Making a Killing: Big Environmental NGO’s (BINGOs), Conservation & Green Violence with Paul Gilbert - Episode 39

Rising with the Tide

Welcome to episode 39! Or is it 49 with the prequels? Does it even matter!

Your hosts literally punch through exam season as they metaphorically crawl out of May. It's summer, it's brighter, its hotter, as climate change makes itself seen and felt, one big question we've got is what are we doing about it? More precisely, what are the BIG boys/gals/NBs doing about it all; are our big environmental NGOs (BINGOs) really fixing the world?

To get a better idea about this topic and more, we journey to the sunny coast of Brighton to meet with Paul Gilbert, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sussex. Paul describes to us the recent history of BINGOs, and where they stand today in terms of the conservation scene and extractivist policies. We discuss scandals of 'green violence' which saw NGOs fund extremely violent tactics of land management, how companies are now attempting to quantify 'political risk' and even selling insurance for it, and what avenues could be taken to improve BINGO impacts or at the very least hold people accountable for the criminal or inhumane tactics they use under the guise of conservation of the environment.

Paul's research calls on us to think more critically about the giants' supposed environmental stewardship, their overwhelming influence, and the very real disconnect between BINGOs' public image 'at home' and their often-disastrous policies in some of the world's most biodiverse and important spaces.

You can find Paul on Twitter - @paulrgilbert

Let us know your thoughts at [e-mail] as well as what you'd like us to talk about next!

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Song for the episode: "My Queen Is Ada Eastman" by Sons of Kemet