Media centre

If you are a journalist and would like a comment, interview and/or briefing, please contact Beth Herzfeld, IIED's head of media.

This section of our site is designed for journalists, broadcasters and other members of the media. You can find our latest press releases, contact details and information about our spokespeople.

Head of media Beth HerzfeldIIED experts are available for interviews and background briefings on a wide range of environmental and development issues, from climate change and climate finance to China and development, the economics of development, urban issues and resilient cities, and the illegal wildlife trade. See a full list of our areas of work.

For non-media enquiries, please go to our contact us page, and for general news go to our news and blogs section.

Latest press releases

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Convention on Biological Diversity COP14 logo
16 November 2018

Ahead of the 14th Conference of the Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt (17-29 November 2018), IID director Andrew Norton said: “This meeting is a crucial opportunity to establish a new strategy to make the Convention on Biological Diversity more effective in combating the accelerated loss of wildlife and ecosystems that has characterised the last 25 years

11 October 2018

Representatives from communities affected by the illegal wildlife trade are calling on governments meeting in London today to recognise local communities as equal partners in conserving wildlife, strengthen their rights to land and increase benefits from wildlife, and give local knowledge equal status in tackling the illegal wildlife trade

10 October 2018

Ahead of the London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference (11-12 October), IIED director Andrew Norton said: "Local communities have been sidelined from the decisions made about how to tackle the illegal wildlife trade for too long."

8 August 2018

Inadequate forest laws, corruption, and illegal and excessive logging have destroyed much of Mozambique’s forests. Improving regulation within the country and in its trade with China, and better law enforcement, are key to reversing this, a new IIED report says

1 June 2018

“Since President Trump announced the US would quit the Paris Agreement, millions of people’s lives have been devastated by the impacts of climate change.

23 April 2018

Syrian doctors, nurses and other experienced medical professionals seeking sanctuary in Lebanon are prevented from being able to work. This is leaving many people – including refugees – without vital medical attention and facing an over-stretched medical system, new research reveals

23 March 2018

In response to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) reports on the state of biodiversity, IIED director Andrew Norton said: "The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services' revelations about the state of life on our planet are loud, clear and alarming."

17 November 2017

As the UN climate talks head towards their conclusion in Bonn, IIED director Andrew Norton said: "These talks show signs of achieving some important progress, but equally they lack the necessary decisive action on the rules for the Paris Agreement and on making clear commitments on finance."

Media mentions

On World Cities Day Antonio Guterres highlights the need to build resilience to disasters in fast-growing urban areas. Many sub-Saharan cities lack resources to improve services and reduce environmental risks, particularly in slums. IIED’s Sarah Colenbrander warns starving cities of basic infrastructure will bring only the costs of densely populated cities and none of the benefits.
Violence involving armed groups has proliferated in Mali since Islamist militants hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in 2012. And stories of young men abandoning farming for jihadist or criminal groups are not uncommon. According to IIED, nearly all - 98 percent - of Mopti residents in the Inner Niger Delta survive from farming.
Many towns and cities across sub-Saharan Africa are facing rapid population growth but lack the infrastructure that residents need. Bond markets are one way to raise crucial capital, writes IIED’s Sarah Colenbrander.
Charles-Jones Nsonkali from Association OKANI in Cameroon, was in London for IIED, IUCN, ZSL and Fauna & Flora International’s meeting Community Voices and the government-hosted London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference, says why it’s crucial policy makers work with local and indigenous communities to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. Listen from 14:44
In response to Boris Johnson's Comment, 1 October, Andrew Norton, Director of IIED, says next week's government-hosted London Illegal Wildlife Conference is an opportunity to make sure conservation policies are developed jointly with the communities that live alongside wildlife, so they benefit and empower them and so are more effective in tackling this crime.
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