With approximately only 5,500 wild tigers left in the world, this iconic species remains under threat from a variety of factors, particular illegal wildlife trade. The illegal trade in tigers and their parts and derivatives continues to be fuelled by facilities holding tigers in captivity, especially in China. One survey estimate more than 6,000 individual tigers being held in China’s ‘tiger farms’ but more recently the country claimed that number had fallen by more than 3,300, begging the question as to where they’ve gone … In this episode, EIA Asian Big Cats Campaign Lead Debbie Banks and Legal & Policy Specialist Avinash Basker chat with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman about the current state of tiger farming and the threats the practice represents.

Climate-damaging F-gases are synthetic substances widely used in refrigeration, air-conditioning and elsewhere. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are the most common and are so harmful that they are to be phased down under the Montreal Protocol and phased out altogether in the EU. However, the chemical industry is pushing to replace them with a new generation of lucrative products which, although easier on global warming, also come with their own environmental and health concerns … In this episode, EIA Climate Campaigner Adam Aucock, the author of our new briefing Refrigerant Myth Busting, debunks at some of the misinformation spread by Big Chemical to support its own harmful products and sow distrust over the viability of alternative natural refrigerants.

What was expected to be the fifth and final session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee met in South Korea last month, but ultimately it failed to agree a Global Plastics Treaty. Instead of cause for celebration, our campaigners came away from the talks concerned that the process had been hijacked by vested financial interests. 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 what went wrong in Busan and contemplate what may happen next.

The fifth round of talks in pursuit of a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty kicks off in Busan, South Korea shortly — but will we emerge with an agreement capable of tackling the world’s plastic crisis or will vested interests compromise the final vision. In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon and Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson join Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman for an update on the progress so far and a look ahead to the challenges remaining for negotiators in Busan.

In the countdown to EIA’s 40th anniversary in September, 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 Debbie Banks, the leader of EIA UK’s Tigers and Wildlife Crime campaign, about her experiences with EIA over the years and the challenges to come.Image (c) Elliott Neep / www.elliotneep.com

EIA UK Campaigns Director Julian Newman talks about his early days in the organisation and looks at the challenges that lie ahead in investigation environmental crime.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

EIA Legal and Policy Specialist Avinash Basker talks to Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman about the findings of our new report, Investing in Extinction, and the reputation risk to which major international household names might be exposing themselves by investing in this aspect of the traditional medicine industry.

EIA Senior Wildlife Campaigner Lindsey Smith was keeping close tabs on the Riyadh meeting and shares her insights with podcast host Paul Newman, EIA’s Senior Press and Communications Officer.

EIA Senior Wildlife Policy Analyst Taylor Tench talks with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman about the current state of rhino conservation, the progress that has been made and the challenges still remaining.

After spending most of the summer in port, Iceland’s last whalers have been given the green light by their Government to resume the hunting and killing of endangered fin whales. In this episode, EIA’s Senior Ocean Adviser Clare Perry and Senior Ocean Campaigner Sarah Dolman talk to Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman about what this development might mean for whales and what likelihood there is of the hunts ending for good.

The UN Environment Assembly is in the process of negotiating a new Global Plastics Treaty, with the second phase of talks kicking off at the end of May to hammer out the detailed needed to properly address the fast-rising threat of plastics pollution. In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon and Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson talk about their preparations for the second meeting of the International Negotiating Committee and the role of the influential fossil fuels lobby in the process.