Helena Carpio

Helena Carpio is a Venezuelan multimedia journalist exploring the ever-changing relationship between society and the natural environment. She specializes in adapting scientific methodologies to journalism.

In a Pulitzer Center-backed project, Carpio analyzed two decades of NASA remote sensing data to understand wildfire behavior within Venezuela's 80 natural protected areas. She found that in 2020 Venezuela had the highest wildfire density in the Amazon region—almost doubling that of Brazil. This piece revealed a systematic wildfire increase within the country's protected areas, uncovering illegal settlements in national parks, illegal mining in the Amazon, failing environmental policies, and a climate change impact.

Besides data, Carpio's work weaves photography, video, writing, and sound, leveraging new formats to build empathy and understanding. Her video work was recognized by two News and Documentary Emmy nominations, her VR project by La Biennale di Venezia-College Cinema, and her writing, data, and investigative projects by Fundación Gabo, the Inter American Press Association, Premios Rey de España, Thomson Foundation, and the World Association of News Publishers, among others.

Carpio co-hosts Deutsche Welle's Fuerza Latina weekly television program, which is watched by 15 million viewers around the world. In the program, she travels across Latin America to interview and celebrate women reshaping the region. 

She covers the environment for Prodavinci, one of Venezuela's leading independent media, and she is co-developing her first feature film, a documentary about Venezuela's last glacier.