Coming to you from the 20th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, (.CITES CoP20) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, we pull back the curtain on one of the most powerful, and most misunderstood, global environmental conventions: CITES, the body that decides the wildlife trade rules for the entire planet.

In this kickoff episode from CITES CoP20, we sit down with Zimbabwe’s Environment Minister, Dr. Evelyn Ndlovu and the CITES Secretary General, Ivonne Higuero, to unpack the global wildlife trade rules shaping elephants, ivory, rhinos and more.

From powerful interventions against the “stepwise approach,” to Africa’s push for fair, science-based decisions, we break down why CITES matters for communities living with wildlife, and why elephants remain the biggest political animal in the room.

This is The Conservation Conversation…. clear, African, and unapologetically real.

From protest chants to high-stakes negotiations, this episode takes you inside Week One of COP30 and a peak into Week Two, where finance fights, adaptation politics, and climate justice demands collided. We unpack what La been happening in Belém, why $1.3 trillion is the number echoing across the Amazon, and how Zimbabwe is participating in this global green revolution. With expert insights, on-the-ground updates, and powerful new voices from The Nature Conservancy, Audubon, and the Zimbabwean delegation, this episode breaks down the climate-power debates shaping Africa’s future.

As COP30 unfolded in Belém, we focused on one theme which is standing out, food systems.

Agriculture and food production are responsible for nearly one-third of global emissions, yet for millions in Africa and across the Global South, they’re also a matter of livelihoods, nutrition, and identity.

In this episode, I speak with Oliver Camp, Environment and Food Systems Advocacy Advisor - GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION (GAIN), to explore:

• How food systems are finally making it onto the climate agenda

• Where finance and ambition are (or aren’t) meeting reality

• What the pledges mean for the Global South, smallholder farmers, and our shared path to 1.5°C