“People prefer to believe what suits their view of the world.”

In times of climate emergency, with scientists evoking… The sixth great extinction of species And enter into an era AnthropoceneEnvironmental information and its dissemination are emerging as a critical element for understanding today’s world. That is why the BBVA Foundation has awarded the Biophilia Prize – which since 2019 recognizes the work of professionals who contribute to improving understanding and awareness of environmental challenges – for digital media. Mongabaya conservation news portal that reports on tropical ecosystems, thanks to its network of journalists and local experts in more than 80 countries.

The non-profit environmental information site was founded in 1999 by American journalist Rhett A. Butler (all content licensed under a Creative Commons license, so other media can report for free) Its articles and reports are published in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hindi and Indonesian.

The grand jury report indicates how Mongabay succeeded in “establishing the relationship between science and journalism By publishing research related to environmental protection while publishing studies with maximum access criteria.” The rule adds language that allowed them to “advertise specific situations or serious environmental problems afflicting communities that are usually neglected by traditional information flows.”

Two of its founder’s personal experiences would define Mongabay’s path. Butler traveled to Ecuador during his childhood. There he communicated with the indigenous community that lived in the Amazon forests. A few months later, it was learned that an oil spill had occurred in the area, causing severe damage to the ecosystem. A few years later, a similar experience in Borneo defined his career path toward environmental journalism: the area he had visited as a teenager became a logging operation and then a palm oil plantation.

For this One of the central elements of Mongabay is the work of local correspondents and its relevance to communities affected by the current biodiversity crisis. “We focus on areas where we can have the biggest impact,” he explains. “The tropics are the richest places in biodiversity and also the most threatened, so they have the most to lose.” Thus, over the course of its more than two-decade history, the outlet he founded has opened offices in Indonesia, India, Brazil and Peru, and its first newsroom in Africa is scheduled to open soon.

Butler points as an example to an article about A Primary forests in GabonPreserved for generations thanks to the work of local communities, it was on the verge of becoming a logging operation after it was concessioned to a Chinese company. The news succeeded in attracting the attention of the authorities, who ended up canceling the license and recognizing the area as a priority protected area.

The journalist also highlights the importance of placing changes in nature in a context that explains their causes through narratives capable of conveying scientific evidence to the public. “We are a translation service that links the data scientists collect with what people actually observe. With your own eyes,” he sums up.

Political polarization and “fake news”

If society’s concern and sensitivity to the environmental crisis has increased in recent decades, new forms of consumption create new challenges when it comes to reporting. The effects of the environmental crisis coincide with “the deterioration of the information system, due to the phenomenon of fake news and its spread through social media networks, which leads to people’s inability to distinguish between what is real and what is not real.” Mongabay stresses that its response to this scenario of rising misinformation is to provide links to the original sources of our information, “to show the scientific data on which we base our articles so that any reader can verify them.”

Another complex challenge at the moment is the problem of politicization and polarization in the climate and biodiversity debate. A context in which “people prefer to believe what suits their view of the world, rather than what the facts show.” “It leads people to stop trusting scientists, because they think they are hiding bias or ideological bias.”

Faced with this challenge, the Mongabay team responds by preparing its information with the intention that it may be relevant and interesting to the largest number of readers, trying to reach even those who typically reject environmental information for ideological reasons.

however, From Mongabay they avoid overly pessimistic tones – which Butler describes as “apocalyptic narratives” – because they believe they can lead to apathy, by creating the feeling that environmental degradation is inevitable. “There is a risk of driving people to despair, but as a recent Reuters Institute study on media consumption reflected, there is one type of information people do not avoid: positive stories that suggest solutions.”

The caller believes that despite the seriousness of the environmental crisis, there are reasons for optimism. “It is true that there is Critical points Environmental (critical tipping points), but there may also be Critical points For positive change, such as the transition to renewable energy and electric cars. “The question is whether we can achieve these changes in time to solve the enormous problems we face.”