Climate Curious

Can markets beat illegal mining in the Andean Amazon?

August 14, 2026·9 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

“The private sector entering the Amazon is most often flanked by soldiers, allowing the extractive companies to come in,” says impact investor Michelle Arévalo-Carpenter. But many of the Amazon’s new threats are also being driven by an illicit private sector, particularly illegal mining. Tune in for how private-sector tactics and market incentives make conserving the Amazon more profitable than exploiting it. Michelle’s impact investment fund is moving money directly to the people on the ground, ensuring responsible stewardship over the land and its rich biodiversity, as well as a sustainable and lucrative path forward in protecting the Andean Amazon. Recorded live at TED 2026 in conversation with TEDxLondon Director Deesha Chandra.For more on illegal mining check out Claudia Vega’s TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojfZMid20iAJoin the Climate Curious conversation on socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/climatecuriouspod/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@climatecuriouspod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtF6xzNkVIczlDmVcH8FCMA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10996041/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TEDxLondon Website: https://tedxlondon.com/podcast/ All other links: https://linktr.ee/climatecuriouspod Created by TEDxLondonExecutive produced by Josie ColterProduced by Ben BeheshtyCurated by Deesha ChandraHosted by Maryam Pasha and Ben HurstCommunications by Tara Cooper Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Podzilla Summary coming soon

Sign up to get notified when the full AI-powered summary is ready.

Get Free Summaries →

Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.

Listen to This Episode

Get summaries like this every morning.

Free AI-powered recaps of Climate Curious and your other favorite podcasts, delivered to your inbox.

Get Free Summaries →

Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.