Bogotá Hosts First Latin American Environmental Journalism Festival in July 2026
Colombia · Life & Culture
Key Facts
—Event. PUMA FEST, the first Latin American Environmental Journalism Festival, takes place on 23 July 2026.
—Venue. Centro Felicidad Chapinero in Bogotá, with free admission and prior registration for workshops.
—Organiser. Mongabay Latam, celebrating its 10th anniversary as the region’s leading environmental news platform.
—Scale. More than 20 international journalists and experts from 11 countries will lead panels and workshops.
—Strategic Link. The festival serves as a direct prelude to the prestigious Gabo Festival, running 24–26 July 2026.
Bogotá will host PUMA FEST, the first Latin American Environmental Journalism Festival, on 23 July 2026, cementing Colombia’s capital as a strategic convening point for media professionals, policymakers, and investors focused on the intersection of climate, security, and sustainable business across the region.
A Strategic Prelude to the Gabo Festival
The timing of this environmental journalism festival is no accident. Organisers have deliberately positioned PUMA FEST as the opening act for the Gabo Festival 2026, the largest gathering of Ibero-American journalism and culture, which runs from 24 to 26 July in Bogotá.
This back-to-back scheduling transforms a single event into a week-long corridor of influence, drawing international media professionals, foundation directors, and institutional funders into sustained dialogue. For investors and expats monitoring Colombia’s soft-power assets, the linkage signals a maturing ecosystem where environmental reporting is treated as a pillar of democratic governance rather than a niche beat.
The Gabo Foundation, created by Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez in 1995, lends its considerable cultural weight to the proceedings. By anchoring PUMA FEST to this legacy, Mongabay Latam ensures that environmental journalism gains visibility among the editors, publishers, and philanthropists who shape Latin America’s media landscape.
Mongabay Latam Marks a Decade of Regional Impact
PUMA FEST doubles as the 10th-anniversary celebration of Mongabay Latam, the Spanish-language arm of the global non-profit environmental news outlet Mongabay. Over the past decade, the platform has built a network of reporters documenting deforestation, extractive industries, biodiversity loss, and Indigenous territorial conflicts across the region.
The festival’s name carries a deliberate double meaning. PUMA stands for “Periodistas Unidas por el Medio Ambiente” (Journalists United for the Environment), a network that Mongabay Latam director David Martin describes as a collaborative shield for reporters working in increasingly dangerous conditions.
This network-based approach responds directly to documented risks. UNESCO has recorded roughly 750 attacks on environmental journalists and news organisations over the past 15 years, including killings, threats, and legal harassment, with illegal mining, logging, and wildlife trafficking identified as particularly dangerous beats.
The Programme: Organised Crime, AI, and Amazon Voices
The festival’s agenda moves well beyond traditional conservation storytelling. Colombian daily El Tiempo reports that panel discussions will tackle organised crime, illicit economies, artificial intelligence, and biodiversity protection as interconnected challenges for Latin American reporters.
Practical workshops will train participants in data-driven reporting techniques and the methodologies behind award-winning environmental investigations. Attendance is free, but workshop places require advance registration, suggesting limited capacity and a structured professional development track.
A distinctive feature of the programme is its inclusion of Indigenous communication initiatives from the Amazon. Servindi, a platform specialising in Indigenous and environmental news, highlights sessions where community representatives will share how they develop their own media practices to defend territorial rights, linking journalism directly to cultural preservation and environmental justice.
Bogotá’s July Calendar: A Convergence of Environment and Media
PUMA FEST does not exist in isolation. Earlier in July, Bogotá’s Corferias convention centre hosts FIMA 2026, the International Environment Fair, which Colombia’s Environment Ministry calls “the largest showcase of sustainability and environmental management in Latin America.”
That fair, running from 9 to 11 July, convenes governments, companies, and communities around just energy transition, biodiversity conservation, bioeconomy, and clean technologies. The sequential layering of FIMA, PUMA FEST, and the Gabo Festival creates a month-long concentration of environmental policy, media training, and cultural programming unmatched in the region this year.
For expatriates and international professionals based in or considering Bogotá, this clustering reinforces the city’s value proposition as a liveable, intellectually engaged capital with growing convening power. It also signals where institutional funding and philanthropic capital are flowing within Latin America’s knowledge economy.
What the Environmental Journalism Festival Means for Investors and Expats
The emergence of a dedicated environmental journalism festival in Bogotá carries implications that extend beyond the media sector. It reflects a broader regional trend in which environmental, social, and governance factors are reshaping investment risk assessments and corporate strategy across Latin America.
Companies operating in extractive industries, agribusiness, and infrastructure face mounting scrutiny from a more networked and methodologically sophisticated press corps. The festival’s focus on investigative techniques and cross-border collaboration suggests that this scrutiny will only intensify, making proactive transparency a competitive advantage.
For the expatriate community, the festival adds another layer to Bogotá’s cultural calendar and reinforces the city’s reputation as a hub for serious policy debate. Professionals in sustainability consulting, impact investing, and development finance will find the event a useful entry point for understanding the region’s evolving environmental narrative and the actors shaping it.
What to Watch Next
The full speaker roster and detailed session schedule remain unconfirmed as of this writing, though organisers have confirmed participation from more than 20 international journalists and experts spanning 11 countries. Those names, when released, will offer a clearer picture of the festival’s ideological and professional orientation.
A second point to monitor is whether PUMA FEST becomes an annual fixture or remains a one-off anniversary event. If Mongabay Latam and its partners institutionalise the gathering, Bogotá could lock in a recurring slot on the international environmental media calendar, further strengthening the city’s brand as Latin America’s climate-journalism corridor.
Finally, watch for any formal collaboration agreements or funding announcements emerging from the networking sessions. In a region where independent media outlets often operate on thin margins, the partnerships forged at events like this can determine which investigations get resourced and which stories reach global audiences.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is PUMA FEST and who organises it?
PUMA FEST is the first Latin American Environmental Journalism Festival, taking place on 23 July 2026 at Centro Felicidad Chapinero in Bogotá, Colombia. It is organised by Mongabay Latam, the Spanish-language arm of the global environmental news outlet Mongabay, as part of its 10th-anniversary celebrations.
The festival is free to attend, though workshops require advance registration.
How does the environmental journalism festival connect to the Gabo Festival?
PUMA FEST is deliberately scheduled as a prelude to the Gabo Festival 2026, which runs from 24 to 26 July in Bogotá. Organised by the Gabo Foundation, created by Gabriel García Márquez, the Gabo Festival is the largest gathering of Ibero-American journalism and culture.
The back-to-back scheduling creates a full week of media programming in the Colombian capital.
What topics will the festival cover and who should attend?
The programme includes panels on organised crime, illicit economies, artificial intelligence, and biodiversity protection, alongside hands-on workshops on data-driven reporting and investigative methodologies. Sessions featuring Indigenous communication initiatives from the Amazon are also confirmed.
The event is open to journalists, academics, students, and anyone interested in environmental issues and journalism, with more than 20 international experts from 11 countries participating.
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