Prof Sarah Durant
@sarahdurant.bsky.social
Conservationist and scientist. Project Leader Africa Range-wide Cheetah Conservation Initiative www.cheetahconservationinitiative.com. Hon Prof at UCL. Views my own
Pinned
Conservation policies must address an overlooked issue: how war affects the environment
The impacts of armed conflict on biodiversity have long been neglected. A United Nations meeting hosted by Colombia is a golden opportunity to begin changing that.
www.nature.com
Just published in @natureportfolio.bsky.social - our commentary with @ceobs.bsky.social on the need to address the impacts of armed conflict on biodiversity at #COP16 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Today Nov 6 is International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Given the environmental impacts of recent conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, we clearly need to do better. joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and...
War worsens climate and environmental challenges in Ukraine
A new study finds reduced greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine amid war but increased toxic pollution risks.
joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu
November 6, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Today Nov 6 is International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Given the environmental impacts of recent conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, we clearly need to do better. joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and...
Our paper just published on the relationships between pastoralists and cheetah in the Horn of Africa. More than 60% of respondents reported a cheetah attack in the last year and reported that killing cheetahs was widespread. www.frontiersin.org/journals/con...
Frontiers | Attitudes, norms, and beliefs of pastoralists toward cheetahs in the Horn of Africa
Free-ranging African cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) inhabit only 13% of their former range. A subspecies of particular conservation concern is the Northeastern ...
www.frontiersin.org
October 11, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Our paper just published on the relationships between pastoralists and cheetah in the Horn of Africa. More than 60% of respondents reported a cheetah attack in the last year and reported that killing cheetahs was widespread. www.frontiersin.org/journals/con...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Earlier this year, I made two trips to Sudan, where a terrible civil war has displaced 14 million people. The state is absent, international institutions are weak.Outside powers, motivated by greed and nihilism, have stepped into the vacuum
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
This Is What the End of the Liberal World Order Looks Like
In a post-American world, greed and nihilism are destroying Sudan.
www.theatlantic.com
August 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Earlier this year, I made two trips to Sudan, where a terrible civil war has displaced 14 million people. The state is absent, international institutions are weak.Outside powers, motivated by greed and nihilism, have stepped into the vacuum
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
NEW CHART: Trump's "big beautiful bill" & other efforts to dismantle climate policy means the US will add an extra 7bn tonnes of emissions to the atmosphere from now until 2030, compared to meeting its former climate pledge under the Paris Agreement 🫠
www.carbonbrief.org/...
www.carbonbrief.org/...
July 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM
NEW CHART: Trump's "big beautiful bill" & other efforts to dismantle climate policy means the US will add an extra 7bn tonnes of emissions to the atmosphere from now until 2030, compared to meeting its former climate pledge under the Paris Agreement 🫠
www.carbonbrief.org/...
www.carbonbrief.org/...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Another must read for anyone interested in climate litigation - great @granthamlse.bsky.social report.
www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminst...
www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminst...
Global trends in climate change litigation: 2025 snapshot - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment
An exploration of key trends and evolutions in global climate change litigation from the calendar year 2024, plus important new developments through to May 2025.
www.lse.ac.uk
June 26, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Another must read for anyone interested in climate litigation - great @granthamlse.bsky.social report.
www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminst...
www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminst...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
that’s Elon Musk FRS doing his bit for US science, @royalsociety.org
Hearing now that every National Science Foundation grant is having to go through a new “DOGE review”. So existing grants and long term science and technology research having to undergo review by one of Elon’s interns. Huge percentage not passing their muster.
May 5, 2025 at 6:37 AM
that’s Elon Musk FRS doing his bit for US science, @royalsociety.org
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
(1/4) It was America and Britain that guaranteed the sovereignty of Ukraine and its borders in return for persuading them to give up their nuclear weapons.
April 25, 2025 at 7:28 AM
(1/4) It was America and Britain that guaranteed the sovereignty of Ukraine and its borders in return for persuading them to give up their nuclear weapons.
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
I'm really sorry, but we just need to stop doing this. Your wood-burning hygge leads directly to people's deaths - other people's and perhaps your own.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Map reveals residential wood-burning hotspots in England and Wales
Researchers analyse energy performance certificate data to identify areas with potentially high particle pollution
www.theguardian.com
April 18, 2025 at 8:16 AM
I'm really sorry, but we just need to stop doing this. Your wood-burning hygge leads directly to people's deaths - other people's and perhaps your own.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
If Trump was President in 1940
March 3, 2025 at 12:45 PM
If Trump was President in 1940
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”
Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943
Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943
April 16, 2025 at 8:30 PM
“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”
Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943
Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
I look at close to 100 stories a week and even more outside of work. I’ve done this ten years.
This is among the most horrific things I’ve ever read — testimony from dying children whose access to medicine has been cut off by the Trump administration.
www.npr.org/sections/goa...
This is among the most horrific things I’ve ever read — testimony from dying children whose access to medicine has been cut off by the Trump administration.
www.npr.org/sections/goa...
Haunted by hopelessness: 12 Zambians share their stories as HIV drugs run out
Mothers and children, husbands and wives, doctors, truck drivers and religious leaders are all grappling with the fallout from the sudden U.S. cuts in aid.
www.npr.org
April 17, 2025 at 1:58 AM
I look at close to 100 stories a week and even more outside of work. I’ve done this ten years.
This is among the most horrific things I’ve ever read — testimony from dying children whose access to medicine has been cut off by the Trump administration.
www.npr.org/sections/goa...
This is among the most horrific things I’ve ever read — testimony from dying children whose access to medicine has been cut off by the Trump administration.
www.npr.org/sections/goa...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
2/4. The entire practice of the Holocaust of the Jews involved zones of statelessness. It is easier to move people away from law than it is to remove law from people. Almost all of the killing took place in artificially created stateless zones.
April 15, 2025 at 1:13 AM
2/4. The entire practice of the Holocaust of the Jews involved zones of statelessness. It is easier to move people away from law than it is to remove law from people. Almost all of the killing took place in artificially created stateless zones.
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
I just attended a conference in the US. We had one speaker detained and two others turned away at the border.
There are great conferences and science in the US, but with the way things are right now, it’s too risky to attend.
Australian academics refuse to attend US conferences for fear of being detained
‘When academics fear travelling or partnering with US institutions, the impacts ripple through the entire global knowledge ecosystem,’ one says
www.theguardian.com
April 13, 2025 at 11:10 PM
I just attended a conference in the US. We had one speaker detained and two others turned away at the border.
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
BREAKING from @science.org: The Trump admin is seeking to kill nearly all climate research at NOAA, its climate science agency.
Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency
White House aims to end NOAA’s research office; NASA also targeted
www.science.org
April 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
BREAKING from @science.org: The Trump admin is seeking to kill nearly all climate research at NOAA, its climate science agency.
Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
📢 SDSN President Prof. Jeffrey Sachs and VP Guillaume Lafortune have co-authored a new Correspondence in Nature addressing the recent and explicit opposition to the #SDGs by the United States.
🔗 Read the Correspondence: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🔗 Read the Correspondence: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
April 8, 2025 at 6:33 PM
📢 SDSN President Prof. Jeffrey Sachs and VP Guillaume Lafortune have co-authored a new Correspondence in Nature addressing the recent and explicit opposition to the #SDGs by the United States.
🔗 Read the Correspondence: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🔗 Read the Correspondence: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
There are many people in prison (including Ms Connolly) who in my view do not need to be there.
But I’d venture that better evidence of a two-tier society is a national media outlet offering a soft focus profile minimising racist incitement to violence because a prisoner is married to a politician.
But I’d venture that better evidence of a two-tier society is a national media outlet offering a soft focus profile minimising racist incitement to violence because a prisoner is married to a politician.
April 7, 2025 at 7:52 AM
There are many people in prison (including Ms Connolly) who in my view do not need to be there.
But I’d venture that better evidence of a two-tier society is a national media outlet offering a soft focus profile minimising racist incitement to violence because a prisoner is married to a politician.
But I’d venture that better evidence of a two-tier society is a national media outlet offering a soft focus profile minimising racist incitement to violence because a prisoner is married to a politician.
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
I get the stock market is bad but the equivalent has already happened to foreign aid, research funding, and public health. Everyone didn't freak out because there isn't some ticker on the news measuring the number of cancer researchers and Ebola prevention experts being fired.
April 7, 2025 at 3:29 AM
I get the stock market is bad but the equivalent has already happened to foreign aid, research funding, and public health. Everyone didn't freak out because there isn't some ticker on the news measuring the number of cancer researchers and Ebola prevention experts being fired.
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Essential reading for anyone thinking of travelling to the US. Rebecca Burke's experiences are horrific - but there are many more people still in custody who shouldn't be there. The US is now a failed state. Best leave it well alone.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
I was a British tourist trying to leave America. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre
Graphic artist Rebecca Burke was on the trip of a lifetime. But as she tried to leave the US she was stopped, interrogated and branded an illegal alien by ICE. Now back home, she tells others thinking...
www.theguardian.com
April 5, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Essential reading for anyone thinking of travelling to the US. Rebecca Burke's experiences are horrific - but there are many more people still in custody who shouldn't be there. The US is now a failed state. Best leave it well alone.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Effective immediately: Heard Island will be canceling our contract with Spacex for ALL future space travel. Dr. Amelia Sealhart and CPT Charles Icebergh will be leading our charge to adapt all flightless birds to flight capability. This will supplement our already extensive Albatross Space Force
April 4, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Effective immediately: Heard Island will be canceling our contract with Spacex for ALL future space travel. Dr. Amelia Sealhart and CPT Charles Icebergh will be leading our charge to adapt all flightless birds to flight capability. This will supplement our already extensive Albatross Space Force
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Too edgy for Private Eye?
We recently ran the 1st of 3 ads in Private Eye magazine. But after our 1st they told us they wouldn't run any more.
Did they give in to pressure from the shooting industry or another vested interest?
Private Eye- too establishment for Wild Justice!
We recently ran the 1st of 3 ads in Private Eye magazine. But after our 1st they told us they wouldn't run any more.
Did they give in to pressure from the shooting industry or another vested interest?
Private Eye- too establishment for Wild Justice!
April 4, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Too edgy for Private Eye?
We recently ran the 1st of 3 ads in Private Eye magazine. But after our 1st they told us they wouldn't run any more.
Did they give in to pressure from the shooting industry or another vested interest?
Private Eye- too establishment for Wild Justice!
We recently ran the 1st of 3 ads in Private Eye magazine. But after our 1st they told us they wouldn't run any more.
Did they give in to pressure from the shooting industry or another vested interest?
Private Eye- too establishment for Wild Justice!
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Breaking now: Ministry of Economics reporting the tariffs have not caused significant changes to our trading volumes
April 3, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Breaking now: Ministry of Economics reporting the tariffs have not caused significant changes to our trading volumes
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Never doubt the malevolence of Trump, his staff and his supporters. But also never underestimate their pure incompetence and stupidly
April 4, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Never doubt the malevolence of Trump, his staff and his supporters. But also never underestimate their pure incompetence and stupidly
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
We've been talking an awful lot about how the Trump tariffs will hit the big players: the UK, China, Canada, France, Germany etc
But it's time to talk about the ones who DON'T have loud voices. Because some of the poorest countries in the world are going to be crippled by what happened last night
But it's time to talk about the ones who DON'T have loud voices. Because some of the poorest countries in the world are going to be crippled by what happened last night
April 3, 2025 at 4:53 PM
We've been talking an awful lot about how the Trump tariffs will hit the big players: the UK, China, Canada, France, Germany etc
But it's time to talk about the ones who DON'T have loud voices. Because some of the poorest countries in the world are going to be crippled by what happened last night
But it's time to talk about the ones who DON'T have loud voices. Because some of the poorest countries in the world are going to be crippled by what happened last night
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Fact-checking these pathological liars is exhausting, but important to note that this claim - that US sanctions mean zero trade with Russia, so no tariffs needed - is completely false. By USTR’s own count American imported $3bn of Russian goods last year. ustr.gov/countries-re...
April 3, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Fact-checking these pathological liars is exhausting, but important to note that this claim - that US sanctions mean zero trade with Russia, so no tariffs needed - is completely false. By USTR’s own count American imported $3bn of Russian goods last year. ustr.gov/countries-re...
Reposted by Prof Sarah Durant
Sometimes politics is simple. A man who speaks like an idiot will do idiotic things. That's really the sum total of the political analysis you need to understand what's happening today. But political commentators and investment advisers sought to make it more complicated.
April 3, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Sometimes politics is simple. A man who speaks like an idiot will do idiotic things. That's really the sum total of the political analysis you need to understand what's happening today. But political commentators and investment advisers sought to make it more complicated.