Mongabay series on palm oil wins national journalism prize in Brazil

The Mongabay series “Palm Oil War,” published between 2021 to 2023, won second place in the text category of Brazil’s National Federal Prosecutor’s Journalism Prize, one of the nation’s most prestigious impact journalism awards. The announcement that Mongabay’s investigative journalist Karla Mendes had won the award was made during a live ceremony on Nov. 23 in Brasília, Brazil’s capital. Judges highlighted the series’ direct impact on environmental justice, citing its use in court cases by federal and state prosecutors. Mendes’ investigation exposed environmental damage and violence hiding behind a façade of certifications and industry promises that granted the burgeoning palm oil industry the status of a sustainable economic alternative for local communities. In the first of three parts, the on-the-ground investigation revealed that Brazil’s top palm oil producer and exporter, Brasil BioFuels S.A. (BBF) had contaminated key water sources in northern Pará state with agrotoxins used in its plantations, making the drinking water unusable for the Tembé people living in the Turé-Mariquita Indigenous Territory, in the Tomé-Açú municipality. The Indigenous community said the contamination also killed off fish and wild game, key food sources for the region’s residents. BBF denies the accusations. Federal prosecutors used Mendes’ findings as evidence in legal proceedings to hold palm oil companies accountable for water pollution on Indigenous territories. In 2022, the prosecutors won the right to carry out a forensic investigation on the environmental impacts of pesticides from oil palm plantations, a breakthrough moment in a challenging eight-year legal battle. In the second and…This article was originally published on Mongabay