Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) announces a new fellowship for journalists interested in attending—and reporting from—the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in October and November 2024. 

The upcoming CBD COP16, to be held in Cali, Colombia, from October-November 2024, is the first convening since the GBF’s launch—and therefore a critical moment to pause and assess the state of global biodiversity financing, countries’ progress toward each of the targets, and current barriers to success.

Concrete, measurable and immediate action toward the Framework’s goals is needed to meet the fast-approaching 2030 deadline. The world has seen a 69% average decline in global wildlife populations since 1970 and over 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction by 2030.

To ensure that this COP receives rich and diverse coverage worldwide, particularly in countries deeply affected by its outcomes, the Earth Journalism Network is launching a new fellowship program for journalists interested in attending and reporting on the event. This opportunity is designed to enable journalists from low- and middle-income countries to cover the negotiations, and ensure crucial findings, decisions and outcomes are available and accessible to audiences beyond conference walls.

The fellowship will strengthen and deepen journalists’ reporting on biodiversity issues and draw attention to the widespread, catastrophic and often underreported impacts of biodiversity depletion.

Fellowship logistics 

1. Fellows will travel to Cali to attend the entire duration of the UN biodiversity negotiations, which will take place from October 21, 2024 to November 1, 2024, with arrival planned for October 19, 2024, and departure on November 2, 2024.
2. EJN will cover non-refundable economy-class airfare, accommodation, meals, travel medical insurance and ground transportation costs related to fellowship participation. Organizers will also facilitate the press accreditation process and provide logistical support relating to the trip. Please note that the process of obtaining any necessary visas is the fellow's individual responsibility, though EJN will reimburse visa costs.
3. A minimum of five journalists will be selected for the in-person fellowship; arrangements for a larger cohort may be made in the coming months. Prior to the start of COP16, fellows will receive informational resources and technical support to help prepare for reporting at the conference, including a pre-COP virtual workshop to meet the team, discuss reporting opportunities, and ask any questions to support your pre-reporting and preparatory work.
4. While in Cali, fellows will participate in a series of specially designed activities, including an orientation session with biodiversity experts on the key issues at this COP, daily briefings and interviews with high-level officials. They will also be mentored by EJN trainers, who are senior journalists with experience in covering UN summits. Trainers will offer valuable insight into the deliberations happening on the ground, and share feedback and guidance as needed to support fellows’ story production. Fellows will also engage with their cohort and exchange ideas for effective reporting.  
5. Journalists awarded fellowships are responsible for their own safety during travel, and for ensuring that they meet all requirements for travel and attendance.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the fellowship, the applicant must:

1. Be a professional journalist from or representing an established media house and reporting from a low- or middle-income country as classified by .
2. Have previous experience reporting on biodiversity issues and clearly indicate the kinds of stories you might pursue while covering the conference.
3. Be available and willing to travel to Cali to attend COP16 in person, arriving on October 19 and departing no earlier than November 2, 2024.
4. Have a good command of the English language.
5. Share an up-to-date resume/CV.
6. Provide a letter of support from an editor, producer, or supervisor who can confirm that your news reports will be published or broadcast in an established media outlet.
7. Freelancers are welcome to apply but must provide a letter of support from a media outlet for which they intend to report.
8. Provide recent, relevant and journalistic work samples on biodiversity topics, which can be uploaded as documents or web links. Stories can be in any language as long as they are accompanied by a short English synopsis. Clips must focus on biodiversity topics and should have been published in the last 12 months.

Note: You'll be asked to upload these supporting documents once you start the application process, so please have them handy.

For the purposes of this opportunity, we will only be accepting applications in English. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must be able to participate fully in an English-language fellowship to be awarded.

Applications are open to journalists working in any medium (online, print, television, radio). We encourage applications from freelance reporters and staff from all types of media organizations—international, national, local and community-based.

Journalists who attended biodiversity COPs in the past with EJN’s support are not eligible for this opportunity. In August, after fellows are selected and confirmed for this fellowship, we plan to launch an opportunity for journalists to apply for a virtual reporting fellowship to cover COP16 remotely, with mentorship.

EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, plagiarism and submitting AI-generated content as their own.

Judging criteria 

Applications for conference scholarships will be accepted until July 6, 2024. Decisions will be communicated before the end of October.

We are looking for applicants who meet the following criteria:

1. Demonstrated experience covering climate change, climate policy and other environmental topics;
2. A clear and well-researched reporting plan for the COP, including potential story ideas, an estimated number of stories they’ll produce during the fellowship and demonstrated intention to continue developing their plan as the COP draws closer; 
3. A relationship with an established media house and a signed letter of support from an editor agreeing to publish or broadcast work produced at the COP.
4. EJN also considers the need to assemble a diverse cohort of journalists from different types of media houses, mediums and geographies.

Story logistics

Fellows are expected to produce stories regularly during the course of the fellowship for their media house. Journalists may produce stories in any medium, including print, online, radio, broadcast and more.

Throughout the program, participating journalists are free to report as they see fit; however, as part of our program we may provide extra training or activities related to certain thematic topics, and encourage stories on these topics. We do ask that fellows adhere to some basic editorial standards (which will be shared at the start of the fellowship) and these guidelines:

Language of publication: Stories produced as a result of this fellowship can be in any language. We ask that fellows provide high-quality English summaries of stories produced in other languages and fully translate at least one of their stories into English so it can be shared with a wider audience. Fellows may use a tool like DeepL or other automated translation apps for this purpose.

Acknowledgement of support: Published stories and/or broadcasts must disclose EJN support by including this tagline: “This story was produced as part of the CBD COP16 Reporting Fellowship, organized by Internews' Earth Journalism Network.”

Republication rights: Those who are awarded grants are free to publish or broadcast stories produced as a result of the fellowship first in their affiliated media as long as Internews’ EJN, its partners and the grant funders are also given rights to edit, republish, broadcast and distribute them freely. 

Travel requirements and safety protocols  
Fellows are responsible for ensuring that they meet any requirements for travel to Colombia. Applicants will be asked to indicate that they understand that participation in the fellowship requires compliance with the Colombian government and venue requirements.

EJN will be continuously assessing travel and health risks and will communicate those with fellows ahead of the conference. All travel to participate in this fellowship will be voluntary.

Application process 
Click the 'Apply Now' button at the top of the page.

Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.  Please consider submitting at least one day in advance of the deadline to avoid any issues. 

If you encounter difficulties with submitting your application or have questions about the grants, please email [email protected]. Do not contact any other Internews email regarding this opportunity, as the organisers will not receive it.   

Apply now by logging in here.

For the official announcement, click here.