
Articles by James Fair
James Fair is an experienced reporter and editor specialising in wildlife conservation. Now freelance, for 18 years he was a writer and commissioning editor for BBC Wildlife Magazine, where he covered a wide range of issues ranging from the illegal wildlife trade to the impacts of farming on wildlife. He also acted as the magazine's travel editor, and has been on assignment to places as far afield as China, Tasmania, Svalbard, Gabon and the wild, wet and windy west coast of Scotland. Before taking up this role with the BBC, James lived and worked in Bolivia, where he worked on a project to reintroduce an orphaned Andean bear cub into the wild, and Ecuador, where he managed a cloud forest reserve. He lives in rural Gloucestershire with his partner, two young sons and a small black cat who brings no end of shame on the family in her fondness for killing local wildlife. He now writes for a number of BBC publications and other environmental news outlets. He tweets at @jamesfairwild


Scotland changes course to save its last native wildcats

Can celebrities and social media influencers really ‘rewrite extinction’?

Study fails to find link between increased deforestation and COVID lockdowns

Casinos, condos and sugar cane: How a Cambodian national park is being sold down the river

Turtle conservation hits the SPOT in North Cyprus

Study suggests the Tasmanian tiger survived into the 21st century

Probe begins into alleged deforestation by Olam, ‘world’s largest farmer’

COVID-19 lockdown precipitates deforestation across Asia and South America

Rescuing orangutans ‘doesn’t work’ for apes or forests, studies find

Coronavirus is a crisis for South Africa’s captive lions, campaigners warn

Palm oil giant Olam under scrutiny again over Gabon plantations

Conservationists in peril: Scientists, campaigners risk their lives for their work

Going the extra mile (Insider)

Campaigners push for reform of outdated CITES wildlife trade system

Forestry companies warned over environmental policies

The heat is on: Amazon tree loss could bring 1.45 degree C local rise

Lift-off for thermal-imaging system to estimate wildlife populations

U.S. companies implicated in illegal timber trade from West Africa

Investors warn soy giants of backlash over deforestation in South America

Activists fighting to save orangutan habitat from dam unfazed by legal setback

US senators warn fund managers over palm oil

Asian banks give billions to firms linked to deforestation, study finds

Studying human behavior to protect orangutans: Q&A with Liana Chua

Investors told to wise up over cost of environmental crime

Christmas ad conundrum: Is a palm oil boycott the way to save apes?

Illegal wildlife trade’s ‘dirty money’ targeted by big banks
Special series
Forest Trackers
- License to Log: Cambodian military facilitates logging on Koh Kong Krao and across the Cardamoms
- Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamoms
- Indigenous communities in Argentina’s Chaco fear another heavy fire season in 2023
- As tourism booms in India’s Western Ghats, habitat loss pushes endangered frogs to the edge

Oceans
- A Southeast Asian marine biodiversity hotspot is also a wildlife trafficking hotbed
- Experts, activists unite to blast Indonesia’s U-turn on sea sand exports
- As one Indian Ocean tuna stock faces collapse, nations scramble to save others
- Conservationists aim to save critically endangered European eels on Italy’s Po River

Amazon Conservation
- Boosted with fresh donations, Amazon Fund reboots stalled projects
- Majority of Brazil’s Congress votes to restrict Indigenous land advances
- Protected areas store a year’s worth of CO₂ emissions, study reveals
- Indigenous land rights key to curbing deforestation and restoring lands: Study

Land rights and extractives
- Dams and plantations upend livelihoods in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo River Valley
- Fish deaths near Rio Tinto mine in Madagascar dredge up community grievances
- Award-winning, Indigenous peace park dragged into fierce conflict in Myanmar
- Logging permit threatens Quilombola bioeconomic ‘paradise’ in the Amazon

Endangered Environmentalists
- Indigenous chief shot in head in Brazil’s ‘palm oil war’ region; crisis group launched
- ‘You don’t kill people to protect forests’: New Thai parks chief raises alarm
- Vietnam’s environmental NGOs face uncertain status, shrinking civic space
- ‘We lost the biggest ally’: Nelly Marubo on her friend Bruno Pereira’s legacy

Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’

Conservation Effectiveness
- Learning to live with — and love — bears and eagles in Colombia’s cloud forest
- Africa’s land and forest restoration initiative gathers pace in Malawi
- Study shows Kenyan elephant shrew may be adapting to human disturbance, drought
- Saving forests to protect coastal ecosystems: Japan sets historic example

Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
