
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Campaigners push for reform of outdated CITES wildlife trade system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
- Bolivian national park hit hard by forest fires in 2022, satellite data show
- Deforestation ‘out of control’ in reserve in Brazil’s cattle capital
- In Brazil’s Amazon, land grabbers scramble to claim disputed Indigenous reserve
- Gold mining invades remote protected area in Ecuador

Oceans
- Critics allege EU’s ‘toxic collusion’ with fishing lobbies is damaging Indian Ocean tuna
- Study: Paying fishers to ease off sharks and rays is cost-effective conservation
- Good fisheries management, if enforced, can help sharks and rays recover
- An El Niño is forecast for 2023. How much coral will bleach this time?

Amazon Conservation
- Forest modeling misses the water for the carbon: Q&A with Antonio Nobre & Anastassia Makarieva
- Electricity day and night: Solar power is changing isolated Amazon communities
- Illegal mines and “floating towns” on the Puré River leave uncontacted Indigenous peoples at risk
- Joenia Wapichana: ‘I want to see the Yanomami and Raposa Serra do Sol territories free of invasions’

Land rights and extractives
- Tense neighbors: Chinese quarry in Cameroon takes a toll on locals
- FOIA lawsuit suggests Indonesian nickel miners lack environmental licenses
- Shadows of oil in Peru: Shipibo people denounce damage, contamination left by company
- In Liberia, a gold boom leads to unregulated mining and ailing rivers

Endangered Environmentalists
- ‘We lost the biggest ally’: Nelly Marubo on her friend Bruno Pereira’s legacy
- Murders of 2 Pataxó leaders prompt Ministry of Indigenous Peoples to launch crisis office
- Worries and whispers in Vietnam’s NGO community after activist’s sentencing
- Scientists call for end to violence against Amazon communities, environmental defenders

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
- Biodiversity, human rights safeguards crucial to nature-based solutions: Critics
- Protecting canids from planet-wide threats offers ecological opportunities
- Mangrove forest loss is slowing toward a halt, new report shows
- ‘South Asia needs its own tiger plan’: Q&A with Nepal’s Maheshwar Dhakal

Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Tunnel collapse at dam project in orangutan habitat claims yet another life
- Sulawesi nickel plant coats nearby homes in toxic dust
- Indonesia’s grand EV plans hinge on a ‘green’ industrial park that likely isn’t
- Java communities rally as clock ticks on cleanup of ‘world’s dirtiest river’
