In 100 years Lake Victoria has gone from an ecological miracle to a fish production powerhouse and now to an ecosystem on the brink of collapse. If the Lake continues on it's current path of pollution and degradation the impacts will be felt far and wide by the 25 million people whose livelihoods are dependent on the Lake.

In this episode I speak to Mark Weston, author of The Saviour Fish (links to buy below), who spent two years living on Ukerewe island in Lake Victoria looking into all aspects of the environmental crisis he saw unfolding in front of him. We speak about:

• The fish that make up the biodiversity of Lake Victoria
• Why the cichlid numbers started to fall and the impact of this on the communities around the Lake
• The amazing resilience of the the fishermen and their families
• What can be done to reverse these trends and restore Lake Victoria to it's former glory

Other links mentioned in the podcast:

• Buy the Saviour Fish here >>>https://saviourfish.net/
• Organisations working to restore the Lake: Shift 17 (https://www.shift17.co.uk/) in Lake Victoria and Ripple Africa in Lake Malawi (https://rippleafrica.org/)
• Book recommendation - Darwin's Dreampond by Tijs Goldschmidt (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darwins-Dreampond-Drama-Lake-Victoria/dp/0262571218)
• Documentary recommendation - Darwin's Nightmare (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424024/)

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Spices are a store cupboard staple but their powdered and processed form does not reflect the diverse environment in which they grow. In this episode we head to Tanzania where Stephie Mendelsohn from Grounded takes us through the history of spices, how they are grown and why it's important to know where your spices come from.

More information on the work of Grounded >>> https://grounded.co.za/

Stephie's book recommendation on Tanzania - The Zanzibar Chest by Aidan Hartley >>> http://www.thezanzibarchest.com/index.html

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Gemstones are the ultimate luxury item but too often there is little regard for where they come from and who has produced them. In this episode I speak to Sam Stirrat, creative director and founder of Blackacre, about how they source their gemstones from Sri Lanka. Blackacre are a bespoke jeweler based in London who aim to take their customers on the full journey of the gemstone, from the source to the shop floor.

To find out more about Blackacre: https://www.blackacreldn.com/

To watch their excellent Sri Lanka expedition film: https://www.blackacreldn.com/videos/sri-lanka-expedition-2022

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Everyone loves a bit of peanut butter, but I imagine very few of us know the story behind the alluring spread that is a vice to so many. In episode two we take ourselves off to Argentina where Stu Macdonald, founder of Manilife, talks us through how they source their peanuts from a region known as the 'peanut belt'.

We discuss how peanuts are grown and then transformed into peanut butter, Manilife's mission to pioneer the specialty peanut butter sector and some of the challenges facing peanut farmers today.

To buy some of the good stuff, visit Manilife's website - https://mani-life.com/

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This episode is a re-release from December 2019.

It look into the lives of artisanal gold miners working in the Eastern DRC. Ben Radley is a fellow in Development Studies at LSE and prior to this spent 8 years living and working in the DRC. He talked to me about the how gold is mined by the artisanal miners and the route it can take to eventually ending up in a jewelers window in places like the UK.

Link to the 'We will win Peace' documentary mentioned - https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wewillwinpeace

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See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.