Climate Diplomacy Podcast

Colombia faces multiple challenges - from a complex peacebuilding process after more than 50 years of armed conflict to growing climate change impacts on its natural resources. Disputes over land use and governance have been at the heart of Colombia's struggle, and while everyone has been affected by it, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities take a particularly high toll. This episode addresses the importance of consid...

Haiti is facing a deep security, political and humanitarian crisis and is simultaneously one of the most vulnerable countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to climate change. Rising temperatures and declining rainfall have intensified drought and climate-related storms are growing more intense, causing devastating flooding. By adversely impacting livelihoods, food security, water scarcity and health conditions, climat...

Since 2014, Yemen has been ravaged by civil war. Our guest today - Yemeni journalist, writer and activist Hind Al-Eryani - brings to light how the war is impacting the lives of women, children, LGBTQ+ communities and religious minorities. Hind explains how women's righs have benn deteriorating in Yemen, and the ways in which this affects society as a whole, for example by hindering climate adaptation. We look into the impa...

So much can be said about how war and conflict disrupt the environment. The effects on human lives are excruciating and long-lived, making environmental protection a priority for human security - even in armed conflicts. On this International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War, we’ve partnered with PAX to put together an episode looking at how rules and recommendations can help protect the enviro...

COP28 is around the corner, and everyone wants to know: how will the conversations around finance for climate-affected states, which officially kicked off in Sharm El-Sheikh last November, pick up in Dubai? 

In this special edition of the #ClimateDiploPod, we go on a deep dive on climate, development and humanitarian funding with Andrew Harper, Special Advisor on Climate Action to the UN High Commissioner for Refuge...

The Peace Pillar initiative, launched in 2022, is sharing and elevating evidence-based recommendations in mainstreaming climate-security to support sustainable peace processes on the ground. It is guided by the analytical approach of Weathering Risk and translates climate-security foresight and analysis into peacebuilding action where it’s needed the most. In this episode, you will hear from Peace Pillar project partners o...

If you work with climate, environment, development, humanitarian assistance or adjacent areas, you have certainly come across this particular type of conflict. But is climate change and environmental degradation really to blame? Join our hosts, Raquel Munayer and Alexandra Steinkraus, in a chat that looks into the post-colonial elements influencing conflicts between farmers and herders, where climate and environment come i...

In this episode, we are joined by Khouloud Ben Mansour, African Youth Ambassador for Peace with the African Union for North Africa and activist for women's and children's rights from Tunisia, to discuss migration, youth and gender in North African and beyond. We cover drivers of migration in the region, gender-based risks, and how to move beyond beyond giving marginalised groups a seat at the table. The conversation also d...

In this episode, Christianne Zakour, Advocate for Environmental Governance and Climate Justice, joins us to discuss shared challenges amongst Small Island Developing States, the potential for more interregional knowledge sharing and climate justice. She shares insights from her work in the Caribbean and the Caribbean Tree Planting Project and her recent term as a steering committee member of the UNEP Major Group of Childre...

Join our hosts, Raquel Munayer and Alexandra Steinkraus, for a conversation on how maladaptation makes communities even more vulnerable, rather than less, to climate change. Insights from Afghanistan, Colombia, Mali and the Pacific illustrate ways that negligence and poorly planned policies can lead to increased climate security risks, strengthened criminal networks, bolstered recruitment and support for armed opposition g...

Reporting on the climate and environmental crises is increasingly a risky endeavour – even more so where insecurity and conflict are present. Environmental Journalist and Consultant Peter Schwartzstein spoke about the perils of covering the climate-conflict nexus in places like Syria and Iraq, why concise narratives matter for boosting action, and what he is up to in his upcoming book ‘The Heat and The Fury’.

This p...

Join us for a conversation with our Heads of Programme (HoPs) for Climate Diplomacy and Security, Janani Vivekananda and Benjamin Pohl, as we reflect on highlights from 2022 – from the launch of the Climate for Peace Initiative at BCSC 2022 to the establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund at COP27 – and identify developments to watch (and be hopeful about) for 2023. All eyes are on actions that will better multilateral coo...

In this episode, we speak with Hafsa Maalim, one of the panel discussants at the 29 November UNSC meeting on climate, peace and security, to discuss the evolution of the understanding of Climate, Peace and Security (CPS) in the Security Council and how increased awareness of how climate, security and peacebuilding interact can offer a basis for additional tools and entry points to better achieve its mandate. She discusses ...

In this episode, Alina Viehoff joins one of our hosts, Alexandra Steinkraus, to discuss all things BCSC. As members of the organising team, together they discuss the key takeaways—from the need for better financing to the importance of inclusivity, equity and diversity, the Launch of the Climate for Peace Initiative and how to channel this agenda for action in support of an ambitious and successful COP27. 

Further l...

In this episode, we are joined by Philippa Nuttall for a conversation on the impacts of war and conflict on nature, and about what can and is being done in the realm of international environmental law to counter-act these issues. She tells us about the weaponization of the environment in Ukraine, which has been ongoing already since 2014, discusses the concept of eco wars, and shares her thoughts on the development of inte...

Beyond its reactive role as a humanitarian agency, the World Food Programme (WFP) looks increasingly to preventative and anticipatory measures to hinder and reduce the impacts of climate-related disaster. Gernot Laganda, Chief of Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction at the WFP, brings some lessons from the field, suggest strategies to increase the resilience of food systems, and lets funding partners what they can do to sup...

It seems counter-intuitive to talk about environmental issues in Syria, in the face of overwhelming human suffering. Yet, human life requires functioning ecosystems, and over 10 years of war has left Syria's water and land in shambles. This episode's guest, Loujein Haj Youssef, Editor-in-Chief at the independent Syrian news platform Rozana Radio, conducted an investigation into the specific environmental impacts caused by ...

In this episode, we discuss feminist foreign policy, intersectional environmentalism, climate justice and how they are all interrelated. We offer a deep-dive into feminist foreign policy and feminist climate policy and explore why they´re important in light of climate security and climate justice. Finally, we speak about activism and why it´s worth fighting for Utopia. 
Interviewee: Sheena Anderson, Project Manager, Cen...

In this episode, we discover what happens when the UN includes climate and environmental risks into a country mandate. Somalia is one of the first political missions to have climate and environmental language included in its mandate – and language has power. 
As a result, Somalia is the ground for several climate initiatives, ranging from risk assessment to capacity-building. One of the most pioneer initiatives includes...