Eco-Business Podcast

Indonesian courts have seen a steady increase in climate litigation over the past decade. Last year alone, the indigenous Knasaimos peoples in Southwest Papua won a long fight for legal land rights, while citizens in South Sumatra sued three pulpwood companies for burning in their concessions that contributed to toxic haze air pollution. While these cases could have substantial impacts on the environmental rights of Indonesians and their children, raising awareness about climate litigation has been challenging for environmental campaigners, said environmental lawyer Sekar Banjaran Aji, who is also a campaigner for Greenpeace Indonesia. In response, Greenpeace Indonesia worked with journalist and author Titah Aw and illustrator Sekar Bestari to produce a series of children’s books that simplified these topics into narratives that could be easily understood. In this podcast, they share: *How they combined key facts and imaginative elements to tell climate stories *Why it is important for stories of climate change and litigation to be told more widely *What parents and children have learned from reading the books *How the author and illustrator’s own experiences with nature shaped their environmental advocacy

The joke in Alasha League in China’s Inner Mongolia region is that people in Beijing only discovered their existence when local newspapers blew over to the capital city in a sandstorm. Such growing pollution in the 1990s nearly spelt the end of traditional animal herding in Alasha (also spelt Alxa), as China banned livestock and resettled herders to tame the deserts and restore grasslands. But community leaders lobbied for their camels – their beasts of burden since time immemorial – to be recognised as a “protected livestock breed”. And camel herding continues to this day. Success story? It’s not that simple to Dr Thomas White, a researcher who spent years living with the herders to understand what they’re going through. In his recently published book China’s Camel Country, he documented the tensions the herders faced to keep in line with China’s nation-building project. Taboos also emerged as culture courted capitalism to survive – think embellishments for tourism and butchering a treasured species to feed an upscale market. What does his account of Alasha tell of China’s bid to marry development with sustainability? What lessons do the herders have for communities worldwide, who may be bracing against both development pressures and large-scale conservation schemes at home? The Eco-Business podcast speaks with White, lecturer in China and sustainable development at King’s College London, to unpack the complexities he uncovered in China’s northwestern frontier. Tune in as we discuss: - What camel conservation in Alasha shows about China’s green growth ambitions - Whether camel herding resulted in net benefits for the environment - The herders’ “partial success” in preserving their culture amid political and environmental change - What insights Alasha’s herders hold for other local communities facing pressures from development and sustainability initiatives

Joining the Eco-Business Podcast to discuss the implications of RSPO’s draft revised standard is the organisation's director of standards and sustainability, Yen Hun Seng. Tune in as we discuss: What’s changed about RSPO in the last five years How has RSPO managed lobbying from various interest groups? How has the new standard changed on deforestation? How does the standard align with EUDR? What about smallholders? What to expect from RSPO’s annual conference this month?

A climate science group under the United Nations recently faced a fight over the date of its next set of reports – a seemingly small squabble that could have big implications on future global climate policy. Many countries want these reports, covering the science behind the latest trends and ways to tackle the growing risks, by 2028, in time for a review of whether global climate efforts are sufficient. But others want a longer timeline, an ask that critics think represents some governments avoiding advice they do not want to hear. So how does this whole process work? What is the IPCC doing in the years between the major reports, and what challenges do they have to deal with? More broadly, how is the IPCC keeping itself useful – given that most people today generally think they know enough about climate change? The interaction and debates between science and policymakers becomes “more heated” as global warming raises the stakes for governments to get climate action right, Dr Theresa Wong, head of science at the technical support unit of IPCC’s Working Group II, tells the Eco-Business Podcast. Tune in as we discuss: - The latest work on an IPCC special report on cities - Upcoming work to finalise contents for the next set of main assessment reports - What the debate over report timelines show about the state of science and policymaking today - Whether the interface between policy, politics and science benefits climate action - How the IPCC can keep itself relevant amid greater public understanding of global warming

With alternatives such as sustainable aviation fuel still too expensive and low in demand for the aviation industry to consider, carbon offsets could be a way to reduce emissions – if used right. EcoSecurities and the International Air Transport Association tell the Eco-Business podcast how airlines can ensure compliance when new regulations become mandatory