Environmental reporting has long been dominated by a narrative of inevitable decline. From the accelerating loss of biodiversity to the relentless climb of global temperatures, the headlines often leave readers with a sense of paralysis. However, a strategic shift in journalism is attempting to counter this “doomerism” by documenting the specific, evidence-based methods that are actually working to protect the planet.
Mongabay has launched a dedicated Solutions Desk to provide a rigorous analysis of how people and institutions respond to nature-based crises. Rather than focusing solely on the problem, this initiative utilizes solutions journalism to examine real-world interventions, analyzing the trade-offs and outcomes to determine if a particular approach is truly effective or merely a superficial fix.
The move is designed to address a psychological gap in climate communication. When audiences are presented only with catastrophe, they often disengage. By documenting “earned hope,” the desk aims to provide a sense of agency to a global community of conservationists, policymakers, and citizens who are actively working to halt deforestation and save species from extinction.
“Years of grim headlines have revealed an uncomfortable truth: when people are offered only catastrophe, many disengage,” said Rhett Ayers Butler, Mongabay founder, and CEO. “By launching a dedicated Solutions Desk, Mongabay aims to rigorously document what’s working in conservation and climate, offering readers a sense of agency and grounded inspiration at a time when the challenges can feel overwhelming.”
The Mechanics of Solutions Journalism
Reporting on solutions requires a different set of editorial tools than traditional investigative or descriptive journalism. It’s not about “feel-good” stories, but about evidence. To ensure the reporting remains independent and rigorous, the Solutions Desk operates with a core team of six staff members and leverages a network of journalists across regional bureaus.
A critical addition to this workflow in 2024 was the appointment of a dedicated solutions researcher, Marina Martinez. This role serves as a scientific checkpoint, tasked with fact-checking claims and verifying evidence before publication to ensure that the “solutions” being highlighted are backed by data rather than corporate rhetoric.
Willie Shubert, Mongabay’s executive editor and VP of programs, noted that the desk exists to bring attention to a “world filled with doers” although remaining honest about the perspectives of “reasonable doubters.” This approach allows the organization to cover complex areas such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and various reforestation projects with a critical eye toward effectiveness.
From Reporting to Real-World Investment
The impact of this journalism is often measured by the actions it triggers in the private and public sectors. One notable example involved the tech giant Microsoft. After senior editor Erik Hoffner shared a series of reports on agroforestry—the practice of integrating trees into agricultural landscapes to improve biodiversity and carbon sequestration—Microsoft leadership incorporated agroforestry into its request for proposals for carbon investments.
By 2021, this led to a first round of investments in two specific agroforestry projects located in Peru, Brazil, and Colombia: Jubilación Segura and the Acorn Project. This transition from a journalistic series to a corporate investment strategy demonstrates how evidence-based reporting can inform socially responsible capital allocation.
Community-Led Conservation and Accountability
Beyond corporate boardrooms, the Solutions Desk focuses on grassroots initiatives that mitigate human-wildlife conflict. In August 2024, reporting on Mujeres Quechua por la Conservación (Quechua Women for Conservation) highlighted a women-led citizen science project in central Peru. The group works to protect wildcats, including the Andean cat and the puma, while creating handicrafts to fund their efforts.
The visibility provided by the reporting resulted in tangible support. Panthera, a global wild cat conservation organization, commissioned handicrafts from the group and provided financial support for materials. Jim Sanderson, founding director of the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, funded a workshop to help the women improve their production techniques, creating a sustainable fresh income stream for the community.
However, “solutions” journalism likewise involves exposing “false solutions.” In December 2022, an exclusive whistleblower account exposed false claims made by Enviva, the world’s largest producer of wood pellets. While the company touted its green credentials, the reporting revealed that its practices did not match its rhetoric.
This investigation had direct policy implications. The Dutch parliament subsequently approved a motion to stop paying subsidies to any biomass company found to be untruthful about its production methods, specifically citing the reporting. The story also provided a catalyst for representatives pursuing a class-action shareholder lawsuit against the company.
Scaling the Impact of Evidence-Based Reporting
The goal of the Solutions Desk is to move the needle from awareness to action. By organizing this effort into a dedicated desk, the organization can expand its capacity to produce reporting that helps global audiences understand which environmental responses are effective and which are not.
This strategic shift is not a departure from the organization’s history but an evolution of it. Previous efforts, including a Special Issue on Conservation Effectiveness and ongoing projects on fisheries and agroecology, laid the groundwork for this formalized approach. The objective remains the same: to ensure that hope is “earned, not manufactured.”
As the desk continues to expand, the focus will remain on the rigorous evaluation of claims and the identification of scalable models that can be replicated in different ecological contexts. By providing a blueprint of what works, the desk aims to reduce the gap between the identification of an environmental problem and the implementation of a successful solution.
Looking forward, the desk will continue to monitor the outcomes of the agroforestry investments in Latin America and the evolving regulatory landscape of the EUDR to provide updated data on their real-world efficacy.
We invite readers to share their thoughts on the role of solutions journalism in climate action in the comments below.
