The Rest is Climate Podcast

This episode discusses how climate change mitigation and adaptation policies implemented by individual nations generate significant cross-border effects that affect other countries. Nine policy domains are mapped out to illustrate these dynamics including energy, trade, and finance, that alter five types of transnational flows, including trade, technology, and people. These alterations are transmi...

This Rest is Climate Podcast highlights a newly published systematic review examines the implementation, effectiveness, and feasibility of nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation across one hundred and twelve studies in African cities. The research demonstrates that while these green initiatives are widely deployed to mitigate urban heat and reduce flood risks, documented evidence re...

This Rest is Climate podcast presents a framework for attributing systemic risk in urban environments to specific drivers like climate hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and societal responses. It argues that urban crises, such as the Cape Town "Day Zero" drought, are shaped not only by extreme weather but also by governance delays, unequal household capacities, and infrastructure design. By calcul...

This episode outlines the development of a crowd-sourced global directory designed to identify grey literature for systematic reviews of climate solutions. Recognizing that critical evaluation evidence is often produced by governments, NGOs, and private organisations outside traditional academic channels, the researchers propose a living database to address the limitations of existing, static sear...

This podcast highlights urban areas are essential hubs for integrating environmental policy with public health, potentially preventing millions of deaths by addressing the intersection of climate change and human well-being. This research identifies eight action domains, including sustainable food systems and nature-based solutions, that provide immediate, local advantages alongside long-term glob...

This episode focuses on a review that examines the evolution of traditional, indigenous, and local knowledge as vital evidence for climate change adaptation between 2000 and 2025. The research identifies a significant surge in academic interest after 2015, highlighting a transition from merely observing environmental shifts to actively implementing governance and resilience strategies. By categori...

The Glo-CoH dataset is a comprehensive new digital resource designed to map the precise boundaries of UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in vulnerable low-lying coastal regions. Developed by a multidisciplinary team, the project digitised 1,250 individual areas across the globe that sit less than 20 metres above sea level to better assess risks from climate-driven sea-level rise. Researchers used...

This Rest is Climate podcast introduces the concept of adaptation literacy as a vital evolution beyond basic climate awareness, focusing on the practical ability to navigate and respond to localized environmental risks. It presents a five-pillar framework that encompasses understanding impacts, risk perception, adaptation skills, reflexive capabilities, and ethical engagement to bridge the gap bet...

This podcast examines the devastating global impacts of compound climate events throughout 2025, categorising them into specific typologies such as spatial, temporal, and preconditioned interactions. We highlight how overlapping hazards, such as wildfires in Canada and catastrophic flooding in Mexico, resulted in damage that far exceeded the effects of isolated weather incidents. Key case studies...

This Rest is Climate Podcast discusses the formal adoption of the Belém Adaptation Indicators at COP30, which establish a framework for protecting global cultural heritage from climate change. This initiative aims to operationalise the Global Goal on Adaptation by creating measurable targets for preserving both physical sites and intangible traditions. The authors advocate for an ambitious approac...

This Rest is Climate podcast discusses how extreme heat negatively affects educational outcomes for children in low- and middle-income countries. The research highlights that rising temperatures disrupt learning through direct physiological and cognitive stress, while also indirectly hindering school access by damaging agricultural livelihoods and household income. While the evidence consistently...

  这项由气候风险实验室和中国研究人员共同开展的研究，对中国39处世界文化遗产进行了全面的气候风险评估，涵盖148处具体遗址及其保护缓冲区。该研究结合专家见解和未来气候预测，揭示了到21世纪末，几乎所有被评估的遗址都将面临中度至极度风险，原因是气温上升和降水强度增加。数据尤其凸显了古代建筑结构的脆弱性，例如五台山，它们极易受到极端降雨和冻融循环的影响而发生物质退化。除了这些标志性地标之外，作者还强调，数以...

This research from the Climate Risk Lab and researchers in China provides a comprehensive climate risk assessment for 39 of China’s Cultural World Heritage properties, encompassing 148 specific sites and their protective buffer zones. By integrating expert insights with future climate projections, the study reveals that nearly all examined locations will face moderate to extreme risk by the late 2...

The Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative (GAMI) serves as a pioneering framework for synthesising worldwide climate change adaptation data, originally established to support major international assessments like the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. Through a reflective survey of 59 participating researchers, this source evaluates the project's impact, reliability, and procedural feasibility, noting sign...

This podcast highlights the necessity of advancing the science and practice of climate risk management (CRM) in response to escalating global climate risks and insufficient current adaptation efforts. Extreme weather and "new climate normals" demonstrate the inadequacy of traditional responses, forcing a critical reflection on how CRM has evolved since its origins in the late 1990s. To prepare for...

Hierdie Rest is Climate-podsending dek Suid-Afrika se Tweede Nasionaal Bepaalde Bydrae (NDC), 'n formele dokument wat in Oktober 2025 ingevolge die Paryse Ooreenkoms gekommunikeer is. Hierdie Suid-Afrika se NDC skets die land se verbintenisse rakende versagting, aanpassing en ondersteuning vir die tydperk 2031-2035, wat die vordering vanaf sy eerste NDC demonstreer. Sleutelkomponente sluit in 'n v...

This Rest is Climate podcast covers South Africa’s Second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), a formal document communicated in October 2025 under the Paris Agreement. This South Africa’s NDC outlines the country’s commitments regarding mitigation, adaptation, and support for the period 2031-2035, demonstrating progression from its first NDC. Key components include a mitigation target range ...

This podcast highlights how both the impacts of climate change and our responses to climate change affect climate change risk of structural economic transformation. examines Structural Economic Transformation (SET) in a world impacted by climate change, asserting its continued importance for poverty reduction and resilience. It highlights how climate change necessitates adaptations in development...

This Rest is Climate podcast examines the critical role of Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) in climate change adaptation in Africa. They highlight how ILK, encompassing traditional wisdom, practices, and observations, is crucial for African communities, particularly smallholder farmers, in forecasting weather patterns, managing natural resources, and ensuring food security. The texts also ackn...

This podcast focuses on recent advances in complex climate change risk assessment for adaptation and discusses how to better assess and manage the intricate and interconnected risks posed by climate change. It highlights promising opportunities for action in areas like cities, coastal zones, and finance, advocating for the implementation of new methodologies. These methods, such as participatory m...

This podcast discusses the financial landscape of climate change research concerning Africa. It analyses a substantial database of research grants from 1990 to 2020, revealing that a disproportionately small fraction of global climate research funding targets Africa, despite the continent's high vulnerability to climate change. Most of this funding originates from and is received by institutions i...

This podcast discusses climate change impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation strategies across Africa, categorising findings by sub-regions and various sectors. It highlights how socio-economic, political, and environmental factors intersect to create multi-dimensional climate change exposure and vulnerability, particularly for those in informal settlements, women, children, and the elderly. It...

This podcast gives a a comprehensive overview of research on human adaptation to climate change, primarily drawing from the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative (GAMI). We examine where, how, and to what extent adaptation responses are being implemented globally, covering various geographical regions, sectors, and the types of climate hazards addressed. A significant focus is placed on the involve...

This podcast examines the multifaceted concept of climate security through the lens of various nations and international bodies, particularly the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). It discusses how countries like South Africa, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Niger, Russia, the UK, and Vietnam perceive and address climate change as a risk and a security is...

This podcast discusses the idea of Climate Resilient Development (CRD), a concept that integrates adaptation and mitigation with sustainable development to achieve a liveable future. It emphasise that a narrowing window of opportunity necessitates urgent and fundamental shifts in current development approaches, moving beyond traditional economic growth models towards inclusive, just, and equitable...