Alex Wijeratna

Alex Wijeratna is the Senior Director of Legal and Investigations at Mighty Earth, where he directs our investigations and legal strategies. Alex is especially focused on growing Mighty Earth’s legal function and he currently leads our work with US lawyers to sue Brazilian beef giant JBS for greenwashing in Washington D.C. Previously, he was Senior Director of the Global Protein Campaign, where he spearheaded our use of ‘Whistleblower’ complaints to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for alleged securities fraud linked to $3 billion of JBS’s ‘Sustainability-Linked Bonds’. Previously as Director of Special Projects and Campaign Director on our rubber campaign, Alex conducted investigations into major deforestation-risk corporations such as JBS, Cargill and Michelin. Alex also sits on the Steering Committee of the Transnational Legal Coalition (TLC) – which includes the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), King’s College, London, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Mighty Earth, and the corporate investigators FIND.

Prior to Mighty Earth, Alex campaigned on global hunger, trade, right to food and corporate accountability campaigns for ActionAid for 12 years and subsequently he conducted investigations and policy analysis for various civil society groups. He has investigated land grabbing in Brazil, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique and Indonesia for Friends of the Earth and the Fairtrade Foundation, exposed a major case of ‘biopiracy’ involving the Indigenous San people of the Kalahari, and written a review of right to food polices in 22 countries for the International Food Security Network (IFSN). He has overseen rights-based investigations into gold mining in Ghana, bauxite mining in India and platinum mining in South Africa for ActionAid and written widely on issues ranging from land grabbing, nutrition, agro-ecology and UN food systems governance. With prior experience as a journalist for The Times, Alex has conducted investigative research on rubber in Southeast Asia for Global Witness and written policy reports for numerous groups, including Action Against Hunger, Caritas and the UK Hunger Alliance – whose members include Oxfam and Save the Children.

Alex holds a post-graduate Diploma in Periodical Journalism from City University, London, and a degree in History from the University of Sheffield. He has written for The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Mail and The Face and appeared in numerous global news outlets including The Economist, The New York Times and Financial Times, and appeared on the BBC, CNN, and France 24. He’s also been a restaurant critic for Fodor’s London since 1999.

Career highlights:

• Suing JBS for net zero-related greenwashing in Washington D.C.
• Exposing JBS’s links to the use of ‘Agent Orange’ and ‘chemical deforestation’ in Brazil on the front page of The New York Times
• Successfully lobbied for rubber to be included in the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).