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