Dear friends and supporters,

Welcome to Green Echoes, a newsletter from the Environmental Reporting Collective that highlights key investigative stories, data sources, funding, reporting and training opportunities and our projects from across Asia.

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A welcome note from Ian Yee

We have some exciting news - Ian Yee, an award-winning investigative journalist, is our new Executive Director. You might remember Ian as the host of our 4-part Wildlife Conservation Series earlier this year. Here’s a short welcome note from him.

Hi everyone! When I first heard that there was a global collective of investigative environmental journalists who were all freely collaborating, sharing scoops, completing gaps in each others’ reporting, etc., I felt like how Donald Trump feels about climate change – it doesn’t exist.

But then I started getting involved in the Pangolin Reports (or should I say, the multiple award-winning Pangolin Reports), and I saw for myself that this mythical collective was indeed real, and it’s called the Environmental Reporting Collective. It’s not just that everybody at ERC is incredibly talented and committed to the fight for environmental justice, it’s because of that amazing culture of support and collaboration – that’s why I took up the offer to oversee the ERC.

So if any of you wants to partner with us, either as a newsroom or an individual journalist, feel free to get in touch. We’re currently working on a global investigation (stay tuned for that), but we’re happy to help with any collaborative projects that support climate action.

Drop us a line at contact@investigative.earth (or just respond to this email).

Ian Yee

The best reporting from across Asia

In the latest issues of Green Rocks, Ian Morse covers the environmental concerns around a proposed copper and gold mine in Papua New Guinea, which would be located on the Frieda River, a tributary to an untouched river that starts high in the New Guinea mountains.

The latest Sustainable Asia podcast is out, and it focuses on the role that China can play in preserving the Southern Ocean. Listen (and subscribe) here.

Engage Media has released their latest short documentary, this one on the Kalimantan Highway, an industrial route for palm oil plantations in Indonesia, and how it has impacted surrounding landscapes and communities.

There are seven dams being built (and fast tracked) in Indian Kashmir, reports Raqib Hameed Naik for The Third Pole. He highlights concerns that the human and environmental costs associated with these projects have largely avoidedpublic scrutiny.

Data, Resources and Training

Two resources for those of you covering the impacts of Chinese investment overseas. 

• The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has a useful newsletter on Chinese Responsible Investment Overseas. 

• Boston University has released the China’s Global Power Database, which tracks all the world's power plants financed by Chinese foreign direct investment and/or its global policy banks

Online News Association is accepting applications for its Women’s Leadership Accelerator Program, open to women representing a range of backgrounds, expertise and newsrooms around the globe (deadline Nov 30). 

The Nieman Foundation at Harvard is also accepting applications for its International Fellowship program. Details here (deadline Dec 1)

Both the 2021 Digital Storytelling Contest and 2021 Photo Contest will open for submissions on 1 December. Entering is free and open to all professional visual journalists around the world. More details here.

Wildeye Asia is looking for a data wrangler to collect, clean and analyse information about seizures, arrests, court cases and convictions of illegal wildlife trade across Asia. It’s a paid, 2-3 hours a week role focusing on Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong. Apply here (rolling deadline). 

Climate Tracker is looking for 5 young researchers with media experience for a paid project researching how a just and green transition from COVID-19 has been covered by outlets in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Mark your calendar. The World Press Freedom Conference 2020will be fully virtual this year, and it’s free. It will take place Dec 9-10.

That’s all for this week. Anything we missed or that you’d like to see here? Want to pitch us a story? Please respond and let me know.

Stay safe and healthy,

Nithin Coca