39. Living with urban drought

In this episode, IIED senior researcher Deena Dajani talks to Ayah Hammad from UN-Habitat in Jordan, Gilbert Siame from the University of Zambia and Melanie Chirwa from the People’s Process for Housing and Poverty in Zambia about how drought affects people living in cities, particularly those in informal and low-income settlements.

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 Dwellers International Kenya talk about the reasons for the rise in forced evictions and the ensuing consequences for people and communities.

In this episode, IIED principal researcher Anna Schulz and Green Economy Coalition convenor Carina Bachofen discuss the impact of a rapidly changing multilateral system on climate ambition. With the help of their guests, they consider alternatives to global forums for bringing about change.

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, IIED executive director Tom Mitchell discusses revitalising a commitment to international development and in the process, getting money to where it is needed most and can be used to best effect – to the local level.

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 researcher Francesca Booker and Ritchel Cahilig from the Haribon Foundation talk about the critical role local leadership plays not only in restoring nature itself but also in conserving local culture, identity and communities too.

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.

In this episode, IIED’s climate diplomacy researcher Camilla More and senior climate finance researcher Sejal Patel discuss why so many countries missed the recent deadline for submitting their 2035 climate targets – and the implications for global climate action.

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.