Published articles
Since receiving a British Guild of Travel Writers' New Writers' Award in 2013, I have published articles in the UK and international press, online news outlets and B2B publications. The issues I've covered include animal welfare and wildlife conservation, responsible tourism, LGBT and gender equality, and indigenous rights, among others. I've written for national newspapers, tourist boards, global research centres, NGOs, and environment ministries. You can see a selection of these pieces below.
I have also been interviewed by various news outlets on these topics - you can read these articles here. To find out more about my writing, or to enquire about commissions, please get in touch.
I have also been interviewed by various news outlets on these topics - you can read these articles here. To find out more about my writing, or to enquire about commissions, please get in touch.
This is, perhaps, no surprise; mature trees and public parks are all too often viewed as luxuries, in much the same way as we view private gardens. These are features associated with wealthy neighbourhoods, not poor ones: they are something to aspire to. The problem with this mindset is that trees and nature are not just “nice to have” – they are key to breaking down health inequalities. A 2008 study revealed that where people have greater access to green space, income-related health inequalities are narrower.
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Our disconnect from nature is not equal. Ethnic minorities are twice as likely to live in a neighbourhood without nature-rich spaces, and their health and wellbeing are impacted accordingly. The NHS employs around 1.2 million people; of these, around one in five is of a non-white ethnicity – a figure disproportionately larger than in the working age population as a whole. Greening the NHS estate, therefore, is an opportunity to address this imbalance, and to create more equitable access to green space for those who are least likely to have private gardens, or live close to parks and wild spaces.
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Crucially, unlike most biodiversity tools, the Agrobiodiversity Index is not just about conserving biodiversity – it’s also about how to make better use of it to help achieve sustainable food systems. The index is designed to highlight how agrobiodiversity can be better used to help achieve healthy diets; establish food production systems that are resistant to climate change, pests and diseases, and soil degradation, and that are productive and profitable; and safeguard genetic resources supporting food and agriculture.
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Ideally, provision for trees and woodlands would be embedded into the design of healthcare sites at the very inception of the planning process – hospitals could be excellent candidates for biophilic design, given the number and variety of people this could benefit. In reality, most hospitals will have to find solutions for protecting, managing and expanding the tree cover they already have. Strategically situated trees, visible from ward beds or offices, will have benefits that extend beyond biodiversity and carbon storage. Mature trees offer multiple benefits; actively protecting and managing these should be a priority.
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A small crowd gathered on the paths and patios of the Fern Garden at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre... The sun had gone down several hours earlier and the temperatures hovered above freezing, but the atmosphere was warm and the space was lit by dozens of tealights and lanterns, dotted about the flowerbeds and along the walls. A pot of spiced, mulled apple juice bubbled away on a portable stove, while a firepit cracked in the background, adding to the festive feel.
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Despite the multiple nested benefits of green spaces, the financial commitment to support nature is not yet being made. Much of the discussion on climate change so far focuses on greenhouse gas emissions targets; it is revealing, for example, that the UN’s global Biodiversity COP (the Convention on Biological Diversity), held every two years, is completely independent from the Climate COP, despite increasing recognition that the two issues are entirely interlinked.
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As Colombia focuses on restricting the spread of coronavirus, there have been calls for illegal armed groups to lay down their weapons. But while the National Liberation Army has declared a month-long ceasefire as a “humanitarian gesture”, other groups have not followed suit – and some have been threatening civilians in the name of “preserving lives.” Across much of Colombia, these groups have long acted as the de facto law enforcers in the absence of police and other governance.
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The speakers came from the DRC, Colombia, India and Indonesia, but their stories were alarmingly similar. Across the world, indigenous and human rights defenders are being attacked, harassed, criminalised and killed. They are being evicted from their land in the name of conservation, or to make way for agribusinesses and mines. And although national and international laws exist to protect them, these are not being enforced. As a stark example of the danger these local communities face on a daily basis, a sixth defender was unable to join the as rising levels of violence around his community prevented his travel.
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Sea turtles have existed since the time of the dinosaurs, and have had millions of years to adapt to their environment. However, they have had just a few decades to come to terms with mass coastal development, plastic waste, light pollution, beach tourism and deep sea fishing, and unsurprisingly, their numbers have plummeted. Combine this with the poaching of adult turtles and their eggs for food, with their shells used to make highly valuable tortoiseshell, and it is no wonder that six of the seven species of sea turtle are now classified as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
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... Social media is proving to be a double edged sword. On one hand, it encourages tourists to go after ever more thrilling shots of themselves petting tigers and feeding monkeys. But on the other, it means that what happens in Thailand no longer stays in Thailand; 'what you do when you’re on holiday' is now being judged by those back home. It may have been fun to be “kissed” by a caged giraffe, but we now have to consider whether or not this photo will look quite so amusing when held up to the scrutiny of Instagram and Facebook.
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Barcelona is one of those cities that seems just about perfect. It perches on the edge of the Mediterranean, has a gorgeous climate, is big enough to have plenty going on but small enough not to be overwhelming, and its streets are filled with glorious architecture. While 1.6 million people are lucky enough to call Barcelona home, many more choose the city as a holiday destination. A lot more - close to 32 million each year, in fact. Try get your head around that number is difficult; trying to elbow your way down La Rambla in peak tourist season is even harder.
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When markets become saturated with tourists seeking the most Instagrammable ingredients or selfie-worthy smoothies, prices can rise, greengrocers and butchers can be replaced by juice bars and takeaway food, and crowded aisles can make it near impossible for residents to do their weekly shop. Worst of all, the culture – which is what attracts so many people in the first place – is lost, as tourists outnumber local people and generic souvenir stands spring up on every corner.
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Just as humans would struggle to survive in the sea turtles’ natural habitat, turtles face many threats when they become too deeply immersed in ours. Sea turtles have long life spans and disappear to sea after hatching, often for at least a decade. Some species do not reproduce until they are 20 or 30 years old. Because of this, any damage that occurs when they are tiny may not become apparent for decades. This is a long time to wait before knowing if your actions are helping or harming.
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... Hundreds of sustainability events are staged around the world, but they are attended by people who are already interested in – and aware of – the subject, from business owners and travellers, to conservationists and academics... One of the key benefits of responsible tourism is to support local communities and businesses, but these beneficiaries rarely attend the awards ceremonies and conferences themselves and are seldom given the opportunity to speak. Travellers should question how their tour operators engage with and involve local people – do sustainable tourism events ever publish a summary of the speakers and attendees, so they can really monitor diversity?
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...This is one of the last remaining stretches of Chocó rainforest, and it shelters monkeys, sloths, armadillos and FARC guerillas, inching over the Colombian border. It is also home to Afroecuadorians; the descendants of former African slaves and miners who had escaped or been freed centuries ago... Here, far from mainstream Ecuadorian society, they maintain customs and cuisine and superstitions brought with them from Africa. They play marimbas and maracas – instruments hewn from the forest; and dance, all shuffling feet and shaking hips, to haunting vocals brought straight over from the homelands they cannot remember, but whose rhythms they still hear in their dreams.
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... Twenty years into the voluntourism 'experiment, we are able to see what has worked and what has not. Orphanage volunteering, for example, has proven disastrous in many regions, with children becoming a commodity and places such as Siem Reap - a town of 100,000 - now having 35 orphanages: an increase which directly matches the number of tourists visiting Cambodia. These institutions are there to cater not for the town's orphans, but for the endless line of fee-paying volunteers.
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... So here we were, having scrambled up slippery rocks beside the waterfall, and emerged from the tropical sunlight into a dark, jungle-smothered landscape, glimpsing flashes of motmot and kingfisher; feathered fireworks in the forest twilight. Our sandals stowed, we proceeded, slowly, via rock and river. The ankle-deep freshwater was pleasingly cool. My pace was urban-clumsy, but Porridge was patient, carrying my bag, my camera and – once – me across the trickiest terrains. He identified thorny bushes and stinging shrubs – though as jungles go, Tobago’s is a treat, with no venomous snakes, no jaguars or piranhas. The greatest danger was the wet rock, polished perilously smooth by the pounding water.
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...This is a country-within-a-country, an autonomous region whose inhabitants speak, without irony, of what happens “In Spain…” as if it were a foreign nation. The feeling of otherness is compounded by the sounds of Catalan, a language that seems more Italian or Portuguese than Castilian Spanish, and whose strangely accented letters cover menus, signposts and tourist brochures, running free across the pages after decades of oppression during the Franco dictatorship. No ‘ñ’ here; we are in Catalunya.
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...I wobbled on my paddle board with anticipation.
“It’s the bio!” said Duane.
For two weeks around each new moon, bioluminescence flickers across Tobago's Bon Accord Lagoon. Movement sparks chemical reactions, causing the tiny organisms to gleam an indescribable colour, the shade of stars and static and glowworms. Fish darted past; shooting stars beneath a moonless sky. We glided under the mangroves where the darkness made the bio brighter, and Duane rattled a fat mangrove root, sending sparks streaking into the deep. He laughed and dived in after them, waving his arms and legs, a glowing snow angel.
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“It’s the bio!” said Duane.
For two weeks around each new moon, bioluminescence flickers across Tobago's Bon Accord Lagoon. Movement sparks chemical reactions, causing the tiny organisms to gleam an indescribable colour, the shade of stars and static and glowworms. Fish darted past; shooting stars beneath a moonless sky. We glided under the mangroves where the darkness made the bio brighter, and Duane rattled a fat mangrove root, sending sparks streaking into the deep. He laughed and dived in after them, waving his arms and legs, a glowing snow angel.
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Ethiopia has an image problem. Say the word 'Ethiopia' to many people, and the images that spring to mind are not from holiday brochures – but from decades-old news reports. This vast nation - the 'cradle of humankind', with phenomenal architecture and over 70 languages – boils down to a few minutes of heart wrenching footage of the 'biblical' famine of the 1980s. For a rapidly developing nation with a huge tourism potential, this is tricky. Why would anyone want to go on holiday to a sun-baked desert full of famine-ravaged, fly-swatting children? As crucial as those images were at the time in sparking the biggest fundraising effort the world had ever known, they have sadly condemned Ethiopia to live in the shadow of its past.
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...As I awake to Viñales’ natural alarm clock of roosters and braying donkeys the following morning, the aroma of Cubita coffee curls around the house. Breakfast is a feast of pineapple, papaya and sharp, pink guayaba, followed by bread with cheese and homemade guava jelly. Today is to be spent with Fidel and an obedient little horse called Mojito who will carry me in the Caribbean heat to Fidel’s organic farm – which also just happens to be one of the most impressive viewpoints in all of Viñales.
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Loco locals & Pickled expats
published on my blog, 2013
… At Camp Gringo, the main concerns seem to be running out of booze, running out of insect repellent, and running out of other people´s wives to sleep with. The air conditioning pumps out a constant stream of lucidity, the only thing that allows you to think straight in this cauldron of heat and humidity and chomping insects. The expats dull these moments of clarity with rum and tobacco and the fuzz of late night bars... In town, across the twinkling waters, the bugs are fewer, replaced by leech-like men: loco locals and pickled expats, attracted to light eyes and freckles and exposed skin like moths round a candle. “Hermosa,” they say, “Que bella!” They give you a hibiscus, a blessing, a kiss on the back of your hand. They call you an elf, an angel, and ask after your boyfriend, and their bloodshot eyes are mournful and lost and lonely.
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... Pally was born in the township of Mondesa, just outside Swakopmund. His first time on a board was in 2005, during his final year of school. "I remember I was so nervous because I thought I was going so fast!" he laughs. Fortunately, this initial fear soon wore off. After mastering his technique on the dunes of the Namib, the world's oldest desert, he began working as a boarding instructor for another operator. He founded Ultimate Sandboarding in 2010 with a just a few donated boards from European and American snowboarders, and has since amassed a collection of 15 boards and 13 pairs of boots - enough to fit all ages and sizes. Now, he says, "I can't picture doing anything else!"
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