Mongabay Explores  By  cover art

Mongabay Explores

By: Mongabay.com
  • Summary

  • A podcast about the world's unique places and species – from areas of amazing natural heritage to environmental challenges and conservation solutions – hear inspiring conversations with experts, scientists, authors, and activists on Mongabay Explores.
    2021-2023
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Episodes
  • Congo Basin, Bonus: Pollution & impunity in the DRC
    May 13 2024
    In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), pollution from extracting minerals commonly used in the energy transition like cobalt and copper is on the rise, and miners generally ignore their legal obligations to clean it up. Cases of such pollution have killed and displaced people and caused major health problems, say residents and community organizations. The DRC is estimated to hold 64% of the world's cobalt reserves (3.5 million tons of cobalt, plus 31 million tons of copper) and could benefit from these metals by becoming a major player in the energy transition. But the state-owned mining company, Gécamines, is itself not immune, and is also a shareholder in several other companies, some of which are accused of these same rights abuses. In the investigation you're about to hear, Mongabay visited several villages in Lualaba Province affected by pollution and human rights violations, to assess the state of the unresolved damages. This story is supported by the Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigation Network. If you missed the first six episodes of our podcast series on the Congo Basin, please subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts from, and follow the links below: Forest elephants are the ‘glue’ holding Congo rainforests together What would it cost to protect the Congo Rainforest? A just energy transition requires better governance & equity in the DRC Big potential and immense challenges for great ape conservation in the Congo Basin, experts say Congo Basin communities left out by ‘fortress conservation’ fight for a way back in Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin: The ‘heart of the world’ is at a turning point Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here. Image: Ruined homes and shops in Kabwe Village. In 2018 an accident caused by Mutanda Mining, a subsidiary of Anglo-Swiss company Glencore, cost the lives of 21 people here. They company has not completed the compensation process for the victims. Photo by Didier Makal for Mongabay. --- Timecodes: (00:00) Introduction (01:27) Bye bye Kabombwa (02:50) Fleeing pollution in Gécamines and Musonoïe (04:55) Mines, the economic lifeblood of the DRC (08:48) Forgotten victims, stolen livelihoods
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    12 mins
  • Congo Basin, Part 6: How the Congo Rainforest is shaped by elephants
    Nov 7 2023
    The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) plays a critical role in shaping the Congo rainforest, experts say. Though they represent incalculable and intrinsic value, there is much scientists still do not know about this critically endangered species of megafauna.    On this final episode of the Congo Basin season of Mongabay Explores, Fiona "Boo" Maisels, a conservation scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Andrew Davies, assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University, detail the 'irreplaceable' value of African forest elephants, what would happen if we lose them, and why they need urgent protection.   If you missed the first five episodes of this podcast series, please subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts from, and follow the links below:    What would it cost to protect the Congo Rainforest? A just energy transition requires better governance & equity in the DRC Big potential and immense challenges for great ape conservation in the Congo Basin, experts say Congo Basin communities left out by ‘fortress conservation’ fight for a way back in Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin: The ‘heart of the world’ is at a turning point   Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here.    Sounds heard during this episode: Soundscape recording from the Dzanga Bai forest clearing in the Dzanga Sangha Protected Area in the Central African Republic, where elephants aggregate in very large numbers. It is likely that there were 80 elephants or more at the clearing at the time of the recording, which was shared by The Elephant Listening Project at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Image Credit: Forest elephants, pictured in Central African Republic. Photo ©Cristián Samper/WCS
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    38 mins
  • Congo Basin, Part 5: Where's the money for Congo Basin conservation?
    Aug 29 2023

    How much does it cost to protect the Congo Rainforest? The world's second-largest rainforest provides critical ecological services that millions of people and myriad species rely on. It is also a massive carbon sink, storing tens of billions of tons of carbon in its trees, soils and peatlands.

    One would think protecting it would be an international priority, and yet funding commitments have historically struggled to adequately finance forest protection in the region. Experts say many commitments end before funding can be fully disbursed, and efforts rarely translate to a better life for local communities who live in these forests.

    For episode five of Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin, we speak with experts who explain the challenges of financing forest protection in the region and what's needed to address gap: Paolo Cerutti, senior scientist and DRC unit head at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR-ICRAF); Chadrack Kafuti at Ghent University; Wahida Patwa Patwa-Shah, senior regional technical specialist, UNDP Climate Hub; and Lee White, minister of water, forests, the sea and environment in Gabon.

    If you missed the first four episodes of this podcast series, please subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts from, or click on the links below: 

    A just energy transition requires better governance & equity in the DRC

    Big potential and immense challenges for great ape conservation in the Congo Basin, experts say

    Congo Basin communities left out by ‘fortress conservation’ fight for a way back in

    Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin: The ‘heart of the world’ is at a turning point

    Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here. 

    Episode Artwork: Rainforest in Gabon in the Congo Basin, which is home to chimpanzees. Natural forest has far greater biodiversity and carbon storage value than tree plantations. Photo credit: ZB / Mongabay.

    Sounds heard during the intro and outro: The call of a putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans). This soundscape was recorded in Ivindo National Park in Gabon by Zuzana Burivalova, Walter Mbamy, Tatiana Satchivi, and Serge Ekazama.

    Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, 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! 

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    1 hr and 10 mins

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