Nature for Development Podcast Series

In this episode, we explore the  impactful work of the “Young Emerging Farmers Initiative” (YEFI) in Zambia. YEFI aims to empower young people, particularly those in rural areas, to adopt sustainable farming practices. Committed to creating job opportunities, YEFI also seeks to change the perception of agriculture among young people, highlighting the importance of environmental stewardship.

Immerse yourself in the inspiring journey of the URU URU team in Bolivia, winners of the Equator Prize 2023. Learn about their efforts to revive and restore Uru Uru Lake polluted by chemicals and garbage and restore its precious biodiversity.

Discover the inspiring story of the Equator Prize 2023 winners, Perfect Village Communities “PVC Burundi.” This remarkable initiative aims to restore the health of local communities in Burundi by creating a natural fertilizer for their crops, engaging youth in farming, creating new job opportunities, bringing the community together, and planting trees to restore the environment.

Conozca cómo Alex Villca Limaco, Defensor de los Derechos Indígenas y de la Naturaleza en la Coordinadora Nacional para la Defensa de los Territorios Indígenas Originarios Campesinos y Áreas Protegidas (CONTIOCAP), ha abogado por los derechos a la tierra y la protección del medio ambiente en los territorios indígenas de Bolivia en la escena mundial.

Hablamos con Heylin Reyes, coordinadora de proyectos de empoderamiento de la mujer en la Asociación de Mujeres Indígenas del Territorio Cabécar Kábata Könana en Costa Rica. Su asociación reúne a mujeres Indígenas para promover el uso de prácticas y conocimientos tradicionales para la seguridad alimentaria y los fines medicinales, mejorar el liderazgo de las mujeres y los derechos indígenas, y proteger el bosque circundante. Su asociación también forma a mujeres en materia de agroforestería rotacional y regenerativa, y promueve el uso de variedades de semillas nativas locales y plantas medicinales tradicionales, mejorando la resiliencia de la comunidad frente al calentamiento climático. La asociación ganó el Premio Ecuatorial en 2021.

We sat down with Pablo Mis, Program Director of the Maya Leaders Alliance, to learn how the Maya peoples are promoting Indigenous grassroots development through legal land right protections and other forms of advocacy in Southern Belize.

We sat down with Ravi Corea, founder of the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society, to learn how to strategically mediate the ongoing conflicts between humans and elephants and promote sustainable livelihoods, protect wildlife, and achieve a harmonious coexistence.

We sat down with Nelson Ole Reiyia and Maggie Reiyia of the Nashulai Maasai Conservancy to learn how one of Kenya’s first Indigenous-managed conservancies was able to restore food security and self-sufficiency in the face of lost eco-tourism income caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This podcast features Roberto Borrero, a renowned indigenous rights activist and representative of Tribal Link Foundation, who discusses entryways for Indigenous Peoples to raise visibility of their rights in the United Nations system.

This podcast features Victor Lopez-Carmen, Co-Chair of the UN Global Indigenous Youth Caucus, who shares his experience representing Indigenous youth and advocating for Native American rights to health and to a healthy environment.

This podcast features Saw John Bright of the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network, who talks about the establishment of the Salween Peace Park for the promotion of peace and the protection of the Karen people's livelihoods in the face of conflict in Myanmar.

This podcast features Ghulam Mohammad of Baltistan Wildlife Conservation and Development Organization (BWCDO), an Equator Prize winning non-profit in Pakistan working to ensure that vulnerable snow leopards and humans coexist in harmony.

This episode describes the path of community-based organization Hui Makaʻāinana o Makana towards the establishment of a subsistence fishing area that preserves local ecological knowledge in Kauaʻi, Hawai'i.

Episode 2: Regenerative Agriculture and Building Climate Resilience This episode featuring Dr. Andrew Smith, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Scientist at Rodale Institute focuses on how regenerative agricultural practices can combat the climate crisis by improving soil health.

Episode 2: Regenerative Agriculture and the Future of Global Food Systems This episode featuring Jeff Tkach, Chief Impact Officer at Rodale Institute, offers the ways regenerative organic agriculture can improve our global food systems, eradicate “hidden hunger,” and increase food security.

Episode 1: Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People: An Introduction to Regenerative Organic Agriculture This episode featuring Jeff Moyer, Chief Executive Officer at Rodale Institute, defines regenerative agriculture and describes steps that policymakers and consumers can take to help support the transformation to regenerative agricultural systems.

The Forest 500 2019 annual report finds that despite ambitious commitments to end deforestation in agricultural commodity supply chains by 2020, the lack of any action by almost half of the most influential companies and financial institutions in forest-risk supply chains is preventing sector-wide change. Learn more about the findings from this report and why company action is essential to achieving global forest protection in this interview with Sarah Rogerson from the Global Canopy Programme.

This podcast features Kevin Chang, Co-Director of Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA), a network that supports community-based natural resource management in Hawaiʻi by working together with government agencies and communities towards restoring Hawaiʻi communities’ traditional role as caretakers of their land.

This podcast features Ghazali Ohorella, an expert in indigenous human rights and international politics from the Indigenous Alifuru people of South-Maluku. Learn about the recent negotiations at the 25th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference from the perspective of a seasoned indigenous negotiator at UNFCCC.

Brazil is the largest producer of coffee in the world. In the municipality of Apuí, however, coffee production has been on a steady decline, losing land to extensive livestock production - one of the main drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The Apuí Agroforestry Coffee project, initiated by the Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Amazon (IDESAM), is proving to be an effective solution to revive sustainable coffee production while also conserving and restoring the Amazon forest. In this episode, you will hear from Pedro Soares, Manager of Climate Change and REDD+ at IDESAM, about this project and its impact.

This episode of the Nature for Development podcast recorded during the regional meeting of the Governors Climate and Forest Task Force features an interview with Rafael Robles de Benito, Climate Change Director of the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Rafael speaks of the role and importance of subnational government for addressing deforestation and promoting low-carbon sustainable development in tropical countries.

This episode of the Nature for Development podcast recorded during COP24 in Poland features an interview with Juan Carlos Jintiach of COICA (Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin). Juan Carlos speaks of indigenous peoples engagement on the UNFCCC process, the importance of governance, land rights and indigenous peoples participation if we are to save the remaining tropical forests; and the recently approved indigenous peoples platform under the UNFCCC.

Latest episode of Nature for Development Podcast Series

The first episode of the Nature for Development podcast will introduce you to the people at the UNDP's Global Programme on Nature for Development who lead on various aspects of the programme's work. They are the people you will hear from in this series. The team leads will give you a little teaser of what they have in store for you for future episodes.