In 2025, Mongabay’s investigative journalism earned international honors for stories exposing environmental crime, corruption, and abuse of both people and the environment. Mongabay journalists uncovered hidden public health risks, schemes to take advantage of Indigenous groups, and took personal risk traveling to underreported regions on nature’s frontlines.
Mongabay’s Karla Mendes won first place in the John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism for her investigative report, “Revealed: Illegal cattle ranching booms in Arariboia territory during deadly year for Indigenous Guajajara.” In this three-part series, Mendes uncovered a direct connection between the cattle industry and a spike in violent crime against local Indigenous Guajajara people in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory of the Brazilian Amazon. Federal prosecutors said they will use Mendes’s reporting as evidence in a trial for the murder of Paulo Paulino Guajajara, a forest guardian allegedly killed by loggers in 2019.
Contributor Gloria Pallares won in the Innovation & Investigative Journalism category of the International Anti-Corruption Excellence (ACE) Award, and received an honorable mention from the Trace Prize. Both honors were for her story “False claims of U.N. backing see Indigenous groups cede forest rights for sketchy finance.” Pallares’s investigation dug into false claims by entities in Latin America that they had the backing of the U.N. to convince Indigenous groups to give up economic rights to their forests for decades to come.
The Rio Grande do Sul Press Association awarded second place for national reporting to Mongabay’s Karla Mendes, Philip Jacobson and Fernanda Wenzel, alongside the Pulitzer Center’s Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, for their report, “That ‘fish’ on the menu? In Brazil’s schools and prisons, it’s often shark.” The investigation found the Brazilian government is buying shark meat for consumption in public institutions including schools, hospitals and elder care facilities. The report cites concerns that shark meat, which can be high in toxic mercury, is potentially dangerous to serve in large quantities, especially for children. A follow-up report also raised concerns that endangered angelshark species were being sold under the blanket term peixe anjo, often without the knowledge of the people buying it.
Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo and Latoya Abulu won first place for best international Indigenous coverage from the Indigenous Media Awards. Their investigation, “Reporting confirms alleged Indigenous rights violations in Nepal hydropower project,” underscored complaints by Nepalese yak herders that a hydropower company had fabricated information in its environmental impact assessment, forged signatures, didn’t properly consult the community, and proposed a site that was 90 times larger than what it had received approval for.
Mongabay’s Aimee Gabay won third place for best coverage of Indigenous communities at the Indigenous Media Awards for her four-part series focusing on the struggles that the Yaqui tribe faces for defending its water rights in Sonora, Mexico.
Banner image: Indigenous youth playing soccer in the rain in northeastern Peru. Image by Gloria Pallares for Mongabay.
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