A team of journalists in Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina has been awarded our 2025 Historias Sin Fronteras reporting grant for a cross-border project on the impact of climate change on the Inca Trail, an extensive road network of almost 19,000 miles constructed by the Incas through one of the world’s most extreme geographical terrains.

The Qhapaq Ñan, as the Inca Trail is known in the Quechua language, spans six South American countries through the snow-capped peaks of the Andes to the coast, running through tropical rainforests, fertile valleys and harsh deserts.

The journalists will follow the road that connects their story to Indigenous communities in four South American countries as they report on ways that people are adapting to confront climate change as they preserve their ancestral heritage. Theirs is a story of resilience, which is often absent in today’s international climate change discussion. 

The journalists will produce interactive infographics and capture compelling images at this UNESCO World Heritage Site. We plan to publish their multimedia project in the summer of 2025.

Historias Sin Fronteras received 30 outstanding proposals from teams of journalists throughout Latin America in response to our call for projects on adaptation, mitigation and resilience as responses to climate change.

In selecting the proposal by the South American team, the judges noted the project “takes readers on a journey down this road to learn about the climate resiliency projects that are happening in each country.”

“This project pitch embodies not only the spirit of the call for proposals, but of Historias Sin Fronteras,” the judges wrote. “You could not do this story without a multi, cross-border collaboration. It blends Latin American/Incan history and the current climate challenges well.”

This grant is funded with the generous support of individual donors who believe in the importance of climate and environment reporting by Latin American journalists.

InquireFirst awarded the grant to:

Oscar Bermeo Ocaña, an environmental journalist based in Peru, who has written for the environmental news site Mongabay Latam since 2019. He has reported on biodiversity and conservation projects, deforestation, and social problems created by climate change.

Oscar was a Climate Tracker fellow and he has participated in climate mentoring programs, where he wrote about the need for an energy transition in Peru. In 2024, he was a climate research fellow with the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) and CONNECTAS, where he explored the challenges of ecosystem restoration in Peru.

Clara Ferrer Puccio, is an Argentine journalist who has worked for media outlets such as La Voz del Interior, the largest news organization in the country’s interior, and Climate Tracker International.

In 2022, Clara was selected for Climate Tracker’s Media Fellowship. During the program, she conducted three investigations into the impact of climate change in Argentina.

She has reported on the complex relationships between environment and society, conducting investigations and reporting on subjects such as wildlife trafficking, access to drinking water, forest fires, pollution and climate negotiations.

Simón Zapata is a Colombian journalist with a background in community journalism that has allowed him to tell stories from the ground up and highlight environmental struggles, human rights violations, and the resistance of grassroots communities. Through El Cuarto Mosquetero, an alternative media outlet, Simón has conducted investigative reporting on the environmental impacts of extractive projects, water conflicts, and environmental crimes in the Amazon rainforest, as well as social initiatives for environmental conservation.

He was a finalist for the Historias con Propósito award for his special report on the impact of small hydroelectric plants in Antioquia, in the Andes in northwest Colombia.   He currently coordinates an hour-long live broadcast focusing on the environment and is leading an investigation with the support of a CONNECTAS grant on the public health impacts of mercury use in gold mining in the Guainía region of Colombia.

Natalie Gilbert is a Chilean journalist who co-founded the digital media outlet Proyectoaurora.cl, which focuses on the environment, human rights and Indigenous people.

She is also in charge of communications at the Mapuche Association Ad Kimvn and co-host of the podcast “Old Age Behind Bars: Older Women Sentenced Under Drug Law in Chile.”

Iván Carrillo, a Mexico-based science editor and writer and co-founder of Historias Sin Fronteras, will serve as project editor. Iván is part of the 2016-2017 generation of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT. He is a contributor to National Geographic and the Latin American editions of Newsweek and has collaborated with the Discovery Channel and CNN en Español.

A team of journalists in Ecuador and Peru has been awarded a Historias Sin Fronteras reporting grant for a cross-border project on efforts by small farming communities to preserve almost 5 million acres of land along the Peruvian-Ecuadorian border that is the sixth-largest area in the world in plant species and home to hundreds of endangered species.

InquireFirst, in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Department of Science Education, awarded the grant to:

Jonathan Palma, a journalist with the investigative unit of Diario EXPRESO in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he specializes in data and investigation. He also covers politics for the daily newspaper and is a member of the CONNECTAS Hub.

Jonathan’s work focuses on reporting on irregularities in public procurement, public administration, citizen security and prisons, as well as on the environment. His reports have been published by Mongabay Latam, Diálogo Chino, El Espectador and El Nuevo Herald, among others.

One of his most notable environmental investigative projects focused on a Galapagos Islands turtle trafficking organization.

Leslie Moreno Custodio, a Peruvian journalist, photographer and videographer. Leslie covers social justice, environment, identity and health. Her audiovisual work explores subjects from a documentary perspective. She is a member of the Association of Photojournalists of Peru and CONNECTAS Hub.

Leslie has worked as an investigative journalist and photographer at Peruvian media organizations IDL-Reporteros and Ojo Público, where she was on a team whose work was selected as a Finalist for a United Nations global award in the StoryTeller category (2019), and that was singled out for honorable mention for the Inter-American Press Association’s (2018) Journalistic Excellence Award.

Her work has been published in national and international media such as El País, Diálogo Chino, Internazionale and Salud con Lupa, among others.

In response to our call for proposals for projects focused on the conservation of biodiversity, Historias Sin Fronteras received outstanding responses from journalists throughout Latin America.

In selecting the proposal submitted by Jonathan and Leslie, which focuses on efforts by small farming communities in the Ecuador-Peru border region to establish conservation standards to protect species in both countries, the judges noted the project tells an important story that the world is unaware of.

In making their decision, the judges wrote, “We’re really excited about this truly cross-border story! We think the focus on local conservations efforts – including communities that are not often covered in the media – will make for a really impactful package.”

The project will be published in January 2024.

Iván Carrillo, a Mexico-based science editor and writer and co-founder of Historias Sin Fronteras, will serve as project editor. Carrillo is part of the 2016-2017 generation of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT. He is a contributor to National Geographic and the Latin American editions of Newsweek and has collaborated with the Discovery Channel and CNN en Español.

By supporting this regional initiative, InquireFirst and HHMI’s Department of Science Education aim to convene, inspire and encourage the work of science writers in Latin America.