WCS Wild Audio

Latest Episodes:

S3 E13: A Bold Bipartisan Initiative to Leverage Public-Private Finance for Conservation Oct 18, 2023

Show notes

Protected and conserved areas across the globe safeguard critical biodiversity, contribute to local economies, and support U.S. development and foreign policy objectives. But too often they are underfunded. Making its way through the congress now is a bill that would leverage U.S. funding with philanthropic contributions to provide sustainable financing for protected areas. In this episode we hear from WCS’s John Calvelli and two Senate allies to learn more.
Reporting: Nat Moss
Guests: John Calvelli, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham

S3 E12: Pathogen Spillover and the Bigger Public Health Picture in Alaska Oct 11, 2023

Show notes

WCS researchers are embarking on a two-year study of Covid transmission in Alaskan wildlife. Working closely with Indigenous Communities, the team is on a mission to better understand the overlap between human, environmental, and animal health. In doing so, they can get a better sense of the “big picture” of how pathogens develop, jump between species and ultimately, how we can avoid the next global pandemic.
Reporting: Hannah Kaplan
Guest: Sarah Olson

S3 E11: Too Important to Fail | Community Fisheries’ Critical Role in Marine Conservation Sep 27, 2023

Show notes

Small Scale fisheries are the cornerstone of livelihoods and economies across the world, providing essential micronutrients to more than 4 billion people. What's more, they also employ over 150 million people in the industry, the majority of whom live in the Global South, and are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Wild Audio's Hannah Kaplan sat down with WCS's Hoyt Peckham, Director of Community fisheries, who manages a team supporting 30 Country programs as they work to achieve a more sustainable and equitable approach to managing our marine resources.
Keep an eye out for additional WCS Wild Audio stories about sustainable fisheries, with insights and solutions from the communities who manage them, in Season 4.
Reporting: Hannah Kaplan
Guest: Hoyt Peckham

S3 E10: New York Climate Week Series, Part 3 | Investing in At-Risk Forests with the REDD+ Framework Sep 19, 2023

Show notes

During New York's Climate Week, WCS is exploring bold approaches to the growing climate crisis in a three-part series. In our final episode, we look at REDD+ and market-driven approaches to forest conservation.
WCS Executive Director of Markets, Todd Stevens, wants to find sustainable, financially viable incentives for protecting nature. Linking field-based conservation to private sector funding under the REDD+ framework, his goal is to use capital to ensure positive, environmentally friendly economic development in and around conservation sites.
This model rewards restoration and protection of the environment, ultimately linking healthy ecosystems to healthy economies. At the heart of this markets-based approach, says Todd, lie at-risk forests, which absorb harmful Co2 emissions. Hannah Kaplan has the story.
Reporting: Hannah Kaplan
Guest: Todd Stevens

S3 E9: New York Climate Week Series, Part 2 | Why We Need Climate Adaptation Sep 14, 2023

Show notes

During New York's Climate Week, WCS is exploring bold approaches to the growing climate crisis in a three-part series. In Part 2, we look at the need for anticipating, and adapting to, a changing climate.
The most important thing we can do to address climate change is reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Protecting intact nature can also be a big part of the solution. But let’s say we do those things and we manage to constrain climate change. What type of world will be left for us to live in, if we don't intentionally change our conservation strategies now? That’s where climate adaptation has a part to play.
Reporting: Dan Rosen
Guests: Liz Tully, Paul Elsen

S3 E8: New York Climate Week Series, Part 1 | Why Is Forest Integrity So Important? Sep 09, 2023

Show notes

In anticipation of New York Climate Week taking place later this month during the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly, WCS Wild Audio presents the first in a 3-part series exploring forward-thinking approaches to the growing climate crisis. For Part 1, we look at why maintaining the ecological integrity of forests is so important and what can be done both to avoid further degradation and restore what’s been lost.
Reporting: Nat Moss
Guests: Tom Evans, Kemen Austin

S3 E7: A Wildlife-Friendly Farming Approach with Ibis Rice | An Interview with Nicholas Spencer and Keo Socheat Aug 30, 2023

Show notes

At a time when 80 percent of the world’s forests have been degraded for agriculture and other human activities, a new approach is taking shape in Cambodia’s Northern Plains.
There, an initiative to support sustainable rice production is reducing deforestation and helping to protect endangered bird species like the giant and white-shouldered ibis.
The WCS-managed Ibis Rice links jasmine rice farmers to international consumer markets to achieve environmental protection and fairtrade prices to local communities.
For more information on Ibis Rice and its products, visit: https://ibisrice.com/
Reporting: Hannah Kaplan
Guest: Nicholas Spencer and Keo Socheat

S3 E6: Posing for the Iconic “Jaws” Poster | An Interview with Allison Maher Stern Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

While shark incidents with people are statistically very rare, each event understandably creates fear among beachgoers contemplating a swim in the ocean. Nothing has influenced the public’s attitude toward sharks more than the 1975 film Jaws. WCS Life Trustee Allison Maher Stern was the model for the swimmer in the film’s famously provocative marketing campaign. WCS Wild Audio recently caught up with her to ask about that historic modeling job half a century ago, and how it has affected her life since then.
Reporting: Nat Moss
Guest: Allison Maher Stern

S3 E5: Hand Raising Scarlet Macaws in Guatemala Aug 15, 2023

Show notes

The 5 Great Forests from Mexico to Colombia contain 7.5 percent of the world’s biodiversity and support five million people. One of the iconic species there is the scarlet macaw. In Guatemala, protecting these bright red birds from habitat destruction and poaching for the pet trade is a major challenge. The WCS team there has taken an interesting approach.
Reporting: Dan Rosen
Guests: Rony Garcia, Gabriela Ponce Santizo, Jeremy Radachowsky

S3 E4: The King of the Jungle Is Vulnerable, But WCS Has a Strategy for Recovery Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

August 10 is World Lion Day. To learn more about how these majestic felines are doing across their range in Africa, and how WCS is working to conserve them, we turned to WCS’s chief big cat expert and his colleagues in Uganda, where anti-poaching efforts and community-based conservation to reduce human-wildlife conflict are part of a larger strategy to recover lion populations across east and central Africa.
Reporting: Nat Moss
Guests: Luke Hunter, Joshua Mabonga, Caroline Twahebwa

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected