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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]
Toreadora lake in Cajas National Park in the highlands of Ecuador. Credit: Martha Barreno /VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Can Rights of Nature Laws Make a Difference? In Ecuador, They Already Are

By Katie Surma

Maasai homes in in Tanzania. Credit: Roger de la Harpe/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Conservation has a Human Rights Problem. Can the New UN Biodiversity Plan Solve it? 

By Katie Surma

A young fingerling Chinook salmon leaps out of the water on May 16, 2018 in Half Moon Bay, California. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

In the Latest Rights of Nature Case, a Tribe Is Suing Seattle on Behalf of Salmon in the Skagit River

By Katie Surma

Human rights lawyer Philippe Sands speaks at AOL Studios In New York on Nov. 6, 2015 in New York City. Credit: John Lamparski/WireImage

The Essential Advocate, Philippe Sands Makes the Case for a New International Crime Called Ecocide

By Katie Surma

A Plea to Make Widespread Environmental Damage an International Crime Takes Center Stage at The Hague

By Katie Surma

View from the observation tower of rising mist from the rain forest canopy in the rain forest near La Selva Lodge near Coca, Ecuador. Credit: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

Ecuador’s High Court Affirms Constitutional Protections for the Rights of Nature in a Landmark Decision

By Katie Surma

Aerial scenes from the Northern Amazon from the town of Iqitos to the Amazon oil town of Trompederos, Peru, June 11, 2007. Credit: Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Indigenous Women in Peru Seek to Turn the Tables on Big Oil, Asserting ‘Rights of Nature’ to Fight Epic Spills

By Katie Surma

Sections of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline on the construction site on the White Earth Nation Reservation near Wauburn, Minnesota in June 2021. Credit: Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

To Stop Line 3 Across Minnesota, an Indigenous Tribe Is Asserting the Legal Rights of Wild Rice

By Katie Surma

Protesters hold banners and placards as they participate in a protest march during a global climate strike, part of the 'Fridays for Future' movement in New Delhi. Credit: Manish Rajput/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The UN’s Top Human Rights Panel Votes to Recognize the Right to a Clean and Sustainable Environment

By Katie Surma

Is it Time for the World Court to Weigh in on Climate Change?

By Katie Surma

The Whanganui River near the entrance to Whanganui National Park, near Whanganui, North Island, New Zealand. Credit: Matthew Lovette/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Does Nature Have Rights? A Burgeoning Legal Movement Says Rivers, Forests and Wildlife Have Standing, Too

By Katie Surma

Arara indigenous children walk at the Arado tribal camp, in Arara indigenous land in Para state, Brazil on March 13, 2019. Credit: Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

Are Bolsonaro’s Attacks on the Amazon and Indigenous Tribes International Crimes? A Third Court Plea Says They Are

By Katie Surma

Activists hold up a banner of Jair Bolsonaro as they gather in front of the Brazilian Embassy during a demonstration organized by Extinction Rebellion activists on Aug. 26, 2019 in Brussels, Belgium. Credit: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Indigenous Leaders and Human Rights Groups in Brazil Want Bolsonaro Prosecuted for Crimes Against Humanity

By Katie Surma

Aerial view of a burning area of Amazon rainforest reserve, south of Novo Progresso in Para state, on August 16, 2020. Credit: Florian Plaucheur/AFP via Getty Images

In a Growing Campaign to Criminalize Widespread Environmental Destruction, Legal Experts Define a New Global Crime: ‘Ecocide’

By Katie Surma, Inside Climate News, and Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News

View of Wild Goose Island in Saint Mary Lake at sunrise in Glacier National Park, Montana, United States. Credit: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

‘America the Beautiful’ Plan Debuts the Biden Administration’s Approach to Conserving the Environment and Habitat

By Katie Surma, Judy Fahys

Neighbors Kelly Hagen (left) and Dixie Wilkinson stand in their respective yards on April 22, 2021 in Pensacola, Florida. Their homes are located next to the now closed American Creosote Works, now an EPA Superfund site which is causing environmental problems for the area and health problems for the residents who live near it. Credit: Dan Anderson

The EPA Calls an Old Creosote Works in Pensacola an Uncontrolled Threat to Human Health. Why Is There No Money to Clean it Up?

By Agya K. Aning, Katie Surma, Kristoffer Tigue

As the Climate Crisis Grows, a Movement Gathers to Make ‘Ecocide’ an International Crime Against the Environment

By Nicholas Kusnetz, Katie Surma, Yuliya Talmazan

Farm workers cut a tree in the Cardamom Mountain rainforest in Cambodia in 2002. Credit: Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images

Lands Grabs and Other Destructive Environmental Practices in Cambodia Test the International Criminal Court

By Katie Surma

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