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Katie Surma

Reporter, Pittsburgh

Katie Surma is a reporter at Inside Climate News covering the rights of nature movement and international environmental justice. Her work has a strong focus on the intersection of human rights and the environment. Before joining ICN, she practiced law, specializing in commercial litigation. Her journalism work has been recognized by the Overseas Press Club, the Society of International Journalists, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and others. Katie has a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, an LLM in international rule of law and security from ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, a J.D. from Duquesne University, and was a History of Art and Architecture major at the University of Pittsburgh. Katie lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  • @katiesurma.bsky.social
  • @Katie_Surma
  • [email protected]
An aerial photo shows a large crowd filling a street. Some people hold signs or banners.

Canada’s Mining Firms Are Big Beneficiaries of the Global Order Its Prime Minister Just Criticized

By Katie Surma

Women sit on a sidewalk along the dried-up riverbed of the Zayanderud in Isfahan, Iran, on Dec. 1, 2025. Credit: Hozi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Iran’s Regime Has Survived War, Sanctions and Uprising. Environmental Crises May Bring It Down.

By Katie Surma

Ned Tapa, a Māori leader, paddles down the Whanganui River in New Zealand. Credit: Richard Sidey

‘I Am the River’: How Indigenous Knowledge Reshaped New Zealand’s Law

By Katie Surma

A young Venezuelan miner works in an open pit mine in search of gold in El Callao, Venezuela, on Aug. 29, 2023. Credit: Magda Gibelli/AFP via Getty Images

Trump Wants to Accelerate Extraction in Venezuela. So Do Drug Trafficking Organizations.

By Katie Surma

A Jambato harlequin toad is seen at the Jambatu Center for Amphibian Research and Conservation in San Rafael, Ecuado. Credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images

In Ecuador’s Battle of Toad vs. Road, Toad Wins

By Katie Surma

An Ecuadorian squirrel monkey in the trees of Yasuni National Park in Ecuador. Credit: Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Countries Want Debt Relief for Conservation. Is China Ready to Play a Role?

By Katie Surma, Georgina Gustin

Donald Moncayo, president of the Union of Peoples Affected by Chevron-Texaco, walks toward a gas flare in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. Credit: Katie Surma/Inside Climate News

Latest Twist in Chevron’s Amazon Pollution Saga: Ecuador Ordered to Pay the Oil Company $220 Million

By Katie Surma

Tawanda Majoni, an investigative journalist and founder of Information for Development Trust, stands outside his office in Harare, Zimbabwe. Credit: Katie Surma/Inside Climate News

How China Silences Environmental Reporters Beyond Its Borders

By Katie Surma

Ecuadoreans gather at a polling center in Manglaralto on Sunday to vote on a referendum proposed by President Daniel Noboa to overhaul Ecuador’s constitution. Credit: Marcos Pin/AFP via Getty Images

Ecuador’s Voters Protect Rights of Nature, Reject Proposal to Rewrite Constitution

By Katie Surma

What the Whales Are Saying

ICN Sunday Morning

Sperm whales swim near the Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica. Sperm whales are the deepest diving mammals on Earth, going as far as 3,000 meters. Credit: Amanda Cotton/CETI

AI Is Decoding Whales’ Communications. Could That Be a Turning Point in the Push for Their Rights?

By Katie Surma

An emerald glass frog sits on a leaf in Ecuador’s Mindo cloud forest. Credit: Jon G. Fuller/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Ecuadorians to Vote on Constitutional Rewrite, Possibly Gutting Rights of Nature

By Katie Surma

The Interior Department headquarters is shown from an angle with a person walking up the steps

Trump Targets Federal Employees Working on Conservation and Environmental Protection

By Katie Surma

José Gualinga, a leader of the Kichwa People of Sarayaku, speaks at an Indigenous council event in New York City on Sept. 22. Credit: Courtesy of GARN

How a Declaration of Ancestral Wisdom Is Changing Law, Science and Our Understanding of the World

By Katie Surma

People attend the funeral of Efraín Fueres. Fueres, 46, was gunned down last month in Cotacachi, Ecuador, where he was marching in protest of high costs of living and government crackdowns on Indigenous and environmental activists. Credit: La Raíz

The Death Toll Is Rising from Ecuador’s Crackdown on Protesters

By Katie Surma

Zebras and wildebeests roam around a swamp in Amboseli, Kenya. Credit: Eric Lafforgue/Corbis via Getty Images

The Scientists Making the Case for Nature’s Rights

By Katie Surma

Three Killings Per Week

ICN Sunday Morning

Members of CONAIE observe a moment of silence honoring Efraín Fueres on Monday in Quito, Ecuador. Credit: Franklin Jacome/Agencia Press South via Getty Images

Indigenous Land Defender Killed in Ecuador as Government Cracks Down on Environmental and Human Rights Activists

By Katie Surma

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