How falcon thieves are targeting the UK’s protected birds

In this week’s newsletter: Conservationists have seen nests raided around the country to match demand from the Middle East• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereEarlier this week we published an investigation that found hundreds of UK peregrine falcon nests have been raided in the past decade, in order to feed a growing appetite to own prized birds for racing and breeding in the Middle East.This piece has been a year in the making, working with a great team of reporters from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) to shed light on a multimillion-dollar industry that stretches around the world.Germany’s dying forests are losing their ability to absorb CO2. Can a new way of planting save them?The LA wildfire victims still living in toxic homes: ‘We have nowhere else to go’‘Just an unbelievable amount of pollution’: how big a threat is AI to the climate?How demand for elite falcons in the Middle East is driving illegal trade of British birds‘It’s soul destroying to find nests have failed’: inside the battle against Scotland’s falcon thievesGlobal wildlife crime causing ‘untold harm’, UN report finds Continue reading...