To address challenges such as polarization, data scarcity and disconnect with audiences, climate journalism in Latin America must rely on science, local approaches and collaboration, say expert journalists Daniel Nardin and Fermín Koop.
Translating climate change into stories that audiences understand, feel connected to and consider relevant is one of the greatest challenges for journalists covering the environment in Latin America, say journalists Daniel Nardin and Fermín Koop, who specialize in climate data journalism.
Nardin—founder and editor in chief of Amazônia Vox, a platform specializing in the Brazilian Amazon—and Koop—managing editor for Latin America at the global environmental journalism organization Dialogue Earth—agree that, in a region marked by political polarization, difficulties in accessing reliable data and growing environmental disinformation, reporting on the climate entails much more than simply covering natural disasters.
Climate coverage, they said, needs to combine science, data, local context and interdisciplinary collaboration to connect global phenomena with people's everyday lives.
Brazilian journalist Daniel Nardin is the founder and editor in chief of Amazônia Vox, a platform specializing in the Brazilian Amazon. (Photo: Courtesy)
Nardin and Koop will moderate a pair of online roundtables on data journalism and climate change, organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas as part of the “Inside the Newsroom” series.
Nardin will moderate the roundtable in Portuguese on Wednesday, May 26, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. (Brasília time), while Koop will do the same for the roundtable in Spanish on Thursday, May 28, at 11:30 a.m. (U.S. Central Time).
To address the challenge of ensuring that coverage of climate change is not only understood by audiences but also fosters awareness and mobilization, Nardin highlighted solutions journalism—one of the pillars of Amazônia Vox—as a powerful tool.
“There is a form of climate journalism that is very negatively realistic, because reality is not positive,” Nardin told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “The point is how you manage to tell stories about the problem while also highlighting initiatives that seek to address that very same problem.”
One way to attract people's attention to climate issues is to provide coverage focused on the local level—discussing global climate change while emphasizing its impacts on people's immediate surroundings, Nardin said.
“It’s not just a matter of saying that the flood was more intense, but rather having a scientist explain the cause of that flood in your city, in your neighborhood,” Nardin said.
Data is an effective tool for connecting global climate phenomena with local realities, Koop said. However, he said establishing those links with data isn’t always easy.
“Using data to connect the global with the local is one of the major challenges facing climate journalism in particular,” Koop told LJR. “The central idea is to be able to translate something abstract and global into something that a person can connect with their daily life.”
Showing local indicators, using time scales understandable to the general public and supplementing data with social indicators—such as poverty, health or housing—are some strategies for achieving this, Koop said.
However, accessing environmental data is not always straightforward—especially in Latin America, where some countries face issues with transparency or a scarcity of public data—Nardin and Koop agreed.
“We often speak of information that is fragmented, difficult to interpret, fraught with technical uncertainties or presented in formats that are not very accessible,” Koop said. “Translating that complexity into a clear story—without oversimplifying or sacrificing precision—is, I believe, one of the major challenges.”
Nardin said that, in cases like that, collaboration is key.
“There are researchers, universities, think tanks, and civil society organizations that are fully available to share, explain or direct information to journalists,” he said. “Not understanding the data should not be a barrier for journalists.”
Working with scientists and institutions is a fundamental part of climate journalism, Koop agreed. However, in Latin America, establishing this collaboration can present certain challenges—such as a lack of resources or differing work rhythms—he added.
“The challenge is to try to build those collaborations in an effective and sustained manner over time, and to build bridges between those who produce the data and us—those who will try to interpret it and bring it to the public,” he said.
Climate change is one of the topics most prone to political polarization, especially in Latin America, so working in this highly politicized environment is another major challenge for journalists covering this beat, Nardin said.
Strengthening the use of data and scientific evidence, maintaining journalistic rigor and broadening the diversity of sources are some of the key tools for preserving the credibility of climate coverage in the face of this scenario, Nardin added.
Argentine journalist Fermín Koop is managing editor for Latin America at the global environmental journalism organization Dialogue Earth. (Photo: Courtesy)
In Brazil, some signs of polarization include climate denial—which, although it has waned, remains present in certain sectors—and far-right voices claiming that climate change is a leftist agenda, Nardin said.
“As journalists, we increasingly need to use data and science to minimize doubts regarding the climate narrative,” Nardin said. “Journalism needs to speak to everyone—not only to those with a more progressive outlook—but we also need to produce journalism for more conservative audiences.”
Journalistic rigor and the ideological diversity of sources also help journalists identify instances of “greenwashing”—the term used to describe the practice by companies or institutions of presenting their environmental actions as more sustainable than they actually are in order to enhance their public image.
Detecting those narratives and debunking them is another of the challenges for journalism, he said.
Climate change is today a phenomenon that cuts across sectors beyond the environment —such as the economy, health, energy and human rights— Koop said.
That is why, even journalists not specializing in data or climate should learn to analyze and interpret scientific and climate data, and turn it into stories relevant to their respective beats, he added.
“A translation from science to journalism, from data to narrative, and from global to local—that requires specialization,” Koop said. “It is not necessary for every journalist to be a climate journalist or to know how to code, but it is necessary to train colleagues in basic analysis tools, data literacy and collaborative work.”
Events such as the roundtables from the “Inside the Newsroom” series are very useful, Nardin said, because they allow participants to learn about the vast array of tools and open data available to better cover climate issues—resources that many journalists, however, do not know where to find or how to use.
“We will only be able to produce better climate journalism by studying, talking with other people and learning,” Nardin said.
This article was translated with AI assistance and reviewed by Teresa Mioli
