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Yann Bigant

@yannbigant.com

270 followers 340 following 81 posts

Conservation/environment photographer Wildlife conservation issues in Southeast Asia 📷📝 SCMP, Dialogue Earth, VOA, Mekong Review, CamboJA Fine art photography 📍Phnom Penh, Cambodia web https://yannbigant.fr/links insta https://instagram.com/yannbigant

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · May 1

Hunting birds is rampant throughout Cambodia. w/ Vutha Srey, we joined hunters catching birds at night and dug into the reasons behind the trade for @dialogueearth.bsky.social

With support from @anticorruption.bsky.social Cambodia

dialogue.earth/en/nature/bi... #birds 🌏

Bird hunting in Cambodia driven by poverty and lax enforcement

Conservationists are raising the alarm on an overlooked crisis across the country and Southeast Asia

dialogue.earth

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 1d

Optimistic take of a data scientist looking at the fight against climate change. A feel-good read 👇

Yale Environment 360 @yalee360.bsky.social · 2d

While the headlines paint a dismal picture of efforts to rein in warming, the numbers often tell a different story.

In an interview, data scientist Hannah Ritchie talks about where she sees the world gaining ground in the climate fight.

This Data Scientist Sees Progress in the Climate Change Fight

Countries are falling short on reducing emissions, but British data scientist Hannah Ritchie looks at the numbers and sees the world making real gains on climate change. In an interview, she talks abo...

e360.yale.edu

Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 12d

Interesting look at India’s agroecology programme (the world's largest) that brings farmers much higher profits, deliver similar crop yields and supports higher levels of biodiversity, esp for farmland #birds

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Seen in @mikeshanahan.bsky.social's Nature Beat newsletter 🙏🌏

India’s agroecology programme, ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming’, delivers biodiversity and economic benefits without lowering yields - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Analysis of crop yields, farmer income and bird species abundances identifies multiple positive outcomes of a large-scale Indian government-incentivized agroecology initiative.

doi.org

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Reposted by Yann Bigant

Krista Langlois @cestmoilanglois.bsky.social · 15d

Do you work in conservation science, particularly outside the U.S.? Did you lose your job or funding for your job because of cuts to U.S. federal agencies? Do you want to talk about it? DM me please. (This is for a @biographic.bsky.social story)

[Iceland photo for attention only]

Grassy dunes, the ocean, and jagged mountains in Iceland

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 16d

Conservation's road ahead by @rhettayersbutler.bsky.social from Mongabay

www.butlernature.com/2025/09/17/n...

Navigating conservation’s crisis

Call it a crossroads. Ecological decline is accelerating in too many places at once; institutions that once limited the damage are wobbling; the information channels we rely on to coordinate action ar...

www.butlernature.com

Reposted by Yann Bigant

Magnus Løvold @magnuslovold.bsky.social · 16d

After the Geneva round of the #PlasticsTreaty talks ended without a deal, troubling questions are being raised about the role played by @unep.org Executive Director Inger Andersen — and an apparent bid to topple the Committee’s elected Chair medium.com/points-of-or...

Palace intrigues

The plastics treaty talks in Geneva ended without a deal. As negotiators weigh their options about the way forward, troubling questions are…

medium.com

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 18d

The meat & dairy industry adopting mafia tactics against environmental and animal rights activists

Mighty Earth 🌍 @mightyearth.org · 19d

Leaked documents show the Animal Agriculture Alliance has had its eyes on 150+ NGOs as it looks to sabotage climate, health and environmental advocacy.

It's creepy and paranoid, but unsurprising that the AAA is following NGOs around.

Read more from @desmog.com ⤵️

Revealed: ‘Chilling’ Surveillance of Activists by Meat and Dairy Industry

The U.S. meat industry has engaged in intrusive surveillance of animal rights groups, including monitoring relationships between activists and tracking employees of leading charities. The industry-fun...

www.desmog.com

Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 22d

Meanwhile in Southeast Asia, endangered species are regularly found in captivity, like this baby Long-tailed macaque kept in a mini-zoo behind a gas station, a casualty of the biomedical research trade, the pet trade, tourism, deforestation, corruption and poor law enforcement.

Baby long-tailed macaques clinging to the bars of its cage with hands and feet

Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 22d

The EU is considering white-listing animals that can be kept as pets, on the basis of welfare in captivity, biodiversity, public health and feasibility of trade monitoring - as opposed to a CITES-like species by species blacklisting.

Hope this will survive the lobbies' attacks 🌏 #pettrade

The Revelator @therevelator.org · 23d

Can we save wildlife from the exotic pet trade? EU legislators are considering a form of regulation that could protect many species from unsafe exploitation — if it’s done right. @wildjourno.bsky.social reports: https://therevelator.org/exotic-pet-trade-european-union/

The Exotic Pet Trade Harms Animals and Humans. The European Union Is Studying a Potential Solution • The Revelator

EU legislators are considering a form of regulation that could protect many species from unsafe exploitation -- if it's done right.

therevelator.org

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 23d

How many people can the wildlife trade really support? A critical examination of the 'livelihoods' argument.

therevelator.org/wildlife-tra...

Wildlife Trade: Does the ‘Livelihoods Depend on It’ Defense Hold Up? • The Revelator

New research into the turtle-meat trade reveals that assumptions and unsubstantiated claims could hurt conservation efforts.

therevelator.org

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Reposted by Yann Bigant

Foreign Policy @foreignpolicy.com · Sep 8

What does the global war on NGOs mean for development? And with their decline, can private aid to NGOs fill the gaps for the world’s poor? Suparna Chaudhry explains the current environment for NGOs:

Why the World Turned on NGOs

From powerbrokers in the ’90s to pariahs today.

foreignpolicy.com

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 29d

Benefits of reforestation to fight climate change wildly overestimated.

"reducing the climate benefit to only 12.5 billion tonnes of carbon by 2050.... only slightly more than a single year of global fossil fuel emissions."

theconversation.com/trees-alone-...

Trees alone won’t save us: new study says forestation has less potential to fix the climate than hoped

Governments have pledged vast areas for new forests, but much of this land may be unsuitable.

theconversation.com

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Sep 5

Probably from the same BBC program actually. Definitely sounds like someone flipped a switch and the meadow got suddenly quiet - in just 10 years

Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Sep 5

See here at 00:50 for the before/after recording
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4zn...

Bird Song Before & After Selected Logging - Bernie Krause at Lincoln Meadow

YouTube video by CaringAboutAnimals

www.youtube.com

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Sep 5

Nice write-up on the loss of natural sounds in nature, linked to the decline of insects and birds, with a terrifying recording of bird calls before and after selective logging.
www.lukasguides.com/stone-cold-s... 🌏 #birds

Stone Cold Silent

Living in a time of acoustic fossils

www.lukasguides.com

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Sep 5

Re: impacts on migratory #birds, I imagine EIAs would need to cross-check species impacted by wind turbines with the ones whose migratory path flies over proposed wind farms. Are the migratory routes of individual species that precise? Or is it just too complex for most species?

Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Sep 5

Under the -positive- pressure of the garment industry, Cambodia is pushing for more wind energy to decarbonise its electricity. Yet with lack of proper consultations, this leads to more land conflicts in indigenous territories.
By @daniellek-o.bsky.social @vantha.bsky.social 🌏

Dialogue Earth @dialogueearth.bsky.social · Sep 3

In the Laoka village of Cambodia, Klerng Nary watched as trees were felled in the forest nearby her home. Workers who came to fell the trees did not inform the Indigenous Bunong community of their employer.

✍️ Daniella Keeton-Olsen, Phoung Vantha
🔗 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/_rItQYk

Indigenous communities fear impacts of Cambodian wind projects

Cambodia hopes wind farms can help solve its growing power needs, but opaque plans have left the Bunong people worried for their sacred land

dialogue.earth

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Aug 27

The Buy, Borrow, Die strategy "has basically killed the entire concept of an income tax for the wealthiest individuals."

www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

Buy, Borrow, Die

How to be a billionaire and pay no taxes

www.theatlantic.com

Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Aug 15

Global warming causes decline of tropical birds.

www.carbonbrief.org/fossil-fuell... 🌏 #birds

Other 'drivers' studies meanwhile found:
- hunting a bigger threat to wildlife than deforestation,
- hunting and agriculture (habitat loss) both larger drivers of biodiversity loss than climate change.

Fossil-fuelled heat has caused tropical birds to decline by ‘up to 38%’ since 1950s - Carbon Brief

An uptick in heat extremes has caused tropical bird populations to decline by up to 38% since the 1950s, according to new analysis.

www.carbonbrief.org

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Aug 11

Cambodia's new environmental code ignores the rights and specificity of indigenous people, as much as their potential role in protecting nature.

The new code "has excluded terminology that specifically mentioned Indigenous peoples and replaced it with more general terms like “local community.”"

Mongabay @mongabay.com · Jul 31

[COMMENTARY]

Indigenous peoples in Cambodia have traditionally stewarded millions of hectares of forestland for their sustenance.

Now, these communities are concerned about the long-term viability of their cultures & forest stewardship traditions.

** The views expressed are those of the author.

How Cambodia’s new environmental code undermines Indigenous peoples’ rights (commentary)

Cambodia’s Indigenous peoples have a deep relationship to forests, land and natural resources, which they traditionally manage in their cultural practices and everyday lives. There are 22 distinct…

news.mongabay.com

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Aug 4

Le braconnage menace la biodiversité des oiseaux en Asie du Sud-Est

French version thanks 👌 Le Petit Journal Cambodge

lepetitjournal.com/cambodge/le-...

Le braconnage menace la biodiversité des oiseaux en Asie du Sud-Est

En Asie du Sud-Est, le braconnage des oiseaux explose, poussé par la pauvreté et une demande croissante de viande sauvage.

lepetitjournal.com

Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Aug 4

为何柬埔寨“打鸟”屡禁不止？

Just found out my story on bird hunting in Cambodia was translated in Chinese by @dialogueearth.bsky.social

All to the point as China is leading the way in dealing with threats to birds in the region.

dialogue.earth/zh/6/60080927/

为何柬埔寨“打鸟”屡禁不止？

生态保护人士对柬埔寨乃至东南亚地区一场正被忽视的生态危机拉响警报。

dialogue.earth

Reposted by Yann Bigant

Gerry Flynn @geraldrflynn.bsky.social · Jul 22

Joint investigation by @mongabay.com & GI-TOC exposes a huge illegal wildlife trade network in Laos.

Secretive shops guarded by armed men cater exclusively to Chinese tourists selling ivory, rhino horn, pangolins & more at inflated prices. We took a look inside..

news.mongabay.com/2025/07/larg...

Large-scale illegal wildlife shops in Laos found scamming Chinese tourists

LUANG PRABANG, Laos — “No coffee, no coffee,” repeated the security guard. His smile stood in stark contrast to his faded camouflage fatigues and the machine gun slung over his shoulder. Few cafés in ...

news.mongabay.com

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Reposted by Yann Bigant

POLLINIS @pollinis.org · Jul 17

✊ 2 pétitions citoyennes contre la loi Duplomb ont été déposées à l'Assemblée nationale.

Une fois le seuil de 500 000 signatures atteint, un débat sera imposé aux député·es !

petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr/initiatives/...
petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr/initiatives/...

#LoiPoison #Duplomb

Non à la Loi Duplomb — Pour la santé, la sécurité, l’intelligence collective. - Non à la Loi Duplomb — Pour la santé, la sécurité, l’intelligence collective. - Plateforme des pétitions de l’Assemblée ...

Je m'appelle Eléonore PATTERY, j’ai 23 ans, et je suis actuellement en Master QSE et RSE (Qualité, Sécurité, Environnement / Responsabilité Sociétale des Entreprises). En tant que future professionne...

petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Jul 19

"It’s tempting to discard coexistence as another failed ideal. But doing so would be a mistake. The problem is not with the concept but with its instrumentalization. A more grounded and ethical form of coexistence is still possible. But it must be reclaimed, not romanticized."

Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · Jul 19

"Communities don’t need poetry. They need policy. Wildlife doesn’t need abstraction. It needs security."

Without concrete and effective measures, human-wildlife coexistence, like 'sustainability', risks becoming a watered, catch-all term covering inaction.

undark.org/2025/07/17/o... @undark.org

When ‘Coexistence’ Is Co-Opted in Conservation Practice

Opinion | Coexistence between humans and wildlife is a meaningful goal, but it's being misused or superficially invoked.

undark.org