ZSL Wild Science Podcast

• ZSL #045 BONUS Nature's Negotiators: Saving the planet one meeting at a time

  After our Nature’s Negotiators miniseries, where we learned all about the complexities, challenges and importance of United Nations climate and biodiversity meetings, we wanted to give the gift of a bonus episode to round things off! We catch up with Bethan to hear how things went after she attended COP29, United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Azerbaijan. Overview 00:11     Harriet McAra, Host of Wild Science, Episode introduction  00:54     Bethan Laughlin, ZSL’s Senior Policy Specialist, on how the finance negotiations at COP29 played out 06:37     Bethan on the strength of language used in texts agreed at COP29, and how that came to be 10:38      Bethan on the accuracy of the portrayal of COP29 in the media 12:38     The other themes discussed at COP29 14:04     What can be expected at the next climate COP in Belem, Brazil 16:17     Outro Resources If there’s a topic you’d like to hear on a future podcast, or if you’d like to share your thoughts, email the ZSL Wild Science Podcast at: [email protected] Check out our science and conservation work at: www.zsl.org/Science or www.zsl.org/conservation Bethan Laughlin: https://www.zsl.org/about-zsl/our-people/bethan-laughlin ZSL’s United Nations and Intergovernmental Policy Engagement: https://www.zsl.org/what-we-do/conservation/creating-change/informing-policy/united-nations-and-intergovernmental-engagement ZSL’s COP16 position statement: https://cms.zsl.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/CBD%20COP16%20Key%20Asks%20-%20October%202024.pdf “Negotiations ran out of time, but action on biodiversity loss cannot be postponed…” Blog written by Georgina Chandler:  https://www.zsl.org/news-and-events/feature/cbd-cop16-negotiations-ran-out-time-action-biodiversity-loss-cannot-be   Get in touch Email [email protected] with your questions, comments, and thoughts for future episodes! Tweet us @ZSLScience with the hashtag #ZSLWildScience Follow us on Facebook @ZSLScienceAndConservation

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• ZSL #044 Nature's Negotiators: The UN's Wildest Diplomatic Mission - Part 2

  2024 has been a big year for international climate policy, with two UN Conference of Parties, or COPs, taking place in quick succession; COP16 in Colombia followed just a few weeks later by COP29 in Azerbaijan. In this episode of Wild Science, we follow on from part one of our Nature’s Negotiators miniseries, and are once again joined by Bethan Laughlin, ZSL Senior Policy Specialist. We discuss the challenges and successes of the two biodiversity and climate COPs, tackle some new UN lingo, and hear about key hopes for the future of climate policy. Overview 00:12     Harriet McAra, Host of Wild Science, Episode introduction  01:12     Bethan Laughlin, ZSL’s Senior Policy Specialist, speaking from COP16 in Cali, Colombia 02:13     Interview with Bethan Laughlin on the successes of COP16 04:05      Insights on the ground at COP16: Davi Teles, Mónica Franco Gutiérrez & Liliana Patricia Saboyá Acosta 07:47     Georgina Chandler, ZSL’s Head of Policy and Campaigns, on digital sequence information 10:34     Continued: Interview with Bethan on the challenges of COP16 and opportunities for the future 17:56     Carly Siege, Manager for International Policy Conservation International 19:30     Thomas Pickford, UK Partnerships and Policy Lead, The Nature Conservancy 30:45     Final reflections, an update from Bethan, and outro Resources If there’s a topic you’d like to hear on a future podcast, or if you’d like to share your thoughts, email the ZSL Wild Science Podcast at: [email protected] Check out our science and conservation work at: www.zsl.org/Science or www.zsl.org/conservation Bethan Laughlin: https://www.zsl.org/about-zsl/our-people/bethan-laughlin Georgina Chandler: https://www.zsl.org/about-zsl/our-people/georgina-chandler Read more about our EDGE Fellows: https://www.edgeofexistence.org/edge-fellows/ ZSL’s COP16 position statement: https://cms.zsl.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/CBD%20COP16%20Key%20Asks%20-%20October%202024.pdf “Negotiations ran out of time, but action on biodiversity loss cannot be postponed…” Blog written by Georgina Chandler: https://www.zsl.org/news-and-events/feature/cbd-cop16-negotiations-ran-out-time-action-biodiversity-loss-cannot-be   Get in touch Email [email protected] with your questions, comments, and thoughts for future episodes! Tweet us @ZSLScience with the hashtag #ZSLWildScience Follow us on Facebook @ZSLScienceAndConservation

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• ZSL #043 Back to the Wild: Assessing disease risks for species reintroduction

  What does it take to reintroduce an animal to the wild safely? How do we make sure that disease risk to existing populations, and to the animals being reintroduced, is mitigated? Hear from the Disease Risk Analysis and Health Surveillance Team (DRAHS) at ZSL who are working to give animals the best start possible as they return to the wild, and whose work has contributed to the recovery of over 30 species across the world. Overview 00:11    Harriet McAra, Introduction to episode 01:01    Dr Tony Sainsbury, DRAHS lead, ZSL 05:44    Clare McNamee, Wildlife Veterinarian and Research Associate, ZSL 10:40    Dr Sophie Common, Wildlife Veterinarian and Research Associate, ZSL 17:27    Georgie Gerrard, DRAHS Project Manager, ZSL 20:32    Becky Foskett, Pathology and Field Technician, ZSL 27:45    Dr Claudia Carraro, Wildlife Veterinarian and Research Associate, ZSL 32:31    Outro and further information Resources and references If there’s a topic you’d like to hear on a future podcast, or if you’d like to share your thoughts, email the ZSL Wild Science Podcast at: [email protected] Check out our science and conservation work at: www.zsl.org/Science or www.zsl.org/Conservation Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis and Health Surveillance: https://www.zsl.org/what-we-do/projects/wildlife-disease-risk-analysis-and-health-surveillance More about dormice health monitoring: Hazel dormice - People's Trust for Endangered Species (ptes.org) & National Dormouse Monitoring Programme (NDMP) (ptes.org) More about our Extinct in the Wild work: Extinct in the Wild | The Zoological Society of London (zsl.org) More about chequered skipper conservation: Chequered Skippers - Butterfly Conservation Vernet, M., Trask, A.E., Andrews, C.E. et al. Assessing invasion risks using EICAT-based expert elicitation: application to a conservation translocation. Biol Invasions 26, 2707–2721 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03341-2 Gibson, L., Shadbolt, T., Paul, P. et al. Prevalence and Molecular Analysis of Encephalomyocarditis Virus-2 in the Hazel Dormouse. EcoHealth 21, 112–122 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-024-01680-z  Get in touch Email [email protected] with your questions, comments, and thoughts for future episodes! Tweet us @ZSLScience with the hashtag #ZSLWildScience Follow us on Facebook @ZSLScienceAndConservation

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• ZSL #042 Nature's Negotiators: The UN's Wildest Diplomatic Mission - Part 1

  You may have heard of a COP, and you’ve almost definitely heard of the United Nations (UN), but how much do you know about the negotiations that go into getting nature, climate and biodiversity embedded into international policy? Ahead of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP16) in Colombia this autumn, we’re hearing from policy experts in this two-part miniseries on how we can save the planet one meeting at a time…or at least try to. Overview 00:11     Introduction to Nature’s Negotiators mini-series 00:24     Bethan Laughlin, ZSL’s Senior Policy Specialist, speaking from a CBD intercessional meeting in Nairobi 01:07     Introduction from Harriet McAra 2:09      Interview with Bethan Laughlin on the history of the CBD, UNFCCC and Global Biodiversity Framework 10:02     Nelly Musyoka, ZSL Kenya’s Community Liaison Officer, on how the 23 CBD targets are applied to real world conservation 14:39     Bethan Laughlin on what ZSL’s priorities are for COP16 in Colombia 23:39     Fiona Dobson, RSPB, on what RSPB’s priorities are for COP16 in Colombia 33:18     Outro and further information Resources If there’s a topic you’d like to hear on a future podcast, or if you’d like to share your thoughts, email the ZSL Wild Science Podcast at: [email protected] Check out our science and conservation work at: www.zsl.org/Science or www.zsl.org/conservation Bethan Laughlin: https://www.zsl.org/about-zsl/our-people/bethan-laughlin Watch a recording of our Science and Conservation Event, Putting Nature at the Heart of Global Decision Making: https://www.zsl.org/news-and-events/events/putting-nature-heart-global-decision-making View the infographic depicting successes and failures following the Rio Earth Summit as described by Bethan in this episode: https://cms.zsl.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/CBD%20UNFCCC%20timeline.png Get in touch Email [email protected] with your questions, comments, and thoughts for future episodes! Tweet us @ZSLScience with the hashtag #ZSLWildScience Follow us on Facebook @ZSLScienceAndConservation

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• ZSL #041 Reimagining Coral Reefs

  Out of sight…but not out of mind? Coral reefs exist largely out of sight for the majority of the world’s population, so the vast array of ecosystem services they provide for local communities are often forgotten, leading conservation efforts to feel like an uphill battle. In this episode, we talk to the people trying to tackle this problem; from using the sounds that healthy and degraded coral reefs make to monitor their restoration, to bringing people closer to coral reefs using virtual reality.   Overview 00:13    Introduction to the topic from Harriet McAra 01:26    Ben Williams, PhD student at the Institute of Zoology and UCL, on coral reefs’ importance, coral soundscapes and the Mars Assisted Reef Restoration System 08:30    Introduction to the Datascape Realities Project 08:52    John Zhang and Lourenco Viveiros, co-founders of Datascape Realities, and Jason Lynch, UCL and Institute of Zoology 28:14    Outro and further information Resources If there’s a topic you’d like to hear on a future podcast, or if you’d like to share your thoughts, email the ZSL Wild Science Podcast at: [email protected] Check out our science and conservation work at: www.zsl.org/Science or www.zsl.org/conservation Ben Williams: https://www.zsl.org/about-zsl/our-people/ben-williams Mars Assisted Reef Restoration System: https://www.buildingcoral.com/ and https://www.buildingcoral.com/news/mars-data-scientists-turn-their-skills-to-coral-reef-restoration Datascape Realities: https://www.datascaperealities.com/ and @datascape_real   Get in touch  Email [email protected] with your questions, comments, and thoughts for future episodes! Tweet us @ZSLScience with the hashtag #ZSLWildScience Follow us on Facebook @ZSLScienceAndConservation

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