Articles by Mactilda Mbenywe
Mactilda Mbenywe is a self-driven, motivated and passionate multimedia science journalist in Kenya, with a knack for environment, climate and conservation stories. She is a journalist with the Standard Group, a mainstream media house in Kenya with a mission of uncovering cross-border critical issues on both land and marine biodiversity through data-based multimedia storytelling. Apart from her passion, Mactilda has been a key pillar in reporting health and gender issues, especially issues touching on vulnerable groups. On the environment beat, she has reported in-depth stories on climate change and investigated impacts and sources of greenhouse gases. Her reporting on environment and climate change has helped communities living around Lake Victoria conserve marine resources, avoid environmental degradation and find sustainable ways of living. Mactilda has covered global conversations on environmental issues such as the COP26 event in Glasgow, Scotland, the UN Environment Programme Summit and the UN Environment Assembly, among others. As a science journalist, Mactilda has been at the forefront of covering the COVID-19 pandemic, linking viral disease to the environment, and attending high-level meetings organized by the World Health Organization and the African Center for Disease Control. She has been honored by the Nile Basin Initiative for balanced reporting on cooperation in the region. She has also been recognized by the Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health project for excellence in reporting environmental concerns, and she has won an Annual Journalism Excellence Award for her reporting on how climate change spurs mental crises. Mactilda is a member of the Association of Media Women in Kenya, Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture, and the Kenya Environment and Science Journalists Association networks. She holds honors in journalism studies from Maseno University and is currently a master’s student in environmental communication studies.
Scientists make ‘rare’ new identification of snake family: Micrelapidae
Kenyan science interns turn Lake Victoria’s fish waste into oil and flowers
Kenya’s youngest environmental ambassador: Q&A with 10-year-old Karen Kimani
Humanitarian experts report ‘cascading crises’ as climate, health emergencies soar
Ebola-like African primate viruses ‘poised for spillover’ to humans, study finds
Special series
Forest Trackers
- ‘We just want to be left in peace’: In Brazil’s Amazon, soy ambitions loom over Indigenous land
- Deforestation continues in Kenya’s largest water capturing forest, satellites show
- Drug trafficking imperils national park and Indigenous reserves in the Peruvian Amazon
- Indonesia’s besieged Tesso Nilo National Park hit hard by yet more deforestation, satellites show
Oceans
- Lethal or not? Australia’s beaches are a crucible for shark control methods
- Is ocean iron fertilization back from the dead as a CO₂ removal tool?
- Dominica set to open world’s first reserve centered around sperm whales
- ‘Very good progress’ but nothing firm as deep-sea mining rules are hashed out
Amazon Conservation
- Study links pesticides to child cancer deaths in Brazilian Amazon & Cerrado
- Amazon drought: Much damage still to come (commentary)
- Amazon recovery offers hope of big rewards but poses equally big challenges
- The Amazon’s archaeology of hope: Q&A with anthropologist Michael Heckenberger
Land rights and extractives
- Australia crackdown on climate protesters grows amid fight against gas project
- Study: Despite armed conflicts, Indigenous lands have better environment quality
- Indigenous community fighting a mine in Palawan wins a milestone legal verdict
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
- Indigenous activists demand justice after 5 shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
Conservation Effectiveness
- Forest restoration can fare better with human helping hand, study shows
- From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model
- Video: Rice as a peace offering in India’s human-elephant conflict capital
- Group certification helps Malaysia’s Sabah aim for palm oil sustainability
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams