WWF Podcast Nature Breaking

Welcome to Nature Breaking, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) podcast focused on news and trends affecting our natural world, and the people and species that call it home. Find us on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, YouTube MusicSpotify, and more!

filtered by category: Policy

  • Date: 19 March 2024

Today’s episode marks International Day of Forests (March 21) by celebrating the 25th anniversary of a little-known but important US law: the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act, or TFCCA. At its core, the TFCCA was designed to facilitate debt-for-nature swaps, which enable developing countries to restructure the debt they owe to the US in a way that relieves their financial burden in exchange for redirecting a portion of the funds toward conservation. These swaps were conceptualized in the 1980s by Dr. Tom Lovejoy, WWF’s first chief scientist, and proved to be remarkably successful and popular. 

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  • Date: 12 December 2023

For the last 12 days world leaders have convened in Dubai for COP28, the critically important UN climate summit. Important progress has been achieved on some issues, but negotiations have been more difficult in other areas, including on finalizing the Global Stocktake and determining whether it will include language about the need to “phase out” fossil fuels. As COP28 winds to a close this week, we spoke to Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF International’s Global Lead for Climate and Energy. In addition to spearheading WWF’s global climate work, Manuel also previously served as the president of COP20 back in 2014.

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  • Date: 28 November 2023

COP28 kicks off on November 30 in Dubai – that’s the annual UN summit where national governments come together to assess global climate efforts. Today’s episode is a two-part preview for this year’s summit.

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  • Date: 03 October 2023

Much of the climate progress we’ve secured in the last few years has been spurred by the urgent calls to action from young people who are already living with the consequences of decisions that were made by older generations. For this episode, we spoke with one person who has been at the forefront of youth climate organizing and activism. Alexia Leclercq is the winner of WWF’s 2022 Conservation Leadership Award, which is given out annually to recognize exceptional young leaders in the environmental space. Alexia is a grassroots organizer, educator, scholar, and artist who recently received a graduate degree from Harvard University. They co-founded the Colorado River Conservancy in 2020 to protect the stretch of that river that runs along their hometown of East Austin, Texas. And they co-lead Start:Empowerment, a non-profit that aims to bolster climate justice education. 

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  • Date: 27 June 2023

In recognition of Pride Month and Juneteenth, Charles Sumpter and Jessica Leung join the show to talk about what WWF is doing to strengthen its approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

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  • Date: 04 April 2023

This time of year marks the beginning of the annual appropriations process in Congress. That’s the months-long process through which Congress determines how much money it’s going to allocate for a wide array of federal programs – including those that support global conservation efforts. That’s why, every March, WWF asks our national network of supporters to consider joining us for a day of advocacy on Capitol Hill. It’s an opportunity to meet in-person with Members of Congress and their staff, and to let them know why funding for global conservation is important.

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  • Date: 20 March 2023

We’re releasing this episode a day early because today, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a major new report offering the most comprehensive accounting of climate science to date. It's the final report in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment series. One of the lead authors of that series, Dr. Stephanie Roe, also serves as WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Lead Scientist.

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  • Date: 21 February 2023

This year the U.S. Congress is due to reauthorize the Farm Bill. This bill is the primary vehicle for setting food and agricultural policy in the United States. That means it’s also a huge opportunity to advance conservation policies, because food systems account for about one-third of global emissions and are a leading cause of deforestation, land conversion, and biodiversity loss.

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  • Date: 23 January 2023

Last October, Alaskan officials canceled the snow crab harvest for the first time in history, after the population dropped nearly 90% between 2018 and 2021. 

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  • Date: 10 November 2022

In this wake of this week’s US election, this episode features a conversation with Will Gartshore, WWF’s senior director for policy and government affairs. 

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