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PODCAST

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet

Farm Radio | Carleton University

How can nature itself help us tackle the challenges of a changing world? Each episode, we dive into an inspiring story of how a community in rural Africa is harnessing the power of nature-based solutions to adapt, thrive, and heal the planet. In Season Two, our new host Ivy Prosper takes us to her home country, Ghana, plus Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, and Zambia, where we meet a woman growing her community, one tree at a time; young people banding together to save a swamp and the birds living in it;

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All Episodes

00:22:01

Rooted in the Sand: Planting a Future Against the...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/10/01

In the Volta region of Ghana, the coastal community of Vodja has already lost 90% of its land mass to rapid sea erosion. Nestled precariously between a lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, residents are refusing to let the water claim the rest of their homes. Host Ivy Prosper travels to the shoreline to meet the local committee turning to a nature-based shield—massive coconut plantations—to stabilize the sand, reclaim their beach, and hold back the rising tide.In this episode, host Ivy Prosper, takes us

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00:01:14

Season 4 trailer

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/09/30

Season 4 of Nature Answers will be in your feed THIS Thursday! More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada.

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00:22:28

Behind the scenes with MISA Zambia

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/06/18

In this episode, we sit down with a key project coordinator to explore the vital intersection of community radio, climate resilience, and rural collaboration. Our guest unpacks their precise role within the Movement for Impact and Sustainable Action (MISA) and the Nature-Based Solutions project. We learn how they manage relationships with local broadcasters—including Breeze FM—and coordinate rural listening groups. The conversation clarifies the geographic reach of these initiatives, detailing how

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00:16:29

Waves of Change: How Radio Broadcasts Are Reshaping...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/06/11

In Zambia's Chipangali district, farmers are overcoming climate-induced agricultural challenges by forming listening groups to engage with radio broadcasts about nature-based solutions. Facilitated by local broadcasters and the Media Institute of Southern Africa, these cooperative, community-led efforts have successfully transformed agricultural practices and increased yields through shared knowledge and collective action. This episode is hosted by Ivy Prosper, produced by Claire Hutcheon, and

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00:15:25

Banking on the herd: How ancient manure techniques...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/05/21

Farmers in Zambia’s Kadiani Village are combating climate change and soil degradation by reverting to "kraal shifting," a traditional practice using manure to fertilize sandy soil, which improves moisture retention during droughts. By communal sharing of livestock for this process, the village increases resilience against the high costs and diminishing returns of chemical fertilizers. This episode is hosted by Ivy Prosper, produced by Claire Hutcheon, and edited by John McGill. This episode was

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00:11:08

From insurgency to opportunity: how reforestation is...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/05/14

Before the guns came, Alebelebe Village was alive with trees, rain, and abundance. What happened next, and how this community found its way back, is a story you won't soon forget.In this episode, we take you to Alebelebe Village in the Lira District of Uganda, where the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency forced families from their homes and shattered the rhythms of life they had always known. When residents finally returned, they found their land damaged and their livelihoods gone. Desperate to

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00:22:44

Faith in the fields

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/05/07

What if the secret to feeding your family, saving your land, and transforming your community was already growing in your backyard?In this episode, host Ivy Prosper takes us to Overland Missions Base Camp in Choma, Zambia, where pastor and base camp director Caristo Chipwaya is combining gospel teachings with organic farming to help rural families grow more with less.Through a program called Farming God's Way, Caristo and his team are showing local residents how to use what nature has already

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00:23:06

Part 2 -The Hidden Impact of Deforestation: Domestic...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/04/30

This episode is hosted by Ivy Prosper, produced by student producer Madison Eldridge, and edited by John McGill. Translation and dubbing by Gertrude Nalubinga, Hadija Mutesi, and Brenda Mugwisagye Murangi. We are deeply grateful to the women of Katagi Village who courageously shared their stories, including Annet Nassanga, Zigama Elivania, and Kyalinkunda Esiter, as well as Nagawa Marium and the broader community members who supported this production. A special thank you to Doreen Ainembabazi, whose

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00:20:20

The Hidden Impact of Deforestation: Domestic Violence...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/04/23

What happens when the loss of forests reshapes not just the land, but the safety and lives of the women who depend on it?In this powerful first episode of a two-part series, host Ivy Prosper takes us to Katagi Village in Uganda, where deforestation has had devastating ripple effects. As logging companies cleared community forests, essential resources like firewood and water became scarce, forcing women to travel farther, and increasing tensions at home. For many, this led to rising instances of

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00:16:58

Ponds of Promise: How One Village Is Farming Its Future

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/04/16

How can a village secure its food supply in an unpredictable climate? In Biasso, Côte d’Ivoire, a series of neatly lined ponds are doing just that. Built in response to food shortages, these fish farms have become a sustainable solution, providing a reliable source of nutrition and income even in the face of heavy rains and prolonged droughts. By reinvesting profits into expansion and infrastructure, including a new well with an electric pump, the community has become nearly self-sufficient while

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00:16:30

From bare land to bounty

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/04/09

What does it take to turn barren land into a thriving future? In Eastern Uganda, Emmanuel Odeke and his wife Teresa Tino transformed a struggling 1.5-acre plot into a flourishing fruit farm using nature-based solutions. After growing up in poverty and leaving school early, Emmanuel took a risk: selling a sheep to buy lemon seeds, and began experimenting with grafting techniques to improve fruit quality and yields. Facing infertile soil and limited resources, Emmanuel stayed committed to fruit

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00:22:46

From skepticism to sustainability: rebuilding a...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/03/26

Climate change skeptics in their community doubted them. Still, Bebane Mahadi’s joined forces with other young farmers, dug up two wells, and manually installed an innovative irrigation system that saved them during the 2016 drought.In our season launch, host Ivy Prosper introduces us to young farmers of Bourdhonc, in Sassandra, a coastal city in southern Cote d’Ivoire. Surpassing the initial rejection, Mahadi’s community is now following suit as he proposes tree-planting as a sustainable way to

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00:01:35

Season 3 coming soon!

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2026/03/25

In season 3 of Nature Answers, we will take you across Uganda, Zambia and Côte d'Ivoire. Episode 1 is coming this Thursday where we will travel to Côte d'Ivoire to meet a young farmer who made what was an unpopular decision in the early 2000s that led to surviving a drought in 2016. Since then, he's helped empower other members of the community to build the same resilience. Season 3 is coming this Thursday! More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at

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00:23:56

How people recovering from addiction are healing...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2025/06/26

On a sunny day in Choma, Zambia, Cornwell Hademu shares a traditional drink—and a powerful idea. In this season finale of Nature Answers, we meet Kelvin Siafweba and the team from Happy Planet, a cooperative of people recovering from addiction who are turning agricultural waste into sustainable charcoal and soil-enhancing biochar.But this episode is about more than just climate solutions. It’s about second chances.Learn how biochar—an ancient soil amendment with roots in the Amazon—is helping

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00:20:06

How these Zambians are future-proofing their farms

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2025/06/12

Under the Mochipapa tree in Choma, Zambia, is a research station. The researchers there are studying drought-resistant crops and sustainable farming—with the help of farmers like last episode’s Cornwell Hademu. In this episode of Nature Answers, you’ll hear about the challenges involved in sustainable farming when your country is in the middle of a drought and electricity is scarce. But you’ll also see how far Cornwell’s influence is growing. Meet Astire Muchele, an employee of the Mochipapa

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00:27:53

How a climate-smart farmer helped an entire community...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2025/05/29

When Cornwell Hademu, of Choma, Zambia, started mentoring the women of nearby Mbole, he was sure it would help them on their fields and their farms. What wasn’t clear was just how far that mentorship would take the women. In the past few years, the Twachiyanda Women’s Group has gone from foraging for food in the surrounding area, to weathering a drought thanks to Cornwell’s mentorship on nature-based solutions. And they’re now starting to bring their own influence to the surrounding community by not

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00:18:09

Can planting trees save Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa farms

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2025/05/15

In Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa and rubber farms, yields are dwindling due to deforestation and rising temperatures. In this episode we meet farmers like Gbagnon Jean-Pierre Lodugnon who have been farming those fields for a lifetime. Alongside fellow farmers Aicha Fofana and Lamini Zoungrana, Jean-Pierre faces a difficult choice: keep relying on traditional crops that no longer thrive—or make space for trees and embrace agroforestry.In this episode of Nature Answers, host Ivy Prosper explores how these

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00:13:48

Can planting trees heal a land devastated by civil war

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2025/05/01

In Northern Uganda, a community once torn apart by war is regrowing its future—one tree at a time. In this episode, we travel to Bar Opok, a rural village in Northern Uganda, to learn how a resilient community is reclaiming its forests. Once devastated by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, the land was stripped bare, its people displaced, and its environment left vulnerable to erosion, heat, and storms.Meet Walter Atine, village chairman, and John Ogwal, founder of the Dwok Can Ipur Group,

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00:25:52

Climate change took this community’s land. How they...

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2025/04/17

Nestled on a narrow strip between the Gulf of Guinea and the Keta Lagoon, the Ghanaian village of Setsinu has long depended on its unique geography for farming and fishing. But climate change is transforming that blessing into a threat.Setsinu’s proximity to water has left it at a high risk of flooding, and in recent years those floods have wiped out crops and displaced families. Through the voices of farmers like Selorm Akli, Olivia Abogado, Simon Avor, and Sylvanus Nyidewu, you’ll hear how the

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00:18:40

How composting cured a Ghanaian community

Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet ·

2025/04/03

In Kugzua, Ghana, farmers were falling sick. They soon determined the cause: chemical fertilizer. But faced with a choice between poor crops and poor health, farmers stuck with what they were told would keep them fed—until they encountered another option. It’s one that both stemmed from their traditions, and promised a healthier future for both them and their crops. In this environmental food fight, we meet farmers like Abraham Abubilla Abuari, Christiana Akparibo, and Judith Atama who are leaning

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36 results

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