South American team awarded HSF grant to report on climate change on the Inca Trail
A team of journalists in Peru, Colombia, Argentina and Chile has published a sweeping a cross-border project on the impact of climate change on the Inca Trail with the support of a Historias Sin Fronteras reporting grant.
The Qhapaq Ñan, as the Inca Trail is known in the Quechua language, is an extensive road network of almost 19,000 miles constructed by the Incas through some of the world’s most extreme geographical terrains. The Inca Trail 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.
Four journalists who teamed with four photojournalists followed the road that connects their story to Indigenous communities in South American countries as they reported on ways that people are confronting the challenges of climate change as they struggle to preserve their ancestral heritage.
Historias Sin Fronteras reporting grants supported the work of 14 journalists from seven countries – Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and the United States – on the project. Reporters, photojournalists, editors, infographics designers, a website developer and translators (who translated the project from Spanish to English and Portuguese) spent months on this comprehensive investigation of the impact of climate change on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The project was published in November 2025 and has been published by media organizations in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico and the United States. It can be read in its entirety here
In selecting the proposal by the South American team as the recipient of a Historias Sin Fronteras grant, the international panel of 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.”
The grant was 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, 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, 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, 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 science writer and editor based in Spain and co-founder of Historias Sin Fronteras, was the project editor. Iván is a 2025 recipient of the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Award for Excellence in Science Communications. 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. In 2016-2017, he was the recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT.
