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.

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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

Todd Smith wanted to be a pilot since the age of 5, but an epiphany spurred by seeing a retreating ice cap in Peru revealed that his love of flying conflicted with the planetary harm his industry was causing.

“That was the first seed that was planted, and I was witnessing in that moment climate change and mass tourism firsthand,” he says.

Today, Smith is co-founder of Safe Landing, an organization dedicated to advocating for sustainable aviation reform to adapt to the realities of climate change and ensure the future employment of airline workers. On the latest Mongabay Newscast, he details his journey to leave the industry, and shares what he thinks the airline industry needs to change to in order to adapt to our new climate-changed reality.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

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: Private jet flights account for a small fraction of aviation’s overall emissions — around 4% — though the burden is up to 10 times more per passenger compared to a commercial flight, according to a recent report. Image by lillolillolillo via Pixabay (Public domain).

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction: Todd Smith

(02:10) From airline pilot to climate activist

(12:10) The origins of Safe Landing

(24:04) The future of aviation on a limited carbon budget

(37:10) The inequities of flying

(45:53) Credits

The new BBNJ (biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction) marine conservation agreement is impressive in scope but has since been rebranded by some as the “high seas treaty,” which risks biasing its interpretation by emphasizing the historical, but outdated, freedoms enjoyed by seafaring (and largely Western) nations.

Elizabeth Mendenhall of the University of Rhode Island joins this episode to discuss the treaty with co-host Rachel Donald, detailing the fascinating and complicated nature of ocean governance beyond the jurisdiction of states. The BBNJ agreement was designed to resolve some of these governance issues, but the text contains ample gray area in how the principles of “common heritage,” the concept that something belongs to all of humanity, will apply to the protection and extraction of resources from the water column and seafloor.

“The treaty design that we ended up with [from] my perspective is not really suited to achieve what it is we say we want to do, which is to create a big network of marine protected areas that's effective in terms of protecting biodiversity,” Mendenhall says.

To learn more and find links to the treaty documents, see the commentary Mendenhall co-authored for Mongabay about the topic earlier this year, here.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

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: Baleen whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Image by ArtTower via Pixabay (Public domain).

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:51) How biodiverse are oceans?

(05:20) What's at stake?

(07:47) How are the oceans governed?

(10:47) How international ocean management organizations work

(17:13) What is the treaty for?

(21:21) Is it a marine protected area if you can still exploit it?

(27:55) BBNJ vs. 'High Seas'

(29:09) Principles of High Seas and Common Heritage

(35:35) Post-show

(40:13) Credits

Just prior to the latest world biodiversity summit (COP 16 in Colombia), a similarly-themed event was hosted by the Australian Government in Sydney: the Global ‘Nature Positive’ Summit featured Indigenous leaders, scientists and conservationists, but political leaders in attendance provided little insight into when key reforms to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act would take place, which experts, lawyers, and activists have been calling for.

For this episode, Mongabay speaks with delegates to the summit including Barry Hunter, a descendent of the Djabugay people and the CEO of The North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA), Éliane Ubalijoro, the CEO of CIFOR-ICRAF, and also Ben Pitcher, a behavioral biologist with the Taronga Conservation Society.

These guests share their expertise on the state of biodiversity, what kind of action they want to see from leaders, and what can be done to safeguard species while ensuring First Nations rights.

Image Credit: Barry Hunter on his Country (Djabugay Country) at Mona Mona. Image by Seth Seden.

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:05) A lack of government action

(04:04) Interview with Barry Hunter

(15:31) Interview with Eliane Ubalijoro

(20:24) Interview with Ben Pitcher

(28:16) Credits

The Mongabay Newscast recently traveled to San Francisco to join an event hosted by the popular radio show and podcast, Climate One, reflecting on both Mongabay’s 25th anniversary and Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday, for a live audience of 1,700. 

First, Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler discusses the news outlet’s biggest successes and impact over a quarter of a century, and then Climate One founder and host Greg Dalton engages Butler and Goodall in conversation about the state of environmental news, the biggest issues they’re working on, their inspirations, and what Goodall wants more people to think about during what she calls a crucial election year. 

Here's additional discussion of Mongabay’s 25th anniversary,

Mongabay at 25: A reflection on the journey and future

This is our previous episode where Goodall shares additional thinking on these issues:

Jane Goodall at 90: On fame, hope, and empathy

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

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: Rhett Ayers Butler and Jane Goodall in conversation in San Francisco. Image by Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo/Mongabay.

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Time Codes

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:00:59) Rhett’s reflections on 25 years of Mongabay

(00:02:27) What makes for a successful newsroom?

(00:07:50) Looking to the future

(00:17:47) Jane Goodall and Rhett Butler in conversation with Climate One

(01:17:30) Credits

An array of top voices are interviewed or heard on this episode straight from Climate Week in New York, a global gathering of leaders and experts working in the climate and environmental sectors on proactive policies and practical initiatives.

The podcast speaks with several individuals on topics ranging from a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty that’s gaining steam currently to ways of improving the financing of Indigenous communities and conservation organizations working in Africa, and many others. Here’s who appears on the show:

Allison Begalman, co-founder of the Hollywood Climate Summit

Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International

Tzeporah Berman, chair of the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty

Luisa Castaneda, deputy director of Land Is Life

Paul Chet Greene, member of the House of Representatives of Antigua and Barbuda

Susana Muhamad, minister of environment and sustainable development of Colombia

Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives

Maria Neira, director of the Department of Public Health and Environment at the World Health Organization

Sam Shaba, CEO of Honeyguide

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

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: Indigenous activists during an End of the Fossil Fuels event during Climate Week 2023. Image courtesy of the Confederation of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA).

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Time Codes

(00:00) Mongabay at Climate Week NYC

(01:34) Mohamed Nasheed

(04:35) Paul Chet Greene

(05:52) Amitabh Behar

(07:23) PLANETWALKER with Allison Begalman

(12:15) Funding justice with Luisa Castaneda

(18:19) Community-led conservation with Sam Shaba

(24:44) The fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty

(29:19) Juan Bay and the Waorani Nation endorsement

(36:49) Maria Neira from the World Health Organization

(38:39) Susana Muhamad on Colombia’s endorsement

(44:07) Tzeporah Berman talks treaty

(53:32) Rainforest reception and a song

Drylands are vast and home to a wide array of biodiversity, while also hosting a large portion of the world’s farmland, but they face continued desertification, despite many of them recently experiencing increased vegetation levels.

Five million hectares (12 million acres) of drylands, an area half the size of South Korea, have been desertified due to climate change since 1980, but elevated CO2 levels are also driving a regreening of some areas, which some argue is a positive effect of pumping CO2 into the atmosphere.

However, our guest on this episode says this isn’t necessarily good news: remote-sensing researcher Arden Burrell describes how the CO2 fertilization effect is greening some dryland ecosystems, and why this worries scientists who say it may mask land overuse and decreased water resources.

Read the study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01463-y

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

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: Green areas saw a growth in foliage from 2000 to 2017, while brown areas represent a reduction. Image courtesy of Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory.

Time Codes

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(00:00) Introduction

(02:50) Drylands and desertification

(04:19) Impacts of climate change on drylands

(09:33) The CO2 fertilization effect

(23:34) Digging into the models

(30:16) Implications for land overuse

(35:54) Post-show

(41:42) Credits