“Deforestation, Inc.” from ICIJ Wins 2024 John B. Oakes Award
Global Investigation into Forest Destruction and Human Rights Violations
“Deforestation, Inc.” by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has won the 2024 John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism. The in-depth investigative series exposed how a lightly regulated sustainability industry overlooks forest destruction and human rights violations, all while granting green certifications that provide false assurances to consumers, governments and investors.
Led by reporter Scilla Alecci, journalists working with ICIJ in 28 countries followed loggers’ footprints from harvested protected woodlands in Finland, to clear-cut areas of South Korea, and to British Columbia’s pock-marked forestlands. The reporters talked to Indigenous community members, forest-preservation advocates, forestry auditors and industry insiders; journalists examined hundreds of court filings, violation data and leaked documents in more than a dozen languages.
ICIJ’s findings reveal how some companies misrepresent their commitment to ending the global climate crisis while exploiting precious natural resources under the “sustainability” banner. Meanwhile, forested areas that combined are larger than the European Union have disappeared since 1990. More and more forests keep vanishing to provide dubiously labeled products. The series re-energized the global debate about greenwashing and deforestation and has alerted readers all around the world to the urgency of the crisis.
The Two Finalists for the 2024 Oakes Award are:
- “The Bat Lands,” by Staff at Reuters, for Reuters
- “In Harm’s Way,” by Susie Cagle and The Marshall Project
More about the 2024 Oakes Finalists:
- The links between environmental destruction and human health are revealed in “The Bat Lands,” a remarkable investigation from the Reuters team, including journalists Ryan McNeill, Helen Reid, Allison Martell, Cooper Inveen, Deborah J. Nelson, Matthew Green and Michael Ovaska. In this series, the team has accomplished a feat of data journalism, using a detailed and highly technical satellite imagery analysis to map the likely locations of the next outbreak of a dangerous bat-borne pathogen.
- The Marshall Project took on a project that doesn’t often capture our attention: the dangers of climate change and a “ghost lake” that floods a community. Only this community consisted of two prisons, and those inside understood that there was “nothing” that could be done – except practice journalism. The team, including Susie Cagle, Geoff Hing, Katie Park, David Eads, Raghuram Vadarevu and Meredith Rizzo, told the story in a long-form comic. Cagle interviewed more than a dozen incarcerated people, their families and officials, dug into records and talked with experts along with Hing, and created graphic journalism to detail how the two California prisons were putting more than 8,000 incarcerated persons at risk.
Honorable Mention:
- Climate scientists have long predicted that Americans will take climate change seriously when it hits home, and they can no longer afford or obtain property insurance. In a four-part series published in Grist, in collaboration with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Lois Parshley has shown that such a day has arrived for more and more of us. In stories that crisscross the country, she explains that it’s not just climate-amplified hurricanes and superstorms, but the increasing frequency and severity of “secondary perils,” including flooding, wind and wildfires.
The 2024 Oakes Award winners and finalists will be honored on Monday, September 23, at Columbia Journalism School. The "Deforestation, Inc." team will receive a $5,000 prize, each finalist will receive a $1,500 prize, and the honorable mention recipient will receive $500.
Given annually for news reporting that makes an exceptional contribution to the public’s understanding of environmental issues, the Oakes Award was founded in 1993 by family, friends and colleagues of John B. Oakes (1913-2001). Oakes was an environmental journalism pioneer and an editorial writer for The New York Times.
2024 John B. Oakes Prize Citations
Winner: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for “Deforestation, Inc.”
Journalist: Lead reporter Scilla Alecci
Judges’ Citation:
“Deforestation, Inc.” is an impressive journalistic feat that provides a global look at the burgeoning environmental auditing sector that claims to verify forest protection efforts but, as the project documents, often overlooks environmental challenges and human rights violations. Led by Scilla Alecci of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the project brought together reporters from 28 countries to explore and explain the contours of this growing industry in a series of stories. Reporters dug into leaked documents, court filings and on-the-ground reporting in indigenous communities and elsewhere. The reporting includes specific examples of malfeasance, which has prompted action from government and companies. Readers learn about wood purchases in Myanmar from entities linked to the country’s military regime, a Singaporean firm contributing to deforestation in Indonesia, and links between a Canadian paper company and an overseas forestry company tied to human rights abuses. The judges were impressed with both the breadth and depth of the project: stories often hop between geographies, demonstrating the global nature of the industry, while providing readers with an up-close view of the deforestation challenge from a new lens. Importantly, the project provides an exemplary model for global collaboration in environmental reporting.

Finalist: Reuters for “The Bat Lands”
Journalists: Ryan McNeill, Helen Reid, Allison Martell, Cooper Inveen, Deborah J. Nelson, Matthew Green and Michael Ovaska
Judges’ Citation:
The links between environmental destruction and human health are revealed in “The Bat Lands,” an incredible investigation from the Reuters team, including journalists Ryan McNeill, Helen Reid, Allison Martell, Cooper Inveen, Deborah J. Nelson, Matthew Green and Michael Ovaska. In this series, the team has accomplished a feat of data journalism, using a detailed and highly technical satellite imagery analysis to map the likely locations of the next outbreak of a dangerous bat-borne pathogen. The analysis has already accurately predicted one outbreak: the Marburg virus outbreak in Ghana. “The Bat Lands” series is notable for its global reach, linking together stories on rapid deforestation in Brazil, mining in West Africa, and environmental disruption from a railway development in Laos. This journalistic effort incorporated detailed and beautifully designed data visualizations, maps and documentary video. On the ground with the researchers studying bats and the people who live alongside them, “The Bat Lands” contextualizes a world of complex science that could help us prevent the next pandemic. Protecting natural environments and bat habitats may be the key way to do so.
The Reuters team is donating their prize winnings to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Finalist: Susie Cagle and The Marshall Project for “In Harm’s Way”
Journalists: Susie Cagle, Geoff Hing, Katie Park, David Eads, Raghuram Vadarevu and Meredith Rizzo
Judges’ Citation:
Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow Susie Cagle and The Marshall Project took on a project that doesn’t often capture our attention: the dangers of climate change and a “ghost lake” that floods a community. Only this community consisted of two prisons, and those inside understood that there was “nothing” that could be done – except practice journalism. Cagle interviewed more than a dozen incarcerated people, their families and officials, dug into records and talked with experts along with Geoff Hing, and created graphic journalism to detail how the two California prisons were putting more than 8,000 incarcerated persons at risk. Cagle matched the in-depth reporting with extraordinary graphics producing a detailed report that is a frame-by-frame account of the dangers and the reluctance of corrections officials to inform that vulnerable community. Katie Park designed and produced the website. David Eads, Raghuram Vadarevu and Meredith Rizzo edited the piece. The judges were impressed by the storytelling and artwork depicting scenes from inside the Corcoran prison complex based on interviews with people behind bars who see an eventual flood as inevitable.
Honorable Mention: Grist for “As climate risks mount, the insurance safety net is collapsing”
Journalist: Lois Parshley
Judges’ Citation:
Climate scientists have long predicted that Americans will take climate change seriously when it hits home, and they can no longer afford or obtain property insurance. In a four-part series published in Grist, in collaboration with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Lois Parshley has shown that such a day has arrived for more and more of us. In stories that crisscross the country, she explains that it’s not just climate-amplified hurricanes and superstorms, but the increasing frequency and severity of “secondary perils,” including flooding, wind and wildfires. First comes the cataclysmic event, then the financial ruinous aftermath for those who thought their nest egg was covered. It’s an impressive body of work for this intrepid freelancer. She takes readers on a revelatory exploration of the insurance and reinsurance industries that face economic collapse with enormous payouts. In clear-eyed analysis, she distills and clarifies the arcane world of actuaries, conflicting government policies and claims processing. It’s an exemplary work of explanatory journalism to give readers a peek into what’s coming in a warmer world.
John B. Oakes Award Jury
The 2024 John B. Oakes Award Jury: Emilia Askari, an environmental journalist and educator, chair; Talia Buford, Assistant Managing Editor at ProPublica; Jeff Burnside, an independent journalist who has spent more than 20 years working as an investigative reporter; Susan Goldberg, president and CEO of the GBH Educational Foundation, former editor-in-chief of National Geographic Magazine; Laura Kurtzberg, an assistant professor at Florida International University, a data analyst with the Pulitzer Center and the data visualization lead for Ambiental Media; Bernardo Motta, associate professor of journalism at Roger Williams University, educator and researcher; Anna Oakes, an audio producer and editor at Hark Audio, and granddaughter of John B. Oakes; Hayley Smith, an environmental reporter with the Los Angeles Times; Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Kenneth R. Weiss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who writes about science, environment and public health; Justin Worland, Washington D.C.-based senior correspondent at TIME covering climate change and the intersection of policy, politics and society.
About Columbia Journalism School
For more than a century, the school has been preparing journalists in programs that stress academic rigor, ethics, journalistic inquiry and professional practice. Founded with a gift from Joseph Pulitzer, the school opened its doors in 1912 and offers Masters of Science, Masters of Arts, a joint Master of Science degree in Computer Science and Journalism, and Doctor of Philosophy in Communications. It houses the Columbia Journalism Review, the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. The school also administers many of the leading journalism awards, including the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes, the John Chancellor Award, the John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism, Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award, and the Mike Berger Award. www.journalism.columbia.edu
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