Gustavo Faleiros

Summary of Madison Activities

Gustavo Faleiros presented a collaborative investigation coordinated by the Pulitzer Center with over thirty students in attendance. In this investigation, Faleiros helped uncover how the application of mercury in mining processes in tropical rainforests is accelerating deforestation and contributing to water contamination. Despite many countries having signed on to an international treaty specifically designed to halt the use of mercury to preserve human health, the underworld of the mercury business remains a threat to life.

Gustavo’s Biography

Gustavo Faleiros is the Director of Environmental Investigations for the Pulitzer Center, where he coordinates the Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN). Based in São Paulo, Brazil, he is an environmental journalist and media trainer specializing in data-driven journalism. In 2012, he launched InfoAmazonia, a digital platform that uses satellite imagery and other publicly available data to report on the nine Amazon rainforest countries.

Before that, he was the editor of the Brazilian environmental news site O Eco. Faleiros began his career as a reporter for Valor Econômico, Brazil’s leading financial newspaper, covering infrastructure and sanitation. He was also twice selected as a Knight International Journalism Fellow at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) due to his work to promote data literacy and geojournalism. Between 2014 and 2017, he worked with the Earth Journalism Network (EJN), where he led the Council of the Partners, the climate mentorship program, and activities in Africa and Latin America.

Faleiros earned a master’s degree in Environment, Politics and Globalization from King’s College London and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP). He has also contributed to several publications such as Nature, Scientific American, The Guardian-UK, Revista Piauí and Folha de São Paulo.