Journalists from around the world are gathered in the state of Pará, northern Brazil, to report on the complexities of international climate diplomacy. Hopefully, they will also bring the Amazon Rainforest and its local communities into the spotlight. But who will continue covering the region once the summit ends? Who will keep listening to the diverse voices of the forest, tell stories about the effects of the climate crisis on indigenous and traditional populations and highlight community-led solutions when the international delegations have left the increasingly hot and deforested city of Belém? Apart from the slow-moving pace of COP negotiations, the UN conference represents a compelling object of study within the field of environmental communication. However, it is important to look beyond the coverage of mainstream media.
The Brazilian media landscape offers different examples of emergent digital media organisations that are broadening the news agenda across the region. Most importantly, they seek to frame stories from the standpoint of the Amazon. For instance, the independent outlet Sumaúma is a trilingual journalistic initiative launched in 2022 by a small group of veteran journalists with the aim of decentralising the debate on the climate emergency and mass extinction of species. Based in Altamira, state of Pará, the outlet makes its position clear: “It is an ally of those who defend enclaves of nature and centres of life”, as stated in its manifesto. The Sumaúma team began covering the preparations for COP30 months ago, paying attention to official statements and the event’s significant logistical problems, but also to what happens on the margins of the conference. The focus on peripheral voices brings deeper narratives about the reality and viewpoints of territories excluded from negotiation tables, avoiding romanticised or exoticised portrayals.
Attesting to the news organisation’s growing relevance, the only scheduled media interview granted by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres before COP30 was to Sumaúma. The interview was conducted by the indigenous journalist Wajã Xipai and the British journalist Jonathan Watts, co-founder of Sumaúma and global environment correspondent for The Guardian newspaper.
O Varadouro is another digital media outlet from the Amazon that is helping to reduce the so-called news deserts in Brazil. Based in Rio Branco, in the state of Acre, one of the poorest in the country, the outlet defines itself as “the newspaper of the jungles”. The slogan originated with the print version of the newspaper, which during the military dictatorship played an important role in resisting the predatory advance of agribusiness in the region where environmental leader Chico Mendes lived and was murdered. The newspaper ceased circulation in 1981 but was reborn in 2023 in digital format. The aim is to produce “journalism from the Amazon for the peoples of the Amazon” (about us page in Portuguese).
The Varadouro team is also in Belém, sharing a house with 20 other independent media outlets that practise an engaged socio-environmental journalism, interested in debates on climate justice and its multiple dimensions. This collaborative experience illustrates the growth of peripheral, native digital journalism that is evolving outside the major Brazilian media conglomerates.
Prioritising the voices of social groups such as Indigenous peoples, quilombolas and riverside communities is central to the mission of Amazônia Real, an investigative journalism agency founded in 2013 by two women journalists. The outlet is covering COP30 from a local perspective, as is Amazônia Vox, a Belém-based platform that connects sources and journalists from across the region. While it is not possible to list here all the examples of independent journalism addressing climate change through the lens of historically silenced voices, many Latin American journalists are actively engaged in this crucial work. The diversity of viewpoints they offer is essential to building a more inclusive and democratic media ecosystem.
(1) https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/climate-change-and-news-audiences-report-2024-analysis-news-use-and-attitudes-eight-countries
(2) https://news.un.org/en/audio/2025/10/1166133