The Hunt for a Lost Bat
Lost and Found Project was featured in the New Yorker! Following on from the rediscovered of the Hills’ horseshoe bat in Rwanda after many decades of no sightings.. A very cool story. Check out the full article here
species
The effect of knowledge, species aesthetic appeal, familiarity and conservation need on willingness to donate
NEW PAPER! Out in Animal Conservation and led by Piia Lundberg, this research looks into the drivers of online donations for species and ecosystem conservation in Finland. See the abstract below and get the PDF here: https://goo.gl/tN5TtS Abstract Environmental non‐governmental organizations (ENGOs) largely select flagship species for conservation marketing based on their aesthetic appeal. However, … [Read more…]
Costing the Earth Podcast – Talking about the illegal wildlife trade
I was lucky to be part of the last episode of the latest episode of the BBC’s Podcast “Costing the Earth“, which is dedicated to the impact of Chinese Traditional Medicine on Wildlife Trade. I talked about the potential impacts of the expansion of the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine around the world and the … [Read more…]
Lost & Found
The Lost & Found Project was featured in the latest edition of Positive News! This inspiring current affairs magazine is a pioneer of ‘constructive journalism’ – an emerging approach in the media towards rigorous and relevant reporting that is focused on solutions, not doom and gloom. On the same note, we were also featured in … [Read more…]
Even ugly animals can win hearts and dollars to save them from extinction
The Earth is home to millions of species, but you wouldn’t know it from the media’s obsession with only a few dozen animals like tigers and gorillas. This narrow focus makes the most of popular fascination with large and cute creatures. Conservationists take advantage of these nonhuman celebrities to raise awareness about important issues and … [Read more…]
Increased conservation marketing effort has major fundraising benefits for even the least popular species
Just out in Biological Conservation! Check it out here Conservationists often complain that their study species are ignored by donors. However, marketing theory could help understand and increase the profile and fundraising potential of these neglected species. We used linear regression with multimodel inference to analyse data on online behaviour from the websites of the … [Read more…]
Will optimistic stories get people to care about nature?
Nature doesn’t make the news often these days. When it does, the story usually revolves around wildlife on the brink, record-setting climate extremes or ruined landscapes. However, that is not the whole story. There is also good news, but it often receives little attention. It is easy to see how bleak accounts of the state … [Read more…]
Lost & Found: It’s here!
Talking about nature has frequently become talking about extinction, decline and loss. But it does not have to be. The “Lost and Found” project works to bring to life the inspirational stories of those that never stopped believing and whose passion led them to rewrite the history of the species they so deeply cared about. … [Read more…]
Recall of the wild
The last issue of the Indian Magazine Down to Earth features me (and a great minds of conservation) talking about de-extinction! Its a nice piece that brings together a lot of different views on the topic and presents several past and present case-studies. If you are unsure where you stand on this topix this is … [Read more…]
Is biotechnology the answer to extinction? No.
In the latest issue of Nature, I co-author a reply to S. Kumar’s article: “Extinction need not be forever“, published also in Nature about a month ago. In this reply we highlight how behavioural and ecological factors, which are not necessarily captured by genetic material, are essential not only to define a species identity but also to ensure its … [Read more…]