Mongabay founder wins global leadership prize for environmental journalism

Rhett Butler built Mongabay on a simple principle: environmental stories matter most when they're told by the people living them. On Tuesday, the Tällberg Foundation recognized that approach by naming him one of three winners of its 2025 Global Leadership Prize.

Butler was selected from over 1,500 nominees across 146 countries. The prize recognizes leaders whose work is "courageous, innovative, impactful, rooted in universal values, and global in perspective." The foundation specifically cited his role in redefining environmental journalism through Mongabay's network model—one that amplifies local reporting, shapes global policy conversations, and demonstrates that independent journalism can still function as a check on power.

"I'm deeply honored, but this recognition really belongs to the extraordinary Mongabay team and our global network of journalists who do the hard work every day," Butler said. "I see the prize as a testament to the power of independent, fact-based environmental journalism."

That network spans dozens of countries. Mongabay's model trains and publishes journalists embedded in their own communities—the Amazon, Southeast Asia, West Africa—who understand the local context that international outlets often miss. They report on land disputes, deforestation, wildlife trafficking, and climate impacts with the credibility that comes from living in the story, not parachuting into it.

Butler shares the 2025 prize with two others working at the intersection of storytelling and human change. Bryan Doerries uses ancient texts through his Theater of War Productions to help people process modern trauma. David Gruber leads Project CETI, an effort to decode whale communication. All three represent a shift in how leadership is being recognized—not through traditional power structures, but through the ability to listen, translate, and connect.

"These extraordinary leaders remind us that courage and imagination can reshape the human story," said Alan Stoga, chair of the Tällberg Foundation.

Since its establishment in 2015, the prize has been awarded to 35 recipients. The Tällberg Foundation uses the award to identify and amplify leaders working on global challenges in ways that don't fit neatly into existing institutions. In Butler's case, that means building journalism infrastructure in places where environmental reporting is risky, underfunded, or simply absent.