The Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication is a prestigious award granted to professionals and organizations working to enhance public understanding of ecological points.The fifth annual Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication has been awarded to Mongabay for its dedication to reporting on points associated to nature and biodiversity, notably in international locations within the Global South.Past recipients have included The Guardian, in addition to journalists Elizabeth Kolbert, Marlowe Hood, and Matt McGrath.Renowned conservation scientist Jane Goodall, who serves on Mongabay’s advisory board, mentioned Mongabay “not solely highlights the issues on the planet, but in addition discusses options from the bottom up” and that it “tells inspiring tales of individuals combating and risking their lives as they attempt to save lots of wildlife and the setting.”
Mongabay has received the celebrated Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication for its “excellent monitor file” in speaking points associated to nature and biodiversity, particularly in international locations within the Global South.
The Biophilia Award was launched in 2019 by the BBVA Foundation, the charitable arm of considered one of Spain’s largest banks, to acknowledge the work of pros and organizations working to enhance public understanding of ecological points by the dissemination of scientific data and sharing of recent views. The award comes with a money prize of 100,000 euros (about $106,000).
American journalist Rhett Butler based Mongabay in 1999. Image courtesy of Rhett A. Butler
Award-winning journalist Karla Mendes (proper) interviewing sources for a palm oil investigation in Pará, Brazil. Image courtesy of Karla Mendes.
The analysis committee praised Mongabay for efficiently making “the connection between science and journalism by disseminating analysis on environmental safety and making research out there underneath circumstances of most entry.” These achievements have enabled Mongabay to “spotlight particular conditions or critical environmental issues affecting communities that are usually ignored by mainstream information sources,” the committee mentioned.
Founded in 1999 by U.S. journalist Rhett A. Butler, Mongabay is a nonprofit digital platform that has constructed up a community of 800 correspondents in 80 international locations and publishes unique reporting in six languages, together with English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese. Mongabay reviews on points everywhere in the world, nevertheless it has a selected give attention to tropical areas inside Asia and Latin America, that are residence to the richest and most endangered biodiversity.
Romi Castagnino within the cloud forests of Intag Valley, Ecuador. Photo by Liz Kimbrough
Assistant editor of Mongabay Hindi, Manish Chandra Mishra engaged on a narrative on Pashmina producers in India’s trans-Himalayan area of Ladakh.
Mongabay at the moment receives about 4 million guests per 30 days, and its content material, which may be republished freed from cost, frequently seems on platforms like The New York Times, The Washington Post and the BBC. Through its information protection, options and investigations, Mongabay has pushed quite a few impacts, resembling influencing coverage selections within the palm oil business in Indonesia and rising transparency and accountability within the world fishing business.
In addition to publishing world information in English, Mongabay has arrange bureaus in Indonesia, India, Brazil and Peru, and is within the technique of opening its first information desk in Africa. Mongabay additionally works to interact with little one audiences by the platform Mongabay Kids, and runs fellowship and internship packages for rising journalists. The Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Program, which was launched in 2022, offers alternatives for “journalists from biodiversity hotspots in tropical international locations to report on vital environmental points, gaining helpful coaching, expertise, and credibility that can assist them advance their careers in journalism and communications.”
Ana Alvarado of Mongabay Latam reporting on an Indigenous neighborhood within the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Staff author Liz Kimbrough reporting from the cloud forests of Intag Valley, Ecuador the place communities organized to forestall copper mining within the forest. Photo by Romi Castagnino
Previous recipients of the Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication embrace The Guardian, in addition to New Yorker workers author Elizabeth Kolbert, AFP correspondent Marlowe Hood and BBC reporter Matt McGrath.
Butler, who received the 2022 Heinz Award for the Environment for his efforts to advance environmental journalism worldwide, mentioned he believes environmental journalism is more and more related to individuals’s present lives since “we’re all experiencing firsthand the results of local weather change, air pollution, or habitat loss.”
“[I]t’s actually vital for environmental journals to place these impacts in a context that explains why they’re taking place,” Butler mentioned in an announcement to the BBVA Foundation. “We are a translation service between the scientists and their information and what individuals are observing with their very own eyes. And that is of nice worth each in informing the general public and presumably main them to alter their conduct.”
Mongabay workers author Abhaya Raj Joshi reporting in Nepal. Image courtesy of Abhaya Raj Joshi.
Mongabay Indonesia’s program supervisor Ridzki Sigit taking pictures the underwater world in northern Bali. Image courtesy of Ridzki Sigit.
Butler additionally emphasised that Mongabay will not be an advocacy publication, regardless of its mission to report on nature and planetary challenges.
“Our job is to current data on what’s happening somewhat than telling individuals what to do,” Butler mentioned. “But it’s nonetheless doable to drive change by focusing your journalism on sure subjects that mobilize residents so that they attain out to their political leaders.”
In reference to this award, famend conservation scientist Jane Goodall, who serves on Mongabay’s advisory board, mentioned, “Mongabay has grown into what I consider to be one of many best and most widely-read conservation and environmental science websites on the web. It offers correct updated information that focuses totally on wildlife, forests, oceans, and the conservation sector.
“One of the issues that I and others so admire, is that Mongabay not solely highlights the issues on the planet, but in addition discusses options from the bottom up,” Goodall added. “It tells inspiring tales of individuals combating and risking their lives as they attempt to save lots of wildlife and the setting.”
Announcements, Biodiversity, Climate, Communication, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Journalism, Featured, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Journalism, Mongabay Conservation Award, Rainforests, the enterprise of working mongabay, Tropics
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