What is desertification, why is land degrading around the world, and what can Mongolia teach us about the causes? In Part 1 of Green Frequency’s coverage of UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, host Clark Marchese explores the science and politics of land degradation, from the origins of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and Land Degradation Neutrality to the pressures facing Mongolia’s vast grasslands.

Featuring audio from inside COP17 and reporting from Mongolian journalist Turmunkh Gongorjav, the episode examines climate change, drought, overgrazing, mining, urbanization, coal and the growing demand for critical minerals. It also asks a deeper question: whose knowledge counts when governments decide why land is degrading?

From Fiji’s coastal farmland to Mongolia’s rangelands, this episode explores how land degradation looks different around the world, why local and Indigenous knowledge matters, and how the way we diagnose environmental problems shapes the solutions we pursue. Part 2 turns to sustainable land management, science and technology, finance, and the political outcomes of COP17.

Episode Guest: Turmunkh Gongorjav

Read Turmunkh Gongorjav’s article here

Interview translated and recorded by Nomin Byambatsogt

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Ocean technology cannot operate alone. Nicolas Pade, executive director of the European Marine Biological Resource Centre, joins Green Frequency to unpack five policy recommendations emerging from Blue Tech Europe 2026. We explore technological sovereignty, strategic procurement, collaboration between academia and industry, usable ocean data, market demand and the skills needed to sustain ocean-observation systems. Although developed for Europe, many of these questions apply wherever science must become lasting public infrastructure. And we ask what happens when what markets consider viable is not necessarily what society considers valuable.

This is a companion to the Oceanography episode, What Do We Need From Ocean Technology?

Episode Guest: Nicolas Pade

Visit the EMBRC website or follow the EMBRC on LinkedIn

Listen to Oceanography on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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Follow us on Social Media @pineforestmedia

Cover Art by Laurel Wong

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Find some more Pine Forest Media podcasts below

Listen to Oceanography on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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What happens behind the exhibits at a natural history museum? At Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand, millions of specimens form a scientific record stretching across species, ecosystems, and generations. In this episode of Green Frequency, Clark is joined by deep-sea researcher and curator of fishes Dr. Thom Linley to explore what those collections are actually for.

We find out why researchers sometimes need to borrow a shark, how curators decide what to preserve for scientists a hundred years from now, and how technologies like micro-CT scanning, hyperspectral imaging, and machine learning are changing what we can learn from specimens collected decades ago. Along the way, we encounter snailfish, bioluminescence, colossal squid, the world's friendliest "meat library," and a much bigger question: what does it mean for a museum to preserve the memory of a changing natural world?

Episode Guest: Dr. Thom Linley

Listen to the Deep Sea Podcast

And Dr. Linley’s episode on Oceanography, What is the Deep Sea Even Like?

Visit the Te Papa Tongewera Museum website

Review Dr. Linley’s publications on Google Scholar

Explore the Pine Forest Media digital ecosystem on our website

Follow us on Social Media @pineforestmedia

Cover Art by Laurel Wong

Theme music by Nela Ruiz

Find some more Pine Forest Media podcasts below

Listen to Oceanography on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Listen to Plastic Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Listen to South Pole on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Listen to Something in the Water on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.