Conservation Realist

An illuminating conversation with human rights expert Dr. Daniel Aguirre, who is the Global Head of Secure Rights at Blue Ventures. He shares how he and his team are working to make a "rights-based approach" more than a promotional buzzword, and discusses specific examples as well as larger philosophical questions related to the challenges and opportunities of bringing human rights into conservation work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit conservationrealist.substack.com

I've long gone on about how we need to learn from other sectors, so I'm super excited to share this illuminating conversation with Dr. Meghan Kumar, expert in Global Health. Key concepts include: epistemic justice, co-creation, agency, power dynamics, and living your values. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit conservationrealist.substack.com

Carolina Paez shares the history of conflict between conservation and communities on the Galapagos, as well as how the Charles Darwin Foundation has worked to repair broken trust and build alliances with fishing communities, to support local stewardship and to strengthen partnerships against emerging larger-scale threats. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit conservationrealist.substack.com

The podcast is back, and it's a little different, but also, pretty much the same. This episode primarily features the voices of the Myanmar Coastal Conservation Lab team on their impressions of the 5th World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress, as first-time international conference participants (for two of them) and a first-time full-length presenter (for one of them). The point? We need to make these sorts of opportunities more accessible (for real), because they are powerful experiences for those who can join them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit conservationrealist.substack.com

To close out 2025, I'm happy to share this conversation with Alexis Rife, a colleague & friend whose insights I've long appreciated through her work with fisheries and in facilitation. She shares wonderful thoughts on systems change, relationship building, and what we as individuals can strive to do - and how conservation needs more of us to be willing to do something different. Thanks for being with me, and I'll be back in February 2026! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit conservationrealist.substack.com