On December 6, Aung San Suu Kyi was handed down a prison sentence by a court loyal to Myanmar’s military junta.

Until February of this year, Suu Kyi was the de-facto civilian leader of Myanmar. Her party, the National League for Democracy, had just won re-election in a landslide victory — the results of which were rejected by the military, which mounted a coup.

The military junta were not swayed massive protests throughout the country and began violently suppressing dissent. Now, violence seems to be escalating, prompting the UN’s top human rights official to warn that Myanmar may be sliding into a civil war.

My guest today, Matthew Smith, is the co-founder and CEO of Fortify Rights, a human rights organization long active in Myanmar. We kick off discussing the circumstances of Aung San Suu Kyi’s criminal conviction before having a broader conversation about the escalating crisis in Myanmar.

Our conversation was recorded live on Twitter using the new Twitter Spaces platform. Twitter is partnering with the podcast to produce episodes recorded as Twitter Spaces. If you would like to participate in one of these live recordings, the best thing to do is follow me on Twitter @MarkLGoldberg.

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For only the second time ever,  the governing body of the World Health Organization met in a special session. WHO, the World Health Assembly, gathered for a special session. The question at hand: Should member states of the WHO seek to create a new treaty, convention, accord or some sort of international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response? 

The meetings occurred just as the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, was popping up in countries around the world, prompting travel bans focused on Southern Africa.

On the line to help us understand what happened at this special session of the World Health Assembly and what it means for progress towards an international agreement of some sort on pandemic preparedness and response is Kate Dodson, Vice President for Global Health at the United Nations Foundation.

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Some of the most innovative cryptocurrency projects today are being built in the developing world — and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular —  to address real-world obstacles to economic development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

These projects are pretty far off the radar of the global development community. But that may soon change as more and more of these cryptocurrency powered blockchain projects come online.

The pace of technological advancement in cryptocurrency suggests that aid agencies, the United Nations, philanthropies, NGOs and governments may need to confront the implications of crypto and blockchain to their work — and probably sooner than they think.

Podcast guest Garry Golden demystifies the world of crypto and explains the implications of this emerging technology for emerging economies and the business of global development. This episode kicks off with some easily accessible definitions of key crypto terms-of-art and briefly discusses the history of this technology before having a broader conversation about the implications of recent technological advances in cryptocurrency to global development.

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This is a free episode of the new Cryptocurrency and Global Development podcast series and newsletter from Global Dispatches, which profiles crypto projects built to address common global development challenges. 

Future episodes in this special series will be exclusively available to paying subscribers to the Cryptocurrency and Global Development podcast series and newsletter. 

Subscribe –> https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches

Transcript

When Joe Biden came to office the Iran Nuclear Dead was on life support.

Known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the Obama-era deal lifted US and UN  sanctions on Iran in return for Iran placing verifiable limits on its nuclear program.

The deal was rejected by the Trump administration which re-imposed sanctions; and Iran has responded in kind by re-starting certain aspects of its nuclear program.

Here to explain where things stand with nuclear diplomacy between the United States and Iran is Kelsey Davenport, director for non-proliferation policy policy at the Arms Control Association. We spoke ahead of planned talks in Vienna between the United States and Iran, scheduled for the end of November and early December.

In Madagascar thousands of people in the southern part of the country are experiencing famine-like conditions. Over a million more are considered to be on the brink of famine.

The crisis in Southern Madagascar is a direct consequence of climate change. This region has experienced successive droughts — the rainy season is shorter, the lean season is longer and farmers are unable to plant their crops. This is widely considered to be the world’s first climate-change induced famine. 

On the line with me to explain the link between climate change and the famine like conditions in Southern Madagascar is Mandipa Manchacha, human rights researcher at Amnesty international’s souther Africa regional office.

We kick off with a discussion about Madagascar more broadly and the impact of climate change on the island before having a broader conversation about the brutal intersection of climate change and famine in Southern Madagascar.

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The Halifax International Security Forum is a major annual meeting dedicated to fostering closer ties among the world’s democracies.

The Forum is organized by HFX, an independent public policy organization based in Washington DC dedicated to strengthening strategic cooperation among democratic nations. And on the line today, is Peter van Praagh Founding President of Halifax International Security Forum, HFX to preview this year’s forum, which runs from November 19 through 21st in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

We kick off discussing this history of the Halifax International Security Forum and why it was created 13 years ago before having a longer discussion about the issues, topics and provocations expected at this year’s meeting. 

https://halifaxtheforum.org/

COP 26 is the most important international climate conference since the Paris Agreement of 2015.  

On the line with me to offer a preview of what to expect from this major UN climate meeting is Pete Odgen, Vice President for Energy, Climate, and the Environment at the United Nations Foundation. He is a veteran of many previous COPs and in our conversation he discusses the key issues up for negotiation in Glasgow and the broader geopolitics of climate change diplomacy. This includes a deep dive into how both China and the United States are approaching COP26 and thorny questions around climate finance. 

Today’s episode was recorded live in partnership with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) ahead of COP26 in Glasgow.  

I moderated a panel discussion that takes a deep dive into the Nationally Determined Contributions as they relate to food and agriculture.

The Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, are the backbone of the Paris Climate Agreement. They are what each country brings to the table in terms of their own contribution to climate action. Collectively, it was the goal of the Paris Agreement that the NDCs would add up to put the world on track to limit global warming to under 2 degrees celsius.  

We are not there — yet.   

But in today’s panel discussion a diverse group of experts helps to explain what more can be done in agriculture, land use and food systems to drive ambition in climate change and give a needed boost to the NDCs so they can achieve the Paris goals.      

Panelists:

• Rebecca Carter, Acting Director, Climate Resilience Practice at World Resources Institute

• Hans Loth, Global Head of UN Environment Partnership, Rabobank

• Nkulumo Zinyengere, Agriculture Specialist, World Bank

• Martina Fleckenstein, Global Policy Manager for Food, Worldwide Fund for Nature