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As part of our customary year-end social media campaign, we asked EJN network members and environmental journalists beyond our network to share the story they were most proud to have produced in 2022.
We received more than 80 entries at the end of last year, with journalists responding from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas and Europe. Here are just a few for you to peruse. We’re thrilled at the breadth and depth of this crowd-sourced reading list, from environmental journalists around the world who submitted stories to share with their peers.
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Emily Senkosky shared a story about how international demand for avocadoes is putting pressure on the Colombian ecosystem. “Avocados ... have become increasingly trendy thanks to fad diets, and people are consuming them more and more out of season. This comes at an environmental price for the country of Colombia.”
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From Kenya, journalist James Kahongeh sent in his story on how pastoralists in northern Kenya are seeking solutions to reduce violence and land use conflicts. “Climate change is making things worse as herders venture further afield to look for grazing fields for their livestock. This has complicated conservation efforts in ecosystems in this region. But ... there are community initiatives to conserve biodiversity. It is a story of hope amid hopelessness.”
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Journalist Guillaume Pajot from France shared a piece on Myanmar's timber industry, which supplies European markets with highly prized teak and other wood, fast depleting the country’s forests. “I worked on this investigation with journalists from Italy and Germany … I really encourage other journalists to do the same when they tackle big reporting projects like this one.”
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From Malaysia, journalist Soon Li Wei sent in her reporting on how deforestation and illegal logging in the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia is affecting Indigenous communities. “Their traditional spiritual ceremony, which involves nature resources such as leaves and bamboo, has been heavily damaged.”
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In Nigeria, EJN grantee Justice Nwafor shared a three-part series supported by EJN. He investigated the impacts of oil and gas extraction and sea level rise on the country’s Niger Delta communities. “I felt a burden to tell a story that‘d be driven not only by data but by the experience of poor indigenous people whose farmlands, fishponds and rivers were greatly affected.”
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From Ecuador, journalist and EJN grantee Franklin Vega sent in a story about the decline of the Galapagos’ pink iguanas. “For me, after 50 years of international efforts to protect the Galapagos, it seems that only journalism can find the truth.”
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In Nepal, EJN grantee Sanjib Chaudhary submitted his recent story into the country’s traditional healers, whose livelihoods might die out as a result of the changing climate. “My late grandfather was a traditional healer and with EJN’s support, I tracked down some of my his disciples to write the story.”
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From Syria, Loujeina Haj Youssef and Mais Katt submitted an investigation into how years of conflict have polluted and destroyed Syria’s ecosystems. “The effects can last for decades, causing ongoing pain to the ecosystem and its inhabitants.”
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From Scotland, journalist Sean Mowbray sent in his reporting on the environmental impacts of cocaine production and trafficking. “Many of the impacts connected to cocaine production and trafficking are well-known … while others, such as pollution, fly under the radar.”
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Zuha Siddiqui in Pakistan shared her piece on the impacts of climate change in Karachi, one of the world’s largest cities. “My story traces the human cost of climate change and centers an activist group fighting for solutions that ensure justice for all – not just the wealthy.”
Be sure to check out these other entries, as well:
- From Protus Onyango in Kenya, a look at how foreign fishing is overexploiting the country’s marine ecosystems.
- From Tazeen Qureshy in India, a story on seed banks in Odisha protecting the country’s Indigenous seed diversity.
- From Gladstone Taylor in Jamaica, an exploration of how mining permits were recently granted in the country’s rare limestone karst rainforest.
- From Tracy Keeling in the United Kingdom, an article that asks a key question: Should the ocean have legal rights?
- From Ahmed El-Affendi in Sudan, a data-driven piece about the potential impacts of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Sudanese Blue Nile Basin.
- From Nanami Nakagawa in Japan, a series of stories from nonprofit investigative newsroom Tansa investigating the continued presence of PFOAs, carcinogenic chemicals used to make Teflon that were previously banned in the country.
- From Zobaer Ahmed in Bangladesh, a documentary from DW Asia on an island in the climate-vulnerable country that risks disappearing entirely.
- From Santiago Navarro F in Mexico, an investigation into illegal oil palm cultivation in the country’s Pacific coast region.
Search #YourBestStory on Twitter to read more entries.
We look forward to supporting – and reading, viewing or listening to – more compelling environmental stories in 2023!
Banner image: Police burn a coca lab in Tumaco, Colombia, 2008. Image by Colombian National Police via Flickr.