Environmental Crimes Don’t Stop at Borders. Neither Can the Reporting.
As global demand for gold remains high, illegal mining operations across the Amazon have become increasingly sophisticated. When Brazil intensified its enforcement efforts to curb the trade, criminal syndicates simply pivoted, rerouting illegally extracted gold through Venezuela to facilitate money laundering before shipping it to international markets.
This complex, cross-border reality underscores a fundamental truth for modern investigative journalism: environmental crimes do not respect national boundaries. To effectively hold these actors accountable, reporting must be equally transnational.
This is the philosophy that drives Daniela Quintero, an investigations editor at Mongabay Latam, who has spent her career bridging the gap between field reporting, scientific data, and legal analysis to expose illicit activities across Latin America.
Bridging Science and Storytelling
Based in Bogotá, Quintero leads a rigorous approach to environmental journalism. Her methodology integrates traditional investigative techniques—such as deep-source building and field reporting—with modern technological tools, including satellite imagery analysis, environmental databases, and forensic examination of legal documents.
“Environmental stories are never just about nature,” Quintero explains. “They’re also about power, inequality, corruption, Indigenous rights, organized crime, and the people trying to protect their territories.”
In addition to her editorial work, Quintero manages the Nature Crimes Fellowship, a program training senior journalists from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. By equipping reporters with advanced investigative tools, she is fostering a new, collaborative culture in the region’s media landscape.
A Career Defined by Curiosity
Before joining Mongabay in early 2025, Quintero honed her craft at El Espectador, one of Colombia’s most historic newspapers. Her portfolio is diverse, ranging from investigations into the collapse of glass-eel fisheries in the Dominican Republic to the systemic laundering of Amazonian gold.
Reflecting on her journey, Quintero notes that environmental journalism was once a peripheral beat in the Colombian media, which historically favored politics and conflict reporting. Today, she views her work as a vital service to both the environment and the public. “I’m naturally curious, and I feel really passionate about understanding and writing about those topics,” she says. “Environmental journalism allows me to explore things outside my immediate reality.”
Challenging the Narrative
When asked about her home country, Quintero is quick to push back against the monolithic portrayal of Colombia often seen in international headlines.
“People usually only hear about the bad things,” she says. “But Colombia is an amazing country with incredible biodiversity and many people working to conserve ecosystems… there are many local initiatives confronting these issues and trying to preserve what we have.”
For aspiring journalists, Quintero offers a simple yet potent piece of advice: stay curious and stay obsessed. She encourages young reporters to lean into the complexity of their subjects rather than shying away from it. By meticulously documenting the nuances of environmental crimes, journalists can move beyond surface-level narratives to create real-world impact.
“The best investigations often come from the questions that others stop asking,” Quintero concludes. Through her leadership at Mongabay, she ensures that those questions continue to be asked—and that the answers reach those who need to hear them most.
