South America

"Amazon Deforestation Hits New Record In Brazil"

"Deforestation of the Amazon hit a new record during the first half of 2022, the Brazilian Space Agency reported Friday, deepening concerns that the vast rainforest’s critical role in protecting the planet’s health will be irreparably damaged."

Source: Washington Post, 07/11/2022

Beat Reporter Looks to Get Ahead of the Story

As Brazil’s wetlands burned and as the country illegally shipped wood from the Amazon and scaled back environmental enforcement amid the pandemic, award-winning journalist Jake Spring of Reuters was there, telling tough, sometimes dangerous stories. Spring shares insights into his “just the facts” reporting, including the surprises and the lessons, and offers some practical advice in this Inside Story Q&A.

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February 10, 2023

DEADLINE: Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Program

Mongabay's new six-month, twice-yearly remote program will support up to 12 young and aspiring journalists from the world's biodiversity hotspots — six at their global English bureau and six at their Spanish-language bureau. No educational prerequisites. Monthly stipend of $500 USD. Next deadline: Feb 10, 2023.

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How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth

In 2006, a local government council in Pennsylvania concerned about sewage sludge dumping enacted the Western legal system’s first formal “rights of nature” instrument. Today, numerous countries have laws recognizing specific rights or even legal personhood for nature. As legal expert Alice Bleby explains, this new perspective arises from a wide range of contexts and plays out in many different ways.

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"New Colombian President Pledges To Protect Rainforest"

"Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first elected leftist president, will take office in August with ambitious proposals to halt the record-high rates of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Petro has promised to limit agribusiness expansion into the forest, and create reserves where Indigenous communities and others are allowed to harvest rubber, acai and other non-timber forest products."

Source: AP, 06/27/2022

"Family Says Bodies Found In Search For Journalist And Colleague"

"The family of a missing journalist says they have been told by Brazilian authorities that two bodies have been found tied to a tree in the Amazon rainforest. The report came more than a week after the journalist and a Brazilian government official went missing."

Source: Washington Post, 06/14/2022

SEJ Statement of Concern on Journalist and Activist Missing in Brazil

The Society of Environmental Journalists joins journalism organizations and many other individuals and groups in calling for Brazilian authorities to redouble their search for British freelance journalist Dom Phillips (pictured) and Brazilian Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, with whom Phillips was traveling on an assignment.

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