Shedding light, igniting change

Journalist investigations supported by 2021 GRID-Arendal grants yield concrete results for the environment

By GRID-Arendal

February 25^th, 2022

In 2021, four investigations were supported and published by GRID-Arendal's Investigative Environmental Journalism Grants programme.

We are proud to share their successes and positive changes they have contributed to so far.

Protecting rainforests in Papua

The world's thirst for palm oil is about to destroy Asia's largest remaining rainforest , by Peter Yeung, explored the situation in Papua, where its unique rainforest is being destroyed by palm oil companies with murky owners. The story examined and identified the threat of deforestation of more than a million hectares of rainforest, despite the Indonesian government's pledges to protect it. The investigation also uncovered how indigenous peoples across the region are being systematically denied informed consent for the development taking place on their ancestral land.

After the publication of his work in VICE and on the GRID-Arendal website in August 2021, the article was nominated as one of the best articles of the year on Papua by Indonesia's Alliance of Independent Journalists. Shortly after, a Papuan court made a landmark ruling in favour of Indigenous groups against palm oil plantations, and Indonesia's president revoked more than 2000 concession permits, including those for palm oil. The investigation was promoted widely by organisations such as Greenpeace and Human Rights Watch.

Murky mining

A hazy allocation, written by Tatenda Prosper Chitagu, looked at how two Chinese mining companies were secretly awarded coal mining concessions in the middle of Zimbabwe's biggest game reserve, the Hwange National Park. In the article, he explains how pressure from conservationists and safari owners, who went to the High Court for an interdict, managed to temporarily stop and investigate the illegal return of one of the mining activities, causing environmental damage, river pollution, and human-wildlife conflicts linked to natural habitat reduction.

The publication of his story re-ignited a national debate about Chinese-funded mining ventures in Zimbabwe, trending on social media and picked for re-publication by other news sites. This prompted the mining venture to be put on hold again for now. A lot of stories concerning mining ventures by the Chinese, especially in the Hwange district, started to be published by other reporters inspired by Tatenda's work.

In October, the story was adjudged the best in the 2021 National Mining and Media Awards, and Tatenda was nominated for Best Reporter in the Coal and Gas Sector. More recently, the story won the Overall Mining and Media Awards Best Reporter award.

Women and water

The women who stand against fracking in the middle Magdalena valley, by photographer Lia Valero and journalist María Claudia Dávila, documents the fight of environmental defenders in Puerto Wilches, Santander, a region of northeastern Colombia. This story illustrates how the future of water and biodiversity of the region is in peril, and questions whether or not hydrocarbon exploration should be allowed using fracking techniques. In this fight, several women leaders are putting their lives at risk to defend this territory. In this written and photographic report, María and Lia talk about the environment from a gender perspective. They also present the experiences of those who are committed to the protection of the environment, as Colombia is considered the riskiest country in the world for defenders of natural resources.

After the story's publication via outlets VICE and Mutante, in addition to being reposted and printed in a local newspaper, a podcast was created for Mutante about women environmental defenders who have faced risks in their endeavour.

As part of the social media strategy around this story, an in-depth coverage with Mutante helped to develop an online conversation about women defending the environment around the hashtag #HablemosDeLasDefensorasAmbientales. As a result, several pieces of new content were published, like this manual for the protection and safety of environmental defenders.

Burning bright

Chinese-Run Company Aided By Govt Officials Exports Charcoal And Timber Despite Ban, Threatening Nigeria’s Forests by Chikezie Omeje covered how Chinese-run company Kwo-Chief Investment has maneuvered the Nigerian authorities to continue exporting charcoal to South Korea and rosewood to China, despite the country suspending the exportation of both products.

Following the publication of the story, the investigated Chinese-run company had to stop their timber collection operation in Obollo Afor. In addition, this story helped toward positive national action from the government regarding charcoal export, with the Nigeria Customs Services issuing a circular to all the shipping lines operating in Nigeria to stop accepting timber and charcoal from all Nigerian ports.

Congratulations to all our winners for their great work and the impact they made directly or contributed to! We look forward to reading more about their future work. At GRID-Arendal, we will continue to support investigations by international journalists exposing environmental crime across the globe.