Born in Brazil to German parents, Achim Steiner knows first hand the power of cultural exchange to drive international cooperation. Now head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), he leads global efforts to secure a better future for our planet and its people.

“The clearest lesson from 50 years of modern development thinking is don't try and just pick one aspect and put all your eggs in that basket. Society is complex, development is about choices. And you will either get them right and succeed or you will fall apart.”

Across the world, the UN supports efforts to end poverty, tackle climate change, and break barriers to progress and development. Yet brutal conflicts can reverse decades of progress in a few short months. In this episode, Achim Steiner reflects on the thorniest challenges facing humanity, on his hopes for a fairer, cleaner future, and on the vital lessons he learned in rural Pakistan.

“How, in our age, do we overcome this competition between ecology and economy, which is leading us to so many destructive and ultimately, increasingly catastrophic realities around the world?”