Sara Manisera is a reporter, author and director and has worked extensively in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, North Africa and Italy.

Her research focuses on environmental conflicts, gender issues and food supply chains. Her feature stories and investigations have been published by Al Jazeera, Libèration, El Pais, The Guardian, Irpi Media, Internazionale among others. In 2023, she became a fellow of the Bertha Foundation with a long-term project exploring grain’s global supply chains. 

She’s the author of ‘Racconti di schiavitù e lotta nella campagne” (Tales of slavery and struggle in the countryside), and the director of three documentaries, ‘La Terra mi tiene’ (The Earth holds me, Fada Collective, 2022), ‘Iraq: Youth on the frontline’ (Arte, 2019) and “The price we pay” (2025).

Sara has been awarded the Golden Dove for Peace (2018), the True Story Award (2019) for an investigation on Syria’s desaparecidos, and the European Press Prize for the investigation “Iraq without water: the cost of oil to Italy”. She combines journalism and public participation, through local events, debates and festivals organised with FADA, a collective of journalists, photographers and authors, which she has co-founded.

Sara Manisera

Basic information

Name
Sara Manisera
Title
Reporter and author
Expertise
women, civil society, conflicts, environment, migration and organised crime
Country
Italy
City
Abbiate Grasso

Supported projects

Oil Extraction and Ecological Disaster in Iraq’s Protected Marshes

  • Climate
  • Environment
  • Industry

AL NASIRIYAH - The ecological disaster unfolding in Iraq is largely driven by EU oil companies. This investigation seeks to hold these companies accountable for their role in Iraq’s environmental collapse and underscore the human cost of the country's growing oil dependency.

The Trees of Discord: Land Grabbing and Carbon Credits in Madagascar

  • Environment

IHOSY - What can possibly be wrong about planting trees? This investigation digs deeper into a conflict unfolding in southern Madagascar, between the local community and an Italian multinational. As similar green projects multiply, this case highlights a critical challenge.

The Bitter Taste of Bananas Coming From Costa-Rica to Europe

  • Agriculture
  • Climate
  • Environment

MATINA - For more than two decades, people living near banana plantations in Costa Rica have been exposed to pesticides sprayed from airplanes, affecting their health and the environment. Despite being banned in Europe, these chemicals are still exported to the Global South for agriculture use, often by large companies such as Dole Food Company and Chiquita International.

Europe's Seas in Danger

  • Climate
  • Environment
  • Fishing industry

EDINBURGH - Europe’s marine environment faces a plethora of severe threats. What are the key species in decline, and which interest groups are lobbying against marine protection laws? This investigation looks into Europe’s interconnected marine systems, and how they can be preserved.

The Price of Oil

  • Environment

BASRA - In Iraq, one of the world’s driest and poorest countries, Western oil companies are exacerbating water shortages as they make record profits exporting alternatives to Russian oil in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

EU Regulations Triggering Illegal Fishing in Tunisia and Libya

  • Environment
  • Fishing industry

KERKENNAH ISLANDS - In Tunisia, artisanal fishers are facing depleted fish stocks as a result of illegal bottom trawling.

Mentor for

The Green Rush: How Europe's Solar Boom Could Impact Local Communities

  • Energy
  • Environment

BARCELONA - This investigation set out to explore the hidden dynamics behind the rapid expansion of solar energy projects in Catalonia and in Italy and their impact on rural communities.