Make Change Happen
Episodes
38. Housing challenges are not solved by forced evictions. What is the way forward?
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, IIED senior researcher Camila Cocina, Lorena Zarate from the Global Platform for the Right to the City and Joseph Kimani of Slum Dwel...
37. Networks, not global forums, to drive climate action?
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, IIED principal researcher Anna Schulz and Green Economy Coalition convenor Carina Bachofen discuss the impact of a rapidly changing m...
36. Solidarity, collaboration and justice – the future of food systems
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The focus is on food systems. The world is missing targets for addressing hunger and malnutrition while food systems contribute to nature loss and cli...
35. Time to reset the international development agenda
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, IIED executive director Tom Mitchell discusses revitalising a commitment to international development and in the process, getting mon...
34. Nature finance: what’s being done and is it working?
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, principal researcher Ebony Holland talks to Simon Cullen about the importance of nature finance and the need for changes in practice ...
33. Locally-led nature restoration: critical for a sustainable future
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, IIED researcher Francesca Booker and Ritchel Cahilig from the Haribon Foundation talk about the critical role local leadership plays ...
32. Gender justice: why is progress so slow?
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, IIED’s senior researcher Karen Wong-Pérez talks to IIED’s senior press and PR manager, Simon Cullen, about global progress towar...
31. Country climate targets: another missed deadline
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, IIED’s climate diplomacy researcher Camilla More and senior climate finance researcher Sejal Patel discuss why so many countries mi...
29. Taking stock – opportunities for action in 2025
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our latest episode revisits the key themes covered on Make Change Happen during 2025, including critical minerals, climate action and reform of the in...
28. Money, politics and power – reforming the international financial architecture
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There is a critical need to reform the international financial architecture (IFA) – the framework of institutions, policies, rules and practices tha...
27. Confronting injustice with collective action – IIED's new manifesto
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
IIED has launched a 'Manifesto for a thriving world’ and the need for new responses to a range of compounding crises, greater uncertainty and growin...
26. Critical minerals and the green energy transition
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Critical minerals – such as cobalt, lithium and copper – are in the headlines, attracting global attention for their potential in supporting the g...
25. Hidden handbrakes – what’s holding back climate action?
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Despite global efforts to tackle the impacts of climate change, we are failing to achieve critical climate objectives. IIED’s Hidden Handbrake campa...
24. Filling in the gaps: how Delhi organisations provided food relief during COVID-19
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This special guest episode, produced by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) looks at the work of a social network in Delhi that delivere...
23. Help cities help people – bringing everyone together in the refugee response
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
According to UNHCR, the global number of people forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, human rights abuses, and other forms of persecution has reac...
22. Challenging queer erasure in climate action and urban development
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Make Change Happen, marking LGBTQI+ Pride month, we want to spark conversations about how urban development and climate action can ...
21. Ripple effects and revolutions: women leaders in climate and biodiversity
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, launched to coincide with International Women’s Day, an all-women panel share the transformative change driven by women as they tak...
20. Can mitigation deliver better cities in the global South?
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our last episode of 2022 brings together experts from across the world to explore how far climate mitigation action can respond to pervasive urban pov...
19. A spur to action – getting money to the local level for nature and climate
21 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At COP26, political leaders called for more action to address biodiversity loss and climate change together. In this episode of Make Change Happen, we...
18. Uncomfortable conversations? Confronting development’s White gaze
20 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Make Change Happen, we discuss racism and decolonisation in the development sector. Hosted by Liz Carlile, IIED’s outgoing direc...
17. Making sustainable development a reality: movements that inspire change
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
16. Shifting the power – climate justice means gender justice
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To reflect on International Women’s Day, and the 2022 theme ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’, this episode of Make Change Happ...
15. IIED at 50: reflecting on the past, looking to the future
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
14. Walking the talk of climate ambition: why that walk needs nature too
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Experts discuss the connections between the climate emergency, loss of biodiversity and rising inequalities, and why it is important to include nature...
13. Getting climate resilience right: the case for backing smallholder organisations
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Forest and farm smallholders are fighting for their livelihoods and food security. New research shows producers’ practical measures for climate resi...
12. Wanted: an inclusive vision of urban recovery from COVID-19
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The urban dimensions of COVID-19 have been largely ignored and yet the economic impacts of the pandemic are especially severe in cities and towns in t...
11. Indigenous knowledge, people and nature – all crucial to Kunming
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities have been the guardians of biodiversity for thousands of years. As a result, today, they conserve the world’...
10. Loss and damage – recognising the costs of climate change
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change has devastating impacts on our planet and people. Some impacts are very noticeable, but many go unmentioned. In this episode of Make C...
9. No time to lose – collective action for our common future
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
2020 set us back in achieving environment and development progress, leaving an unprecedented challenge ahead. But recovery is possible if we learn fro...
8. Debt swaps for climate and nature: innovation for resilience
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns over debt owed by developing nations are increasing substantially. The burden of developing countr...
7. Shared vulnerabilities? Connecting climate and health in cities
06 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cities and towns are hugely impacted by both climate change and public health crises. This combined (and intertwined) threat weighs heaviest on the po...
6. Reimagining refugee futures: cities, not camps?
19 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Of the approximately 71 million people displaced by conflict and violence worldwide, nearly 26 million are considered refugees. But are more secure fu...
5 What makes a sustainable diet? And who decides?
05 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Globally, we are producing more food than ever. But for many of the world’s poorer citizens, secure access to safe food is becoming less certain. ...
4 The trouble with growth
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Growth is usually measured by gross domestic product (GDP). But while this can indicate the health of other factors – such as jobs, livelihoods and ...
3 Seizing opportunities for urban change
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A quarter of the world’s urban population live in informal settlements, mostly in the global South. In advance of the 2020 World Urban Forum in Fe...
2 Delivering energy access for all
14 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Access to electricity in the poorest countries has begun to accelerate, energy efficiency continues to improve, and renewable energy is making gains i...
1 Protecting the ocean
21 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With nearly three quarters of our planet covered by water, the ocean is the earth’s essential life support system. But much of the ocean is under-re...