Chatham House

Indigenous peoples make up 5 per cent of the world's population and are responsible for the careful stewardship of land home to much of our planet's biodiversity. International negotiations have recently begun to recognize the important role that indigenous communities have always played for safeguarding the climate and environment. In this episode, we explore how headway has been made on recognizing this role, where there is still work to be done, and importantly, how can this recognition lead to more meaningul engagement and sharing of resources to protect the rights and livelihoods of indigenous peoples. 

Bronwen Maddox speaks with Ambassador , and about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and whether the West should engage with the Taliban. Read our expertise: Presented by . Produced by Sound by Alex Moyler.

World leaders met in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). All the P5 leaders bar America's Joe Biden stayed away however. Is the UN losing its relevance in international affairs?

Joining Bronwen Maddox on the show this week are Mark Malloch-Brown, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Roger Boyes, Diplomatic Editor for The Times, and Leslie Vinjamuri, the Director of the US and Americas programme.

In the race to create a net-zero, sustainable world, activities like mining and farming can clash with the lives of people in forests and rural areas. As the international community ponders over solutions for responsible resource management, Ghana's experiences offer invaluable lessons. In this first episode of a two-part special of the Climate Briefing, Henry Throp takes us through a journey of discovery through the Ghanaian Gold mining industry, and the illegal artisanal gold mining, known in Ghana as the Galamsey.  Using recordings of interviews captured during a May 2023 field trip to Ghana, he explores the intricate juggling act between caring for the land, ensuring sustainable livelihoods, and meeting the rising demand for metals and lucrative cash crops.  The episode is published in association with our new article, “Net-zero’s nature knot: A tug of war with rural realities”, which is available on our forest governance website here:

G20 leaders met in New Delhi this week to discuss economic cooperation. Underlying the summit however were wider international tensions and a sense of India on the rise.

Joining Bronwen Maddox on the show this week are Samir Puri, a visiting lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London, Chietigj Bajpaee, the new South Asia fellow at Chatham House and Leslie Vinjamuri, the director of the US and Americas programme.

Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you get your podcasts. Please listen, rate, review and subscribe. Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Sound by Alex Moyler.

This week on the show we turn our eyes to Iran and the year long protests by young Iranians against the Islamic regime.

September 16 marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman killed in police custody. Since her death Iran has been rocked by a year of protests in which over 500 people, many of them women, have been killed. We look at how Iran has changed, where the protest movement is now and how the regime is cracking down on it.

The panel also discuss more broadly Iran’s role in the Middle East, and Tehran's difficult relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States, as well as the growing role of China in the region.

Joining Bronwen Maddox in the studio this week are former BBC journalist Rana Rahimpour, Dr Sanam Vakil the Director of our Middle East and North Africa programme and journalist Michael Goldfarb.

Independent Thinking is back after a short summer break for the start of Season 2 of the podcast. This week, for our first episode, we’re returning to the much-discussed topic of Ukraine’s counter-offensive. Since June, the Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting hard to breach the defensive lines established by the Russian army in the east and south, the so-called ‘Surovkin Line’. Two months on the pace has been slow and the fighting intense. We discuss the current state of the offensive, what this means for Western support for Ukraine and what may happen next if the frontlines remain in their current shape.

Joining Bronwen Maddox on the show this week are Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the FT and Ulrike Franke, a Senior Fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Joining them in the studio here in London are James Nixey and Orysia Lutsevych, the director and deputy director respectively of our Russia and Eurasia programme.

Partial reforms in Tanzania’s political and socio-economic environment have been widely lauded since President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s sudden rise to office in March 2021, but progress towards the reconciliation and repair of Tanzania’s democratic system remains incomplete. Criticisms over the limits of the current reform process are increasingly coalescing around demands for a new Tanzanian constitution, with the current framework – and the ruling CCM party – in place since independence despite the shift to multipartyism in 1992. On this episode of Africa Aware, the Rt Hon Freeman Mbowe, leader of Tanzania’s largest opposition party Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), reflects on his country’s political outlook. Mbowe shares his insights on CHADEMA’s push for a new constitution, the party’s balance of ideology with electability and Tanzania’s position within broader regional blocs in Eastern and Southern Africa.

As the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) prepares for its upcoming elections, the nation stands at a critical juncture in its democratic trajectory. Against a backdrop of historical challenges and persistent political complexities, the forthcoming elections are of paramount importance to the future of the country and its democratic aspirations. On this episode of Africa Aware, Martin Fayulu, opposition leader and former DRC presidential candidate, outlines the current obstacles to free and fair elections in the country, the impact of the security crisis facing eastern parts of the nation, and his vision for the role the DRC can play continentally.  

Climate change poses increasingly severe security challenges. What does this mean for defence forces? To find out, Anna speaks to Tobias Ellwood (Chair of the House of Common’s Defence Committee) and Anum Farhan (Chatham House). The episode is published on the same day the Defence Committee is releasing its report ‘Defence and Climate Change’, which is available here: The research paper ‘Preparing NATO for climate-related security challenges’, written by Anum Farhan, Signe Kossman and Armida van Rij (all Chatham House), can be accessed here: