“Fueling Ecocide” is a cross-border, collaborative data investigation coordinated by EIC (European Investigative Collaborations) and EIF (Environmental Investigative Forum). Over the course of a year, 13 media outlets across four continents joined forces, asking a simple but crucial question: how much protected land and sea have we lost globally to oil and gas extraction?
To answer this question, we embarked on a mapping exercise of epic proportions. Using QGIS and Post-QGIS, we compared 315,000 protected areas from all over the world with 15,000 extraction blocks, spanning 120 countries.
For the first time, this work provides a clear global picture of the damage: 7,021 protected areas in 99 countries overlap with oil and gas projects. This represents a surface of approximately 690,000 km², just over the size of France, most of it under internationally recognized protection statuses. Through extensive reporting, they also identified 763 oil and gas companies involved, with the largest contributors headquartered in Europe.
In this session, the reporters involved in the project will take you through the makings of a data-driven global investigation. They will talk you through the trial-and-error process of handling and harmonising an immense geospatial dataset: which tools they used, which methodological choices they made, and which obstacles proved the hardest to overcome. They will explain how the team turned this data into impactful stories, collaborated across the globe, and what lessons they learned.
To read more on the project and the story, go here:
https://ecocide.reportersunited.gr/
