My reporting puts people, communities and their experiences first.
I seek out stories about environment or human rights issues, and where they intertwine, and try to put the people and communities most affected by these issues at the heart of the story.
In 2021, I received a grant from the local TOA-GK (Todos los Ojos en la Amazonia) for In-depth Journalism in the Amazon, and in 2018 was a recipient of the Casa Socio-Environmental Fund for environmental reporting.
Some select publications:
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‘Biologists were not part of the crime food chain’: why Ecuador’s scientists are facing violence, threats and kidnapping (The Guardian)
QUITO, ECUADOR – Raul*, a biologist from Quito, has been leading conservation projects in the Chocó rainforest in north-east Ecuador for more than 20 years. It has not been easy, he says, recalling the threats he has received over the years for reporting illegal hunters and loggers in reserves, but he never considered giving up.Continue…
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‘I’m switched off’: frustration and fatigue as power cuts keep Ecuador in the dark (The Guardian)
QUITO, ECUADOR – It’s 6.30pm in Quito, and Anamary Mazorra Vázquez’sflat has fallen into darkness after weeks of government-mandated power cuts to manage Ecuador’s electricity crisis. She puts clothes away by the light of her phone while her husband, Roberto Vaca,seated on the bed by the window, uses the streetlights to help feed their two-year-oldContinue…
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Trapped in the Tide of Organized Crime (Hakai Magazine)
NARANJAL, ECUADOR – Marcos Ruiz is lying face down in the mud, legs splayed and one arm sunk up to his shoulder in a narrow hole. When he finally grabs the crab burrowing in the hole, he pushes himself out with his other arm and sits back on his heels to examine his prize. TheContinue…
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From pristine forest to prison fortress: why Ecuador is sacrificing fragile ecosystems to build jails (The Guardian)
JUNTAS DEL PACIFICO, ECUADOR – Walking along a path his grandfather once used, Donald Cabrera, a villager from Bajada de Chanduy, on the coast of Ecuador, points out different trees and their uses. Talking about the imposing ceibo trees, he praises the fluffy white kapok fibre that falls from their branches, which his ancestors usedContinue…
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The problem with people: how more tourists and a growing population are taking their toll on the Galápagos islands (The Guardian)
PUERTO AYORA, ECUADOR – In the humid Galápagos highlands, surrounded by tall scalesia trees, biologist Carolina Proaño has her head to the ground, checking nests for signs of new eggs or recent visits. She has long been trying to save the Galápagos petrel, a critically endangered black and white seabird known for making its nestContinue…
Kimberley Michelle Brown 