The Geographical Podcast

In this month's podcast we take a closer look at the complex and often controversial concept of rewilding, considering the many challenges of reintroducing lost species back to a land they once called home, especially when that land has changed beyond all recognition.

This month we take a trip to Cameroon, where a policy to help small-scale fishers is under severe strain. And we talk to Maarten Bavinck, a professor at the University of Amsterdam to find out why so many small-scale fishing communities are under threat worldwide. 

Cashmere is produced in cold regions of India, China and Mongolia, among other places. It is produced from the very fine fibres of hardy goats, looked after by herders. But as we discover in this month's podcast, increased demand for cashmere has led to herds of goats greatly increasing, with environmental problems fast to follow. 

This episode of The Geographical Podcast features a long-read from the April issue of Geographical magazine in which Roman Goergen investigates the workings of CITES, the international agreement designed to monitor the international wildlife trade. 

This month, we’re exploring the subject of forest loss. Around the world, outright deforestation grabs headlines, and was a key theme of COP26. But ecologists understand that, in addition to outright forest loss, there is another pernicious issue at work – that of forest fragmentation. In today’s world, what were once large, contiguous blocks of tropical forest – where species like jaguars and tap...

This month, we’re venturing to the deepest, darkest places of the ocean. There are those that would like to mine these remote and unexplored places. But many scientists are concerned by this issue; they believe that we simply do not know enough about the deep sea to justify mining it. This month’s long read is written by Geographical editor, Katie Burton, and read here by Sophie Pavelle.  In the s...

This episode, we head over to the peatlands of Ireland. Degraded and drained, Ireland’s peatlands face an uncertain future. But a groundbreaking project to find new medicines, following leads from the country’s ancient folklore, may offer salvation. In the second half of the podcast, we’re joined by writer Edward Struzik, author of Swamplands: Tundra Beavers, Quaking Bogs and the Improbable World...

This month, we turn our attention to a miraculous rodent. To the delight of conservationists and the British public, the beaver is back, busy on our waterways once again. By building dams, beavers naturally regulate the flow of rivers. But this ‘ecosystem engineer species’ was driven to local extinction in the 1700s. Without them, our waterways do not function naturally, conservationists argue. Ma...

This month, we’ve dedicated an entire print issue of our magazine to COP26 and the climate. The issue is jam-packed with views and insights on climate change, how we can turn things around, and why the conference could be a critical turning point. This episode, we speak with one of the world’s most effective communicators on climate change. Katharine Hayhoe is a chief scientist at The Nature Conse...

With COP26 soon kicking off, we’ve dedicated the entire November issue of Geographical to the climate. The print edition is jam-packed with insights on the state of our world and the solutions we have to save it. The world’s tropical forests, for example, are our greatest natural assets in the fight against climate change. It is scientifically settled that efforts to halt climate change will fall...

This episode, we’re on the prowl for one of the rarest cats on the planet: the elusive Persian Leopard. Until the 20th century, leopards were the kings of the Caucasus mountain range. But as Tsarist Russia conquered Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, leopards were intensely persecuted. Deforestation, farmland and roads began to fragment its habitat. In recent decades, efforts to conserve the species...

This August, we turn our attention to a much-loved shellfish, well-known for its remarkable flavour – the oyster. Perhaps less well known however, is the role it plays in marine ecosystems. As overfishing has combined with modern environmental problems, the oysters’ crucial role in seabed ecosystems around the world has gradually been eroded and forgotten with time. One ambitious project, set in E...

In this month's edition of the Geographical podcast we take a close look at the Arctic. As the Arctic ice melts due to global warming, neighbouring states are gearing up to exploit its abundant natural resources. The consequences could be extreme. Plus, we catch up with Joe Marlow, a marine biologist, who spent last winter in Antarctica with the British Antarctic Survey.  Links: Subscribe: ht...

This month on The Geographical Podcast, we review the role of exploration in the modern day. Going out into the world’s wildernesses or performing extraordinary feats of endurance have long been opportunities to inspire and educate. In the latest issue of Geographical, Matt Maynard asks what standard we should hold modern-day explorers to in the wake of the climate and environmental crises. The lo...

The G7 summit is taking place this weekend, kicking off in Cornwall on Friday 11th June. Our geopolitics columnist, Tim Marshal, wrote about the conference in the June edition of Geographical Magazine . We caught up with him to hear more about the conference and his views on what we can expect to hear this weekend. Links: Subscribe: http://geographical.co.uk/magazine/subscribe   Newsletter: https:...

Welcome to The Geographical Podcast , brought to you by Geographical Magazine . The official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society.  This month, we turn our attention to the changing geography of sexuality. As historic bars and clubs close down in many of the world’s cities, or even where such spaces never existed, queer people are finding other ways to gather. Our long read this month was wr...

This month, we travel to the south of France, where the world’s biggest nuclear fusion experiment is underway. Nuclear fusion, the reaction constantly taking place within the sun and the stars, is a potential source of safe, non-carbon emitting and virtually limitless energy. Harnessing it, however, is far from easy. Writer Boštjan Videmšek took a tour of the vast construction site and met the peo...

This month, our long-read is Mark Rowe’s dossier about climate change in the USA. Mark looks at the Donald Trump years, and the huge swathe of climate policies and environmental protections that were rolled back or neglected. He also looks forward to a new era under Joe Biden, which will see the USA re-join the Paris Climate Agreement and rebuild legislation.  In the second half of the podcast, we...

Although beautiful, the rolling hills and snaking glens of the Scottish Highlands are, in fact, landscapes that have been damaged by human beings. Much of the Scottish Highlands was once coated in a rich blanket of trees that formed the ‘Great Forest of Caledonia’. Over the centuries most of this forest was lost to agricultural incursions. Vast tracts of old-growth forest were removed; species lik...

The task of quickly designing and clinically testing Covid-19 vaccines has now given way to the formidable challenge of distributing them.  The remarkable speed with which the Covid-19 vaccines were created shows how quickly medical breakthroughs can take place when funds and resources are pooled. But many diseases don’t receive such attention. Can Covid-19’s legacy help to eliminate other, more n...