Gaea Katreena Cabico is a journalist with Philstar.com, an online news outlet based in Manila, Philippines. She has been writing stories focused on marginalized people, development-induced displacement and those affected by and adapting to climate change since 2019. Cabico has covered watershed degradation and the deforestation of Philippine forests, specifically the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Luzon, as well as initiatives of surrounding communities to restore these wooded areas. In her ongoing reporting, she continues to explore the impacts of fossil gas projects, mining activities, reclamation projects, dam projects, and attacks on environmental defenders in the Philippines.
During her professional career, Cabico has been a fellow at Earth Journalism Network, Stanley Center for Peace and Security, Climate Tracker, Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Journalism Fund, United Nations Human Rights Office Southeast Asia Regional Office, and UN Women. In 2020, she was one of the top 10 finalists for the Journalism for an Equitable Asia Award for her story about the human and environmental costs of an airport project in Manila Bay. Her reporting honed in on the destructive influence of the plan on the natural environs, food security and the livelihoods of the local fisherman of the Bulacan province.
