What on Earth?

EIA at 40 – 'You've got to worry about being accused of espionage or something more serious'

In the countdown to EIA’s 40th anniversary later this year, as well as sharing films and stories from our archive, we’ve also recorded a short series of new podcasts with some of the longest serving campaigners to get an insight into how the organisation has evolved over four decades.

In this episode, Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman talks with EIA UK Campaigns Director Julian Newman about his early days in the organisation, from going undercover as a refrigerant trade with an unwieldy camera hidden in a sports bag to night trekking through the forests of Indonesia to expose major illegal logging operations, and looks at the challenges that lie ahead in investigation environmental crime.

EIA at 40 – ‘You can take on the biggest, whether it's the oil industry or illegal logging’

In the countdown to EIA’s 40th anniversary later this year, as well as sharing films and stories from our archive, we’ve also recorded a short series of new podcasts with some of the longest serving campaigners to get an insight into how the organisation has evolved over four decades.

In this episode, EIA’s Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman talks with EIA US Executive Director Alexander von Bismarck about the changes he’s seen in the organisation and the challenges it faces in the future.

With the clock ticking, can we agree a Global Plastics Treaty by the end of 2024?

After a strong opening to UN talks in pursuit of a Global Plastics Treaty, recent rounds of negotiation have been hindered by the efforts of fossil fuel industry lobbyists as well as by some countries keen to water it down and rein in its ambition.

In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon and Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson join Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman to talk about progress to date and what to expect when the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee – INC-4 for short – opens in Canada later this month.

Will Mexico’s crackdown on illegal fishing give vaquita porpoises a fighting chance?

With only an estimated 10 individuals left, the vaquita porpoise is the world’s most endangered marine mammal, pushed to the edge of extinction by illegal fishing for the dried swim bladders of totoaba fish which are in high demand in Asia.
 
But despite the species’ alarmingly low numbers, recent action in their range by Mexico’s Navy appears to give them a fighting chance – now we need consumer countries to take meaningful action to curtail the illegal trade that’s killing them.
 
In this episode, EIA Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman is joined by Senior Ocean Campaigner Sarah Dolman and special guest Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, an internationally recognised authority on vaquitas.

EIA at 40 – ‘I've been threatened by senior government officials, shouted at and screamed at’

In the countdown to EIA’s 40th anniversary later this year, as well as sharing films and stories from our archive, we’ve also recorded a short series of new podcasts with some of the longest serving campaigners to get an insight into how the organisation has evolved over four decades.

In this episode, EIA’s Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman talks with EIA UK Executive Director Mary Rice about the highs and lows she’s experience and about the challenges to come.

Oppression, sanctions and blood teak, hallmarks of Myanmar’s coup on its third anniversary

On the third anniversary of the Myanmar military seizing power, the country has effectively seen a return to the violence, plunder and human rights abuses of the former dictatorship in pursuit of control and hard currency.

Despite international sanctions, the current regime still seeks to fund itself through illicit exports of valuable commodities, especially of precious teak which is much sought after for luxury boatbuilding.

In this episode, EIA Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman is joined by Forests Campaigner Kate Klikis to talk about the ongoing impacts of the coup and efforts to stop the military junta from cashing in on Myanmar’s natural commodities.

Drilling down into the detail of eco crime prosecutions on our open access Crime Tracker

More than two years ago, EIA unveiled our Environmental Crime Tracker, an open access online tool to help analyse and better understand wildlife and forest crime around the world. Recently, we expanded its capabilities even further with a new dashboard to help assess the prosecutions of environmental crimes.

In this episode, Data Manager Royce To and Data Analyst Shaliza Malik from EIA’s Intelligence and Investigations team talk with Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman about the Tracker and the value of its new prosecutions feature.

Is the palm oil in so many of our products still a problem and will it ever be truly sustainable?

Palm oil is cheap, versatile and used widely in countess thousands of products and in biofuels, but its production has been linked to human rights abuses, illegal logging and deforestation, causing considerable harm to indigenous peoples and the habitats of endangered orangutans.

In this episode, EIA Forests Campaigner Siobhan Pearce talks to Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman about the various problems associated with palm oil and what is being done to address them.

Why can’t we rely on technology to clean the oceans of our plastic waste?

The terrible scale of our planet’s plastic pollution crisis has been making headlines in recent years, as have a number of apparent technological solutions to the problem – but can we really rely on physical ocean clean-ups to sort out the mess for us?

Special guest Ewoud Lauwerier, Plastic Policy Expert with OceanCare, and EIA Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson join EIA Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman to discuss the findings and implications of our new jointly produced report Clean-ups or clean-washing? How plastic pollution clean-up technology can actually harm the environment and obstruct policy progress.

What to expect as we enter round three of talks for a Global Plastics Treaty

EIA’s Ocean campaigners were among the first to spot the rising crisis of plastic pollution and we’re proud to have helped lead the call for a new Global Plastics Treaty to tackle it. This month we’ll be in Nairobi to attend the third session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee working out the detail.

In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon and Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson join Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman to bring us up to date on what’s been happening at the talks so far and look ahead at what progress we can expect and any potential obstacles.