Make Change Happen

The focus is on food systems. The world is missing targets for addressing hunger and malnutrition while food systems contribute to nature loss and climate change. So how can sustainable food systems tackle those issues and also provide jobs, support economies and reduce poverty?

In this episode, principal researcher Ebony Holland talks to Simon Cullen about the importance of nature finance and the need for changes in practice to make sure money for nature resilience gets to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

In this episode, IIED’s senior researcher Karen Wong-Pérez talks to IIED’s senior press and PR manager, Simon Cullen, about global progress towards gender justice and why the journey towards gender-just environmental action isn’t moving quickly enough.

Our latest episode revisits the key themes covered on Make Change Happen during 2025, including critical minerals, climate action and reform of the international financial architecture. As well as reflecting on the progress made, our hosts – IIED’s Simon Cullen and Lindlyn Moma – highlight the big opportunities for global action in 2025, discussing what it will take to see change in the nature, climate and inequality crises.

IIED has launched a 'Manifesto for a thriving world’ and the need for new responses to a range of compounding crises, greater uncertainty and growing injustice. In this episode, the chair of IIED's board of trustees Tara Shine and trustee John Taylor discuss the intitute's plans for the future and changing ways of working. Tom Mitchell, IIED's executive director, stresses the importance of IIED being outward looking and being grounded in evidence and including the knowledge and voices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. And Crissy Guerrero of the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme in Asia gives a practical example, outlining a certification scheme designed by forest producers to replace a system created by external parties for designating what can be labelled as organic.

Despite global efforts to tackle the impacts of climate change, we are failing to achieve critical climate objectives. IIED’s Hidden Handbrake campaign aims to reveal and explain the bureaucratic, political, legal and practical barriers to countries taking effective action in response to climate change. Progress on mitigation and adaptation measures and anticipatory actions to reduce the potential of loss and damage is drastically slowed where these barriers exist. They must be brought out into the open, challenged and removed. This episode is a conversation between Tom Mitchell, executive director of IIED, and Sejal Patel, a senior researcher in IIED focusing on climate finance and climate-resilient development. The episode also has vital contributions from three climate and environment specialists: Megan Rowling and David Shukman, both highly regarded journalists, and Achala Abeysinghe, regional director and head of programmes at the Global Green Growth Institute. Read more: https://www.iied.org/hidden-handbrakes-whats-holding-back-climate-action

According to UNHCR, the global number of people forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, human rights abuses, and other forms of persecution has reached 110 million. When asked to imagine the living conditions of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs), rows of white tents or temporary structures often come to mind. In fact, around 60% of refugees and IDPs live in towns and cities. This episode of Make Change Happen is hosted by Lucy Earle, director of IIED's Human Settlements research group, and features Nassim Majidi, co-founder and executive director of Samuel Hall; Jack Makau, associate director of Slum Dwellers International in Kenya; and Samer Saliba, director of city practice at the Mayors Migration Council. The podcast discusses challenges and lessons from ‘participatory forums’ – part of a 3.5-year research project – that bring together different stakeholders and refugee representatives together. Read more: https://www.iied.org/help-cities-help-people-bringing-everyone-together-refugee-response-make-change-happen-podcast As a listener of IIED's Make Change Happen podcast, we value your opinion and are keen to understand your preferences and gather valuable feedback to enhance our podcast. Please, take this survey to help us create content that resonates with you: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/IIEDpodcastsurvey Your responses will play a crucial role in shaping the future of the Make Change Happen podcast, making it an even more informative experience for all.

In this episode, launched to coincide with International Women’s Day, an all-women panel share the transformative change driven by women as they take on leadership roles at every level – from remote rural villages to international conventions. Hosted by James Persad, director of IIED’s Communications group, this podcast features Ritu Bharadwaj, principal researcher in IIED’s Climate Change research group; Omaira Bolaños, director of the Latin America and Gender Justice programmes at Rights and Resources Initiative; and Ivonne Higuero, secretary-general of CITES. Participants discuss what women leadership looks like, why spaces must be created for women leaders in climate and biodiversity, and practical measures to make this happen. Read more: https://www.iied.org/ripple-effects-revolutions-women-leaders-climate-biodiversity IIED’s ‘Make Change Happen’ podcast provides an opportunity to hear our researchers and guests discuss key global development challenges and explain what we are doing to support positive change.

At COP26, political leaders called for more action to address biodiversity loss and climate change together. In this episode of Make Change Happen, we discuss how this must be financed and the possible mechanisms for spurring actions on the ground. Hosted for the first time by James Persad, IIED’s new director of communications, this episode features Mandy Barnett from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Moses Egaru of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Yiching Song from the Farmers’ Seed Network China and Xiaoting Hou Jones, senior researcher at IIED's Natural Resources research group.

As IIED celebrates its 50th birthday, this episode of Make Change Happen brings together four established members of the IIED family to reflect on key movements in the journey towards sustainable development. Host Liz Carlile, IIED's director of communications, is joined by ex-colleagues Steve Bass, now a consultant in sustainable development; Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD); and former IIED director Camilla Toulmin, who is now a professor at the University of Lancaster’s Environment Centre and an associate at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. All three are also senior associates working with IIED. They discuss some of the key movements that have pushed sustainable development forward in recent decades, how the landscape has changed, and what might come next.

In the year IIED celebrates 50 years of working for a fairer and more sustainable world, we invite two eminent former colleagues to look back at where we came from, how we have developed, and where we should be going. Achala Abeysinghe, Asia regional director for the Global Green Growth Institute and ex-IIED vice-president David Runnalls, a fellow with the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Canada, join host Liz Carlile for the discussion. Among the issues that arise are climate finance, partnerships and how to support the poorest and the most vulnerable to ensure their voices are heard and they are able to achieve their goals in vital decision-making arenas – from village councils to international conventions.

Forest and farm smallholders are fighting for their livelihoods and food security. New research shows producers’ practical measures for climate resilience have impact, but barriers remain to scaling the work up and out. In this ‘super year’ of climate and nature, the latest episode of the Make Change Happen podcast hosts a discussion on what support smallholders need, and who should provide it. Guests include Ugandan young agriprenuer Elizabeth Nsimadala, IIED Climate Change director Clare Shakya and Duncan Macqueen, leader of IIED's forest team and an expert on locally controlled forestry, climate-resilient forest enterprises and forest governance approaches.