A paper in the journal Nature Climate Change concludes there is limited accountability for corporations that fail to achieve their climate change mitigation targets. The analysis shows 9% of company decarbonization plans missed their goals, while 31% “disappeared.”

However, 60% of companies met their targets. While this might initially seem like good news, it may not be leading to genuine climate action.

This week's podcast guest, Ketan Joshi, a consultant and researcher for nonprofit organizations in the climate sector, explains that many corporations are not actually decarbonizing their supply chains, but rather relying on buying renewable energy certificates and carbon credits to "offset" additional carbon emissions from their business.

While carbon offsets are often touted as a way to directly fund climate action on the ground, Joshi stresses there is no verifiable way to track how much is funding these projects. Typically, credits are purchased from a broker, and 90% of these intermediaries arranging such deals on the voluntary carbon market don't share their data.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.

Image Credit: The 2015 Paris Agreement stipulates that countries must reduce carbon emissions in order to limit warming to 1.5°C, or at least well below 2°C. Image by jwvein via Pixabay (Public domain).

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Timestamps

(00:00) Are companies actually decarbonizing?

(16:06)  The rise of climate litigation

(31:00) Carbon removal tech as an offset

(42:00) What is GreenSky?

(50:38) Credits

The bobcat population has rebounded over the past century, making it North America’s most common wildcat: as of 2011, there were an estimated 3.5 million bobcats in the United States alone, a significant increase from the late 1990s.

These intelligent felids, Lynx rufus, have benefited from conservation efforts that have increased their natural habitat. The species also thrives at the edges of towns and cities, where their presence can even reduce the spread of pathogens like Lyme disease that affect people, says podcast guest Zara McDonald, founder of the Felidae Conservation Fund.

McDonald shares her thoughts on how the bobcat manages to thrive on the edge of urban areas, the state of wildcat conservation, and what she wishes more people knew about wildcats.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.

Image: A bobcat in Kalispell, Montana. Image by Outward_bound via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

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Timecodes 

(00:00) Intro

(02:58) The resilience of bobcats

(08:13) The benefits of bobcats

(16:19) The Felidae Conservation Fund

(25:30) The state of wildcat conservation

(30:47) Wildfires and their impact on wildcats

(33:47) Thoughts on coexistence with wildlife

Nations across the world are working to expand their protected areas to include 30% of Earth's land and water by 2030. In Africa, this would encompass an additional 1 million square miles.

Mongabay's Ashoka Mukpo recently traveled to three nations to assess the current state of conservation practices in key protected areas, to get a better picture of what an expansion might look like, and how the crucial role of rangers in enforcing their protection is evolving. While there, he traveled with passionate and dedicated rangers, but also documented allegations of ranger involvement in violent incidents in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. 

He joins the podcast to describe the situation, which he says is commonplace in national parks across the continent.

"The amount [of] violence and aggressive enforcement that is, I think, generally associated with wildlife rangers has led to a lot of mistrust, a lot of alienation, and a real sense that 'the purpose of these people is to kind of harass and impose a system that doesn't include us, on us,'" Mukpo says.

Read more here:

‘Killed while poaching’: When wildlife enforcement blurs into violence

‘Like you, I fear the demise of the elephants’

Image Credit: Lion inside Queen Elizabeth National Park. Photo by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay.

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(01:27) National parks, human rights and 30x30

(04:15) Allegations of violence in Queen Elizabeth Park\

(09:48) How did we get here?

(13:26) Tension between communities and rangers

(18:05) Signs of collaboration

(21:27) The economics of Queen Elizabeth Park

(24:16) Local people cut out from revenue

(26:31) The bigger picture

(30:28) Credits

Bryan Simmons, the vice president of communications for the Arcus Foundation, joins the Mongabay Newscast this week to share the philosophy behind the 25-year-old foundation, which funds grantees that work on LGBTQ rights and great apes and gibbons conservation.

In this conversation with co-host Mike DiGirolamo, Simmons explains the link between economic development and justice for people and how this is correlated with conservation outcomes.

“When people are not able to have their economic needs met, conservation begins to pay the price right away,” says Simmons.

He encourages listeners to review recent reports regarding ape conservation and how this relates to human health, disease, and the ‘one health’ approach to planetary stewardship. Find more at stateoftheapes.com.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.

Arcus is a funder of Mongabay, but it did not initiate this interview nor does it have editorial influence on Mongabay’s coverage.

Image Credit: Young lowland gorilla, Gabon. Photo by Rhett Butler for Mongabay.

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Timestamps

(00:00) Bryan’s journey to the Arcus Foundation

(13:25) How social justice enables conservation

(25:47) Threats to human rights and conservation

(30:09) Concerns in the Congo Basin

(33:26) Hope during a dark period

(37:54) Empathy in apes

This week, Anthony James, host of The RegenNarration Podcast, joins Mongabay’s podcast to share stories of community resilience and land regeneration in the Americas and Australia. James explains how donkeys (seen as invasive pests) are now being managed to benefit the land in Kachana Station in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

In this episode, James emphasizes the importance of harnessing what’s in front of us, rather than fighting it. Across the many interviews he’s conducted, it’s become clear that this concept is something Aboriginal Traditional Owners are keenly aware of.

“If you’re there, you’re kin. There’s no sense of ‘being greater than,” James says.

Related reading:

Huge deforested areas in the tropics could regenerate naturally, study finds

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend. You can also subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify. Listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.

Image Credit: Jim Jim Falls, Kakadu National Park. Image by Parks Australia. Courtesy of the Director of National Parks, Australian Government, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Timecodes

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(00:00) Why Anthony James started The RegenNarration

(05:32) The story of Kachana Station

(12:24) Turning problems into solutions

(25:26) Community resilience amidst political strife

(36:45) Where's the potential?

(41:29) Credits

General frustration with the result of the most recent UN climate conference (UNFCCC COP29) spurred the former UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres – under whose leadership the Paris Agreement was struck – to co-author a letter to the UN urging an overhaul to the COP process, and calling it “no longer fit for purpose.”

Figueres joins this episode to speak about why the world’s governments seemingly cannot agree to move decisively on climate action, and what can be done about it.

She shares why – despite these frustrations and disappointments – she remains optimistic about the global effort to decarbonize economies and transport systems, citing recent advancements in the deployment of renewable energy and the power of everyday actions:

“I used to think that it was our collective responsibility to guarantee to future generations that they would have a perfect world. And now that I am a recent grandmother, I really look back at that and I go, ‘my God, we cannot guarantee to future generations that they're going to have a perfect world.’ We cannot. So, what can we do? We can do our darndest and we can wake up every morning and make a choice and say ‘where am I going to put my energy today?’” she says.

Figueres is also the co-host of the popular podcast, Outrage + Optimism, which features conversations and analysis about the climate crisis. 

Related reading at Mongabay.com:

· COP29 ends in $300 billion deal, widespread dismay — and eyes toward COP30

· Top Mongabay podcast picks for 2024

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.

Timecodes

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(00:00) A disappointing COP process

(03:33) Has the Paris Agreement failed?

(08:01) The renewable energy adoption s-curve

(13:34) Electricity generation vs. consumption

(18:55) Decarbonizing without mandates

(23:29) Are we standing still?

(31:16) Courage in choosing optimism

(41:25) Reflections from a Colombian forest

(48:12) Rachel changes her mind

Seventeen regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) regulate commercially valuable fish species across the world's oceans. The members of these organizations do not publicize their meetings and bar journalists from attending, presenting a barrier for public awareness.

On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, Africa staff writer Malavika Vyawahare is joined by a fisheries expert, Grantly Galland, and an RFMO secretary, Darius Campbell, to explain how decisions are made in regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), the consequences their decisions have on global fish populations, human rights and labor rights on the high seas, and how journalists can better cover these secretive organizations.

“Decisions are being made by RFMOs that impact billion-dollar fisheries and take effect next year [so] these stories deserve to be told,” says Grantly Galland, a project director at the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Also joining the conversation is Darius Campbell, secretary of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, an RFMO.

“The sea is [vast and it’s] very difficult to understand what's going on. Most of the [fish] stocks are very difficult to analyze and predict. And it's difficult to enforce [rules],” Campbell says.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Like our podcast? Please leave a review and share this episode with a friend.

Image credit: Schools of fish at Cayman Islands, Caribbean. Image by Jason Washington / Ocean Image Bank.

Timecodes

(00:00:00) What is an RFMO?

(00:07:37) Who are the key players?

(00:13:18) Who holds the power?

(00:20:32) Strategies for journalists covering RFMOs

(00:29:47) Transparency and secrecy

(00:38:59) Conservation and RFMO decision-making

(00:48:10) Forced labor and human rights

(00:53:29) What happens when an RFMO breaks the rules?

(01:01:13) Common heritage vs high seas

(01:07:13) BBNJ agreement

(01:15:24) Citizen participation

(01:19:09) Resources

(01:21:39) Credits

A new forest finance fund known as the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) will work like an investment portfolio (unlike the familiar – and often ineffective – forest conservation loan or grant funds), and if enacted as intended, it will reward 70 tropical nations billions in annual funding for keeping their forests standing.

Co-host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with three people who have analyzed the fund: Mongabay freelance reporter Justin Catanoso, Charlotte Streck – co-founder of Climate Focus – and Frédéric Hache, a lecturer in sustainable finance at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. They tackle the critical questions regarding what the proposed fund could – and would not – do.

“I think that TFFF is an initiative that has great potential because it is put forward and supported by tropical rainforest countries. It is not [a] mechanism that has been defined by donors or by any experts. It is now pushed and promoted by the countries that harbor all this tropical forest,” says Streck.

For additional background, find Catanoso’s report on the TFFF for Mongabay here.

View and hear our podcast team's picks of top 2024 episodes here.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend, and leave a review.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image caption: Cecropia tree in Peru. Image by Rhett Butler for Mongabay.

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Time stamps

(00:00) A brief primer of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF)

(03:10) Details from Justin Catanoso

(10:24) Digging deeper with Charlotte Streck

(25:17) Critiques and concerns from Frederic Hache

(35:50) Credits

Animal aquaculture, the farming of fish, has outpaced the amount of wild-caught fish by tens of millions of metric tons each year, bringing with it negative environmental impacts and enabling abuse, says Carl Safina, an ecologist and author.

On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Safina speaks with co-host Rachel Donald about his recent Science Advances essay describing the “moral reckoning” that’s required for the industry, pointing to environmental laws in the United States, which put hard limits on pollution, as examples to follow.

“In the 1970s in the U.S., we had this enormous burst of environmental legislation. We got the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act … all of these things were not because somebody invented something new. It's because we felt differently about what was important,” he says.

The global fishing industry also contributes to forced labor and other worker abuses, as revealed by whistleblowers and media outlets, including Mongabay. Read our award-winning 2022 investigation, which revealed systemic abuse of foreign workers by China’s offshore tuna fleet.

Like this podcast? Share it with a friend, and please leave a review.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image caption: An Atlantic salmon. In the U.S., the Washington state legislature banned farming of Atlantic salmon in 2018. A state official banned all commercial finfish aquaculture. Alaska and California have similar bans. Image by Hans-Petter Fjeld via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5).

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Timecodes

(00:00) Aquaculture and its impacts

(15:32) How values shape environmental policy

(32:56) The tragedy of the commons

(35:52) Ecological empathy

(45:07) Credits

Neil Vora MD is a former epidemic intelligence service officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with experience combating outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus and running the New York City contact tracing program for COVID-19. He advocates supporting public health infrastructure to respond to diseases.

He much prefers preventing outbreaks before they occur instead of rushing to respond to them, though, and the best way to do this, he says, is by investing in nature.

On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, Vora shares his knowledge of why the “spillover” of zoonotic diseases — when a pathogen jumps from wildlife to humans — is increasingly occurring due to deforestation and land-use change.

He also says that despite science's importance in studying and combating viruses, art and philosophy are necessary tools to drive the global change needed to prevent further outbreaks.

“If we want to see societal transformation, we're going to need people feeling inspired, and that's where art and philosophy come in,” Vora says.

Listen to Mongabay’s previous Newscast episode covering the recent outbreak of avian influenza here.

Like this podcast? Share it with a friend, and please leave a review.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Rainbow over Jambi, Indonesia. Photo credit: Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(01:06) Medical doctor and conservationist: Neil Vora

(04:27) The link between deforestation and disease

(07:33) The 'One Health' movement

(09:41) How disease 'spillover' happens

(13:06) What's happening with marburg and 'bird flu'?

(23:10) Why we need art & philosophy to protect nature

(26:31) Apocalyptic horror films as scenario explorations

(30:04) Solutions and 'radical listening'

(35:09) A rejection of nihilism