Dear friends,
Over the last 12 months, 30 journalists have been harassed, threatened, assaulted, detained and even killed for covering environmental issues.
As COP30 begins on 10 November in Belem, Brazil, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is calling on governments around the world to make the protection of reliable information — and those who provide it — a key pillar in the global fight against climate change.
Because without environmental journalists, we wouldn’t have reliable information about what’s happening to our planet — and without that, the actions needed to protect it might never be taken.
Here are the stories of three environmental journalists who have been threatened as a result of their work:
For years, Sneha Barve investigates the illegal extraction of natural resources and the collusion between politicians and business interests in India. This has made her a regular target of threats. On 4 July 2025, while covering an illegal construction site on a riverbed in Manchar (in the Maharashtra State), she was surrounded and brutally attacked by a group of men brought in by the construction contractor — who violently beat her in the face and back with wooden bars. Marcos Wesley, co-founder and coordinator of Tapajós de Fato in Brazil, was forced to relocate last year to protect his family after endless threats, as his outlet’s investigations into deforestation, illegal mining, and the rights of the local community have made him a regular target. Inès Léraud, a freelance journalist based in France, has faced relentless online harassment, smear campaigns, and multiple defamation lawsuits for her investigations into agribusiness in Brittany, green algae pollution, public health and local corruption networks.
Protecting environmental journalists must be a priority in the fight against climate change. Help us defend those who risk everything to expose the truth.
