loader from loading.io

Indigenous communities left in the dark on Borneo hydropower plan advocate for their river

Mongabay Newscast

Release Date: 07/09/2024

Secretive regional fisheries management organizations need media coverage show art Secretive regional fisheries management organizations need media coverage

Mongabay Newscast

Seventeen (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...

info_outline
New tropical forest conservation fund has ‘great potential’ show art New tropical forest conservation fund has ‘great potential’

Mongabay Newscast

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...

info_outline
Do we need a 'moral reckoning' on aquaculture's environmental impacts? show art Do we need a 'moral reckoning' on aquaculture's environmental impacts?

Mongabay Newscast

Animal aquaculture, the farming of fish, has 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 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...

info_outline
Conservation is key for planetary health & preventing pandemics show art Conservation is key for planetary health & preventing pandemics

Mongabay Newscast

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 ...

info_outline
Grounded: This pilot quit flying to help the aviation industry change, for the better show art Grounded: This pilot quit flying to help the aviation industry change, for the better

Mongabay Newscast

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...

info_outline
Don't call it the ‘high seas treaty’: New oceans agreement should center biodiversity, expert says show art Don't call it the ‘high seas treaty’: New oceans agreement should center biodiversity, expert says

Mongabay Newscast

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...

info_outline
Global Nature Positive Summit features Indigenous & conservation leaders but gets negative marks on government action show art Global Nature Positive Summit features Indigenous & conservation leaders but gets negative marks on government action

Mongabay Newscast

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 for. For this episode, Mongabay speaks with delegates to the summit including Barry Hunter, a descendent of the Djabugay people and...

info_outline
Jane Goodall and Rhett Butler celebrate Mongabay’s 25th anniversary show art Jane Goodall and Rhett Butler celebrate Mongabay’s 25th anniversary

Mongabay Newscast

The Mongabay Newscast recently traveled to San Francisco to join an event hosted by the popular radio show and podcast, , 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...

info_outline
Community conservation, Indigenous rights, and phasing out fossil fuels at Climate Week NYC show art Community conservation, Indigenous rights, and phasing out fossil fuels at Climate Week NYC

Mongabay Newscast

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...

info_outline
High CO2 levels are greening the world’s drylands, is that good news? show art High CO2 levels are greening the world’s drylands, is that good news?

Mongabay Newscast

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...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

The premier of the Malaysian state of Sarawak recently announced new dam projects on three rivers in Borneo without the informed consent of local people.

The managing director of the Sarawak-based NGO SAVE Rivers, Celine Lim, joins the podcast to discuss with co-host Rachel Donald how these potential dam projects could impact rivers and human communities in Borneo. She also reflects on lessons learned from a recent visit with Indigenous communities in California, who successfully argued for the removal of dams on the Klamath River and are now restoring its floodplain.

She says her community relies on the Tutoh River for food and transport, so the announcement “definitely threw the community into a frenzy because no one knew of this plan before the announcement.”

Read the full story from Danielle Keeton-Olsen and view footage of the guest's trip to California with the Borneo Project here at Instagram.

Love this conversation? Please share it with a friend!

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image Credit: A man steers his motorboat near Long Moh village on August 26, 2023. The village is located along the Baram River. Image by Danielle Keeton-Olsen for Mongabay.

---

Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:36) A lack of consultation

(10:05) Legal rights and UNDRIP

(13:42) Impact of hydropower projects on Sarawak

(20:39) A relationship with the river

(27:58) Solidarity and solace on the Klamath River

(33:10) Breaking down the cognitive dissonance

(43:16) Credits