John Goedschalk is a climate change economist, sustainability advocate, and entrepreneur whose work focuses on the intersection of economic development, conservation, and sustainable finance. With more than a decade of experience in climate policy, conservation, and bio-economy development, he has worked extensively on nature-based solutions, carbon finance, and sustainable business models designed to support both…
This episode hosts John Goedschalk to examine the relationship between environmental sustainability, economic development, and long-term climate resilience in the Amazon rainforest and the Guiana Shield. The conversation explores why the forests of Suriname are disproportionately important to global climate stability, regional rainfall systems, and food production across South America. Drawing on the science behind…
This episode hosts Professor Anja Shortland, returning to the podcast following her previous appearance in 2021, to examine how ransomware has evolved into a sophisticated and highly organised form of cybercrime, operating as a global market shaped by incentives, reputation, and weak governance. The conversation explores the scale of the threat, with billions in annual losses,…
When ransomware shuts down a pipeline, exposes hospital data, or forces a local authority offline, the disruption is often framed as a technical failure. In reality, these incidents represent the visible edge of something far more structured: a global criminal economy that increasingly mirrors the organisation of legitimate industry. Ransomware has evolved from opportunistic hacking…
Violent crime in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has for decades imposed a heavy toll on lives and economic performance. Outside of active war zones, the region remains the most violent in the world, accounting for roughly one-third of global homicides despite just 8% of the global population. The economic consequences are equally severe….
AI is rapidly becoming a central axis of economic transformation, corporate strategy, and geopolitical risk. What began as experimentation with generative tools has evolved into a full-scale reconfiguration of how firms invest, operate, and compete. In a recent episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen spoke with Craig Unsworth, a portfolio Chief Product…
Eliot Higgins is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Bellingcat, the investigative platform that has helped pioneer modern open-source intelligence and digital verification methods. He first gained international recognition through his early work analysing weapons use in the Syrian conflict under the pseudonym “Brown Moses“, before establishing Bellingcat in 2014 following the downing of…
You might’ve seen the recent Inside the Manosphere documentary by Louis Theroux. About a year ago we had this episode with Dr. Allysa Czwerinsky discussing this exact topic! Misogyny is no longer confined to the fringes, it’s part of the mainstream. Find out more about who is harmed, how online rhetoric shapes real-world consequences, and the blurred…
Cedric de Coning is a Research Professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), where his research focuses on strengthening the resilience and sustainability of social-ecological systems under pressure from climate change and other global stressors. His work examines the intersection of climate change, governance, and conflict, applying an adaptive peacebuilding perspective to international,…
The Lake Chad Basin has become one of the world’s most frequently cited examples of how climate change, insecurity, and governance pressures intersect. With over 50 million people across Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, the region supports livelihoods that depend almost solely on natural resources, particularly fishing, farming, and pastoralism. Over the past six decades,…
