from SL Wong looks at how the loss of international tourists in Malaysia has been good and bad for conservation in different ways. 

• Covid-19 puts a dent in Uganda’s tourism and conservation sectors – This piece from Sarah Mawerere looks at how the continued rise of zoonotic diseases will affect the long-term health of Uganda’s tourism industry. 

• Could eco-tourism mark the post-Covid future for the Blue Pacific? -- In July, reporter Sri Krishnamurthi looked at how Fiji and other Pacific Islands were affected by lockdowns and the potential paths forward.  

Expanding coverage of environmental justice and solutions journalism 

EJN also made it a priority this year to further explore issues around environmental justice. We hosted a webinar in July on this subject and later released a tip sheet to help journalists better incorporate equity and justice concerns into their reporting. One way is to report on the actions communities are taking to build resilience and protect their environments.  

• For the Philippines’ Mangyans, Covid-19 extends a long history of discrimination – From Robert Bociaga, this piece highlights how indigenous communities in the Philippines have long battled displacement, dispossession and cultural degradation, all of which the pandemic has only worsened. 

• Lessons in climate-driven relocation: The Narikoso case – Stanley Simpson reported from Fiji the story of Narikoso, a coastal village where residents have been waiting to be relocated for eight years. 

• With activists silenced, China moves ahead on big dam project – And from Shigu, China, Michael Standaert reported about how the government’s crackdown on environmental activists has aided the resurrection of a once-controversial dam project. 

• In Kyrgyzstan, community-based tourism shows a way forward – On the upside, this piece from The Third Pole explores how ecotourism can bring a sustainable future for many communities. 

• How one community in Kenya is conserving water to reduce wildlife conflict – And Sophie Mbugua reported from Kenya about how communities near the Maasai Mara National Park are finding new ways to coexist with wildlife. 

Creating new digital formats 

In-person trainings and workshops are a core part of our work at EJN. And while we moved quickly to hold these activities online when the pandemic prevented travel, we also had to find new ways to ensure our webinars and workshops were engaging and accessible. That shift meant fewer environmental stories were produced with EJN support, but we were able to train a greater number of journalists and reach more people than we would have without the digital pivot. We were also able to explore entirely new topics and draw important connections to the environment and health issues. Here’s a shortlist of some of our favorite webinars from this year: 

• The effects of using saline water in the Bay of Bengal region – In November, we invited scientists and researchers to speak about the environmental and public health consequences of saltwater inundation in the Bay of Bengal. The topic drew great interest and produced a wealth of resources for future reporting. 

• How to become a top wildlife journalist – In August, we brought in expert investigative and data journalists to give a hands-on workshop on techniques for wildlife reporting in South Asia. 

• The outlook for biodiversity at a global and local level – On the heels of the UN’s GBO5 global biodiversity assessment, we assembled a panel of experts to help journalists develop story ideas about the global biodiversity crisis. 

• Staying safe while reporting on Covid-19 – In April, we hosted an information session about how reporters could protect themselves while reporting on the pandemic.  

EJNers’ best work from this year, in their own words. 

Finally, we crowdsourced our network, asking them what work they were most proud of in 2020. Here’s a selection of the stories they submitted: 

• Lax laws make Nepal a haven for tiger poachers (Tufan Neupane) 
• COVID-19 hits Bhutan-India water cooperation (Shailendra Yashwant) 
• Environment Undone: A series that uses data, ground reporting and human stories to demonstrate how India is opening its protected areas to infrastructure projects (Disha Shetty & Tish Sanghera) 
• The legal battles of the indigenous Bagyeli in Cameroon (Madeleine Ngeunga) 
• The Baghjan fire is out. What’s happened to the Assam villagers ruined by it? (Supriti David) 
• The story of a young man who built a private weather station in Karachi – in Urdu (Amar Guriro) 
• Sea threatens to devour Chattogram (Shamsuddin Illius) 
• How a high dependency on mangroves is threatening the coast’s forests (Jimmy Makhulo) 
• Following South Africa’s mining millions (Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism) 
• India must rescue farmers from coronavirus shock (Soumya Sarkar) 
• Rwanda’s Gishwati-Mukura Landscape becomes UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserve (Daniel Sabiiti, Rwanda Network of Environmental Journalists) 

Banner image: A conifer sapling / Credit: Matthew Smith on Unsplash