What on Earth?

The leading UK supermarkets have made limited progress in reducing plastic packaging for fresh fruit and vegetables, despite signing up to the UK Plastics Pact’s voluntary commitment to sell at least 30 per cent of uncut fresh produce loose by 2025.   But the new EIA report UK Supermarket Sale of Loose Unpackaged Produce – Trends, barriers and opportunities reveals that transparency about loose produce sales has actually worsened since our last comparable dataset in 2021.    In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaigner Lauren Weir unwraps the facts with Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman.

Vietnam has made laudable progress in recent years to shut illicit timber out of its supply chains and so keep access to the lucrative export markets on which its huge furniture industry relies. But new investigations by EIA’s Forests team have revealed that those efforts are in danger of being undermined by high-risk timber entering from neighbouring Cambodia and Laos, with the true nature of these imports hidden behind sophisticated fake paperwork scams. In this episode, Thomas Chung, EIA Forests Campaign Leader on Timber, unpacks the findings of our new report Manufacturing Legality with Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman.

Humans tend to respond to threats we can see, but the world’s mounting plastics pollution crisis isn’t just a matter of what’s visible.  In this episode, we take a closer look at microplastics, tiny particles which have been found from the deepest ocean floors to the highest mountain peaks and everywhere inbetween – including in human blood, brains and placental tissue. Joining EIA Senior Press and Communications Officer is special guest Sedat Gündoğdu, a marine biologist and environmental researcher at Türkiye’s Çukurova University, EIA Legal and Policy Specialist Amy Youngman and EIA Senior Lawyer Tim Grabiel. 

Ongoing negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty effectively ground to halt in Geneva last year when talks ended without an agreement or even a timeline for what happens next. But the process doesn’t need to be left in limbo, held hostage by a small number of petrostates and vested fossil fuel interests intent on blocking it – new research commissioned by EIA shows there are several alternative ways to make progress without the need for a global consensus. In this episode, Chris Dixon, EIA Ocean Programme Leader, and Ocean Campaigner Hannah Hughes join Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman to explore the possibilities.

In recent years, rhino poaching and horn seizures have become less visible in the news – but that doesn't mean these majestic creatures are free from the threats posed by poachers and illegal trade.  In this episode, we dive into two recent reports from our colleagues at EIA US which shed light on the complexities of rhino horn trafficking, particularly focusing on an analysis of enforcement efforts in China and the ongoing push in South Africa for a legalised trade to allow exports of horn to other countries. Taylor Tench, a Senior Wildlife Policy Analyst at EIA US, joins EIA UK Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman to talk about the key findings of both reports.