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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]
Aerial view of Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. The country is currently facing claims through the investor-state dispute settlements process, or ISDS, from three foreign mining companies seeking more than $30 billion, twice its gross domestic product.Credit: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

A Shadowy Corner of International Law Is Threatening Climate Action, U.N. Expert Warns

By Nicholas Kusnetz, Katie Surma

“We are Ome Yasuni.” Members of the Baihuaeri community of Bameno stand before a ceibo tree in their ancestral territory inside Yasuni National Park. Credit: photo courtesy of the Ome Yasuni association and Javier Awa Baihua.

After Decades Of Oil Drilling, Indigenous Waorani Group Fights New Industry Expansions In Ecuador

By Katie Surma

In Helena, Montana, the legal team representing Our Children's Trust in June at the nation's first youth climate change trial in Montana's First Judicial District Court. (L-R) Barbara Chilcoot, Nat Bellinger, Phil Gregory and Roger Sullivan. Sixteen claimants, ranging in age from 6 to 22, are suing the state for promoting fossil fuel energy policies that they say violate their constitutional right to a "clean and healthful environment." Credit: William Campbell/Getty Images.

Climate Litigation Has Exploded, but Is it Making a Difference?

By Katie Surma

Artisanal miners carry sacks of ore at the Shabara artisanal mine near Kolwezi on October 12, 2022. Credit: Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images

Mining Critical to Renewable Energy Tied to Hundreds of Alleged Human Rights Abuses

By Katie Surma

Aruba seen from commercial airliner. Credit: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Aruba Considers Enshrining the ‘Rights of Nature’ in Its Constitution

By Katie Surma

Two Kokanee salmon spawning in a small stream. Credit: Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics /Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Lawsuit Asserting the ‘Rights of Salmon’ Ends in a Settlement That Benefits The Fish

By Katie Surma

An inside view of International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on July 23, 2018. Credit: Abdullah Asiran/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The UN Wants the World Court to Address Nations’ Climate Obligations. Here’s What Could Happen Next

By Katie Surma

Aerial view showing the construction of the Mayan Train between Tulum and Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo State, Mexico, on April 14, 2022. Credit: Carlo Echegoyen/AFP via Getty Images

A ‘Rights of Nature’ Fact-Finding Panel to Investigate Mexico’s Tren Maya Railroad for Possible Environmental Violations

By Katie Surma

Eduardo Mendúa (center), an Indigenous Ecuadorian activist fighting oil extraction in the Amazon rainforest, was shot to death in his garden on Sunday. Photo Courtsey of Kayla Jenkins

Eduardo Mendúa, Ecuadorian Who Fought Oil Extraction on Indigenous Land, Is Shot to Death

By Katie Surma

José Pepe Manuyama, who is featured in the documentary film "Stepping Softly on the Earth," stands before a graveyard in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo courtesy of Marcos Colón.

Director Marcos Colón Takes an Intimate Look at Three Indigenous Leaders’ Fight to Preserve Their Ancestral Connection to Nature in the Amazon

By Katie Surma

The Cacique Nelson, of the tribe of Guaranis, walks in a deforested area of the old Atlantic Forest on Jan. 26, 2017. Credit: Diego Herculano/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Study Documents a Halt to Deforestation in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest After Indigenous Communities Gain Title to Their Territories

By Katie Surma

Satere-Mawe indigenous leader Valdiney Satere collects caferana, a native plant of the Amazon rainforest, used as medicinal herb, in the Taruma neighbourhood, a rural area west of Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil, in May 2020. Credit: Ricardo Oliveira/AFP via Getty Images.

In the Amazon, Indigenous and Locally Controlled Land Stores Carbon, but the Rest of the Rainforest Emits Greenhouse Gases

By Bob Berwyn, Katie Surma

Delegates applaud after reaching an agreement during the plenary for the tail end of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Dec. 19, 2022. Credit: Andrej Ivanov/ AFP via Getty Images

Nearly 200 Countries Approve a Biodiversity Accord Enshrining Human Rights and the ‘Rights of Nature’

By Katie Surma

Steven Donziger is seen at a "Free Donziger" rally held in front of the Manhattan Court House as he faces sentencing in contempt case in New York City on Oct. 1, 2021. Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Their Lives Were Ruined by Oil Pollution, and a Court Awarded Them $9.5 Billion. But Ecuadorians Have Yet to See a Penny From Chevron

By Katie Surma

Southern Resident killer whales encountered during NOAA's PODs (Pacific Orcinus Distribution Survey) in October 2021 near the west end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

Two Towns in Washington Take Steps Toward Recognizing the Rights of Southern Resident Orcas

By Katie Surma

Aerial view of an illegal logging operation in Humaitá, southern Amazonas State, Brazil, on Sept. 17, 2022. Credit: Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images

Lawyers Press International Court to Investigate a ‘Network’ Committing Crimes Against Humanity in Brazil’s Amazon

By Katie Surma

Blanca Chancosa, juíza do Tribunal Internacional dos Direitos da Natureza e líder indígena equatoriana, examina parte da maior mina de minério de ferro do mundo, de propriedade da gigante brasileira de mineração Vale, em 23 de julho de 2022. Crédito: Katie Surma

Mil Milhas na Amazônia, para Mudar a Maneira como o Mundo Funciona

By Katie Surma

Tree plantings in Sand Martin Wood in Faugh near Carlisle, Cumbria, U.K. Credit: Ashley Cooper/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images

Countries Want to Plant Trees to Offset Their Carbon Emissions, but There Isn’t Enough Land on Earth to Grow Them

By Katie Surma

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