The Macaranga Mentorship on Covering Wildlife Trade and Crime ran for a year and saw journalists and youths tackle how wildlife trade and crime impact biodiversity loss.
The project was carried out with the support of the Biodiversity Media Initiative of Internews Earth Journalism Network.
Our objective? To increase reports on, and build capacity in reporting on wildlife crime in Malaysia. While we looked at drivers, impacts and the supply chain, a focus was to address under-reporting on wildlife trials and sentencing.
It’s been an insightful experience.
1. We held a workshop for 12 staff and freelance journalists, newsrooms led by Siew Lyn with TRAFFIC SEA’s Elizabeth John and veteran court reporter Shaila Koshy. Participants:
- learned basics of wildlife trade
- learned basics of court reporting
- developed story ideas on wildlife crime
- attended wildlife crime trials
2. We gave grants 5 journalists to produce 4 stories, mentored over 6 months
- They produced 8 stories!
- 3 were translated into BM & English and 1 bilingual infographic
- At least 6 were co-published by local, regional and specialist publications
- Topics covered – sun bear rehabilitation, pangolins and traditional medicine, songbird competitions and trade, sambar deer poaching impact
- The stories:
- Helping Sabah’s Sun Bears Return to the Wild https://www.macaranga.org/helping-sabah-sun-bears-return-to-the-wild/
- Pangolin stories by Soon Li Wei, BERNAMA:
- Pangolin Scales Still Sought-After For Use In Traditional Medicine https://www.bernama.com/en/bfokus/news.php?health&id=2394862
- TCM Transitioning to Plant-Based Medicines to Safeguard Wildlife https://www.bernama.com/en/bfokus/news.php?health&id=2397068
- Special Permit Needed To Bring In Wildlife-Based Products From Abroad https://www.bernama.com/en/bfokus/news.php?health&id=2399432
- Songbird stories by Lee Choon Chyuan with photos and photo-essays by Mukhriz Hazim, Macaranga:
- Ingrained in Culture, Songbird Competitions Reign (photo-essay) https://www.macaranga.org/calls-grow-to-protect-magpie-robins-as-trade-soars/
- Birds at Losing End of ‘Marathon’ Singing Competitions https://www.macaranga.org/birds-at-losing-end-of-marathon-singing-competitions/
- Birds at Losing End of ‘Marathon’ Singing Competitions (co-published with Dialogue Earth) https://www.macaranga.org/ingrained-in-cuture-songbird-competitions-reign/
- Sambar deer story by Kiran Jacob, ESG pullout, The Edge Malaysia
- Saving the Malayan tiger by protecting its prey https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/755278
3. We held a workshop, gave a grant and mentored 13 youth members of Youths United for Earth (YUFE) over 1 year to produce 6 youth-targeted posts
- They produced 18 posts (3 carousel posts each per topic)!
- Platforms were Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook
- Topics covered – Rafflesia, Helmeted hornbills, tigers and laws, human-elephant conflicts, online trade, exotic foods. Check out #YUFExMacaranga!
4. We publicised our findings and the project
- 9 posts on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook
- 2 segments on Earth Matters, 9 Radio
- 2 online forums
- 2 Youtube videos in collaboration with Asian Dispatch (who also received the same grant)
- 2 panels in a social media workshop on covering illegal wildlife trade co-organised with Justice for Wildlife Malaysia
- 1 panel for the public at Royal Selangor’s Eco-Week
- Fed into a report on best practices for content creating about wildlife trade
5. Bonus! We were invited to train journalists in biodiversity workshops by Asian Dispatch as part of their project deliveries (They also received the same BMI support). That meant adapting modules we had used in our workshop!
With thanks to all the newsrooms and journalists as well as youths who participated! Much gratitude to project partners Elizabeth John & TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Justice for Wildlife Malaysia, and Bodipalar & Partners. And to collaborators Asian Dispatch.