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Life.

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The closer you look,

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the more mysterious it seems.

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We can't see
the invisible forces at work.

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But what if we could?

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It's time to look at our home...

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...in a whole new way.

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Imagine carbon
cycling through nature.

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It's one of the building blocks
of life...

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...and it's stored in our forests...

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...oceans...

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...and grasslands

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on an incredible scale.

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But we've released too much
of it into the atmosphere,

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risking our future.

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We CAN halt emissions

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and draw that carbon back down.

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And our best ally for that

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is nature.

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Restoring it to abundance
is the biggest challenge of our time.

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But we can do it.

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If the future of nature
looked brighter,

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so could the future for us all.

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(clock ticking)

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Imagine a world
where nature thrives...

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...ecosystems are healthy...

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...and the carbon cycle is stable.

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Paradise.

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If we want to live here too,

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we must find ways
to be a force for good

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throughout the natural world.

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Maple and Willow
were found five days

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after their mom
was found dead on a highway

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here on the peninsula in California.

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Dr Alex Herman works
at Oakland Zoo Veterinary Hospital.

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She's overseeing the arrival
of a pair of orphaned mountain lions.

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When they came in, they were tiny,
about four to six weeks old.

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They were very hungry,
very dehydrated.

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Willow very soon after that
developed pneumonia

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just from the trauma
of the whole situation.

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She was really, really sick.

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We were very concerned
that we could lose her.

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Thanks to the team's expertise,

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Maple and Willow have both survived.

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It's really nice to see them

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moving around, climbing, playing.

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These kittens may be safe,

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but they're not the first
the team has rescued.

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Here at the Oakland Zoo,

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we've treated
26 orphaned mountain lions

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since our program began in 2018.

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Mountain lions being hit by cars
is a common, big problem.

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The future
for these youngsters is limited.

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None of the orphaned mountain
lions that we've seen so far

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here at the Oakland Zoo
have been able to be rewilded.

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They need to stay in captivity

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because they're just too young
when they lose their mother.

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So normally they'll hunt with
their mom, be mentored, taught,

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protected by their mom
until they're two years old.

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Because their mom was killed,
they've lost that opportunity.

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In the wild,

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mountain lions are found
from Canada to southern Chile.

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They're so widespread,
they have different names -

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pumas, cougars,
even Florida panthers.

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But the more their ranges
overlap with ours,

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the more they hit a dead end.

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So the freeways in our study area
are extremely busy,

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some of the busiest in the world.

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The 101 Freeway sees
over 350,000 vehicles a day.

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Roads in our area
are definitely a deathtrap

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for our local mountain lions.

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Jeff Sikich
and the National Park Service team

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have been studying
mountain lions here in LA

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for over 20 years.

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It's been a tough ride.

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Last year we had 15 get
struck and killed by vehicles.

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Some of our animals
that we've been following,

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we mark as kittens
at three weeks of age.

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I have followed them
their whole life.

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And to see these animals, you know,
struck by a vehicle is just awful.

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LA may seem an unusual place
to find North America's biggest cats,

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but they're smart and stealthy.

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We rarely get sightings
of these animals,

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and it really speaks
to their elusive nature.

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In this environment
we have here,

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they can be 20 meters in front
of me and we won't see them.

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So we do a lot of looking for signs.

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So looking for tracks, um, scat.

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And then also our greatest tool,
we use our remote cameras

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in areas where we think we might get
a mountain lion to walk by.

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And we have been studying them
by capturing them,

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placing GPS radio collars
on individuals.

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By charting the mountain
lions' movements,

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Jeff can see the limits
of their territory.

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So we're just north
of the 101 Freeway

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right at Liberty Canyon.

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This is a natural pinch point
for them,

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this natural habitat
on either side

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leading up to the freeway
right at Liberty Canyon.

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This human barrier

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is having a devastating impact
on the population.

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These mountain lions
aren't crossing the freeways often,

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and this has led to very low genetic
diversity in our population

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and also close inbreeding.

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And recently we've started
to see the physical effects

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of that low genetic diversity
in our population.

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We have documented mountain lions
with these physical abnormalities,

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um, a distal tail kink.

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And we've also seen some
reproductive abnormalities as well.

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The longer they stay trapped,

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the bleaker their future.

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If inbreeding depression

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sets in to our Santa Monica
mountain lion population,

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there's pretty much a 99% chance
of extinction within 50 years.

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We get asked often, well,

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what if we lose mountain lions
from this area? What will happen?

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And we like to say that's an
experiment we don't wanna conduct.

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You know, the mountain lion
being an umbrella species,

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that if mountain lions
are doing good in an area,

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if that population is healthy,

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that equals healthy prey populations

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and a healthy ecosystem overall.

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The more nature there is,

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the more effective the ecosystem is

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at drawing down carbon.

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But remove the apex predator,

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and it can fail.

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Mountain lions are facing
a disastrous future.

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They need a hero.

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Ten years ago,
conservationist Beth Pratt

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was inspired by the tale
of a mountain lion living in LA.

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I read about P-22,

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a mountain lion shows up
in Griffith Park,

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and I was like, is that true?!

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You know, is there really
a mountain lion in LA?

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He had to cross two of the
busiest freeways in the nation,

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and then he ends up on a
dead-end area of eight square miles,

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the smallest known home range
ever recorded

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for a male mountain lion.

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And he makes it.

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In fact, he became a celebrity
in a land of celebrities.

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We had the P-22 Day Festival,
a festival for a mountain lion.

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15,000 people showed up
to honour this cat.

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So I think P-22 has really evoked
something magical in us

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that even in the second-largest
city in the country,

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nature had not been fully banished.

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If a mountain lion could live

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under the Hollywood sign
in the middle of LA,

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what else was possible?

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Beth is part of a campaign

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that's aiming to change the fate
of all mountain lions.

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It's launched a movement.

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The science has always been there.
The public support is now there.

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It really got people
to reconsider, like,

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"OK, we can coexist
with large predators,"

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and indeed, it's not just
that we can. We have to.

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We have to save these cats.

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It involves people having
the will to do something visionary.

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All my work is about
coexisting with wildlife,

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and there's lots of angles to that,

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but the biggest
is infrastructure, right?

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The biggest is, animals
need to get across roads.

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Determined to help them,

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Beth has spent a decade
raising nearly $90 million

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for a seriously ambitious project.

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This is where we're putting
a wildlife crossing.

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Stretching 64 metres long
and 50 metres wide,

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the Wallis Annenberg
Wildlife Crossing

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will be the world's biggest
bridge for animals.

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This is science come to life.
This is hope.

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I've stood here at 2am
and I wouldn't even try to cross.

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So you can imagine an animal
just isn't gonna make it.

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You know, the Wallis
Annenberg Wildlife Crossing

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is truly one of the most significant
conservation projects of our time,

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not just 'cause it's gonna be
the world's largest crossing,

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but because what it represents -
that we are doing this.

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We are making way for wildlife

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in one of the most populated
areas in the country.

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The wildlife crossing
right at Liberty Canyon

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couldn't have come
at a better time for our population.

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Once the wildlife crossing is built,
we really only need

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one mountain lion
every two years or so

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to come down and successfully breed

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to make a difference
in our small population here.

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These are beautiful, iconic,
important animals

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that are a part of California.

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The wildlife corridor is being
recognised as a key to coexistence,

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I think is the future
that we should all work towards.

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Maintaining our ecosystems,

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and fully functioning ecosystems,

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are key to the climate crisis.

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That is what's gonna save us.

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How can we stop with one?

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The more we build nature
into our lives,

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the more carbon is drawn down.

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If we become ecosystem engineers,

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we can help nature thrive everywhere.

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Mangrove forests
live along coastlines

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and can draw down ten times
more carbon than plants on land.

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But they're fragile,

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and vulnerable to pollution.

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On Hainan Island, China,

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Dongzhai mangrove forest
is an important nature reserve.

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Life's been flourishing here
for millions of years,

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undisturbed -

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until recently.

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It's on the doorstep of Haikou city.

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In just four decades,

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it's grown
from less than half a million

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to over two million people.

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Kongjian Yu is an architect
with a radical vision.

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Kongjian believes modern engineering
practices make the problem worse.

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Kongjian was inspired
by his childhood

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on the rice terraces
of central China.

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The rice paddy landscape
is like a giant sponge,

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not just slowing the water,

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but filtering it and cleaning it too.

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Kongjian has the solution
to Haikou's problem.

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Kongjian has taken this vision

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and supersized it.

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He's turned Haikou
into a sponge city...

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There are even benefits for the city.

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For Kongjian, this is only the start.

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Re-engineering our cities

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is better for the future of nature.

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It could even be better for us.

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Freetown in Sierra Leone,
West Africa,

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is one of the most vulnerable
places in the world

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to the impacts of climate change.

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In August 2017,

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resident Idrissa Conteh

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experienced just what that means.

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Everyone lost someone.

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I was getting ready
to go off to the office in Mali

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when I heard about the landslide
in August of 2017,

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and the immediate effect
of 1,000 people losing their lives,

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and immediately there was thinking
about how to support Sierra Leone.

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On hearing the tragic news,

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senior climate adviser Eric Hubbard
was compelled to make a difference.

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A few months later, I was here.

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Listening, trying to understand

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how people that live
in the community

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understand risks.

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Working with the city council,

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Eric learned that climate change
caused crops to fail,

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forcing thousands of people
to move here.

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And this had severe consequences.

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Urbanisation in itself
is not a problem,

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but what we have is
unsustainable and unplanned.

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And what that does is create
a level of deforestation

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that is also unsustainable
for the city.

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Over two square miles,

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or 500,000 trees,

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have been lost annually since 2011.

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When you remove trees
systematically,

256
00:23:11,070 --> 00:23:14,340
you disturb the soil dynamics.

257
00:23:17,150 --> 00:23:20,020
So what happens to the loose soil?

258
00:23:20,070 --> 00:23:22,790
First of all,
it becomes destabilised.

259
00:23:23,340 --> 00:23:25,830
The landslide of 2017

260
00:23:25,900 --> 00:23:27,510
was directly caused

261
00:23:27,550 --> 00:23:32,510
by that level of removal and
the destabilisation of that slope.

262
00:23:34,830 --> 00:23:36,340
The Freetown tragedy

263
00:23:36,390 --> 00:23:39,190
highlights the dangers
of removing trees.

264
00:23:40,620 --> 00:23:44,390
But the effects
of deforestation spiral further.

265
00:23:45,790 --> 00:23:50,620
What we are probably
even more concerned about

266
00:23:51,070 --> 00:23:52,790
are the rising temperatures.

267
00:23:53,470 --> 00:23:57,940
All across the city,
people are feeling the heat.

268
00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:14,580
Outdoor work is
a critical component of how we live.

269
00:25:14,750 --> 00:25:16,980
There will be a point at which

270
00:25:17,020 --> 00:25:20,470
it will be biophysically impossible
to do any of those things

271
00:25:20,750 --> 00:25:25,150
if we don't figure out a way,
you know, to cool the environment.

272
00:25:29,750 --> 00:25:33,700
Eugenia Kargbo is the Chief
Heat Officer for Freetown.

273
00:25:42,150 --> 00:25:43,980
You can experience the heat,

274
00:25:44,020 --> 00:25:46,900
you can feel the change
when you talk to communities

275
00:25:46,980 --> 00:25:48,260
and you talk to people,

276
00:25:48,300 --> 00:25:51,190
they can tell you
that something has changed.

277
00:25:53,620 --> 00:25:57,070
But in terms of data,
that's a challenge.

278
00:25:57,110 --> 00:26:00,830
And that's why we did
the first heat mapping,

279
00:26:00,870 --> 00:26:02,940
was conducted in January,

280
00:26:02,980 --> 00:26:08,110
which gave us a baseline
of what the current situation is.

281
00:26:13,750 --> 00:26:17,390
Eugenia's data shows
Freetown rarely cools down,

282
00:26:18,700 --> 00:26:20,980
and the forecast is worrying.

283
00:26:23,260 --> 00:26:25,580
Projection from different studies

284
00:26:25,620 --> 00:26:30,430
have predicted that if nothing
is done about the situation,

285
00:26:30,470 --> 00:26:36,580
temperatures will rise to about
30, 35 degrees by the end of 2030.

286
00:26:38,510 --> 00:26:41,750
This heat,
combined with intense humidity,

287
00:26:41,870 --> 00:26:43,340
will be unbearable.

288
00:26:45,110 --> 00:26:47,620
A solution is urgently needed.

289
00:26:49,510 --> 00:26:50,580
In our approach,

290
00:26:50,620 --> 00:26:54,260
we want to cool the air-scape
and stabilise slopes,

291
00:26:54,830 --> 00:26:56,340
and what we have found

292
00:26:56,550 --> 00:26:59,870
is that trees have
the propensity to do both.

293
00:27:00,470 --> 00:27:03,340
As well as preventing landslides,

294
00:27:03,700 --> 00:27:08,620
trees can reduce city temperatures
by as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

295
00:27:10,580 --> 00:27:13,510
The solution may be
to simply plant more,

296
00:27:13,830 --> 00:27:17,300
but wherever they grow,
they need long-term care.

297
00:27:19,220 --> 00:27:23,220
A survey of 176 new plantations

298
00:27:23,700 --> 00:27:28,110
showed that after five years,
half the saplings had failed.

299
00:27:29,750 --> 00:27:33,150
Growing trees in a
fast-developing city like Freetown

300
00:27:33,700 --> 00:27:36,070
seems an impossible challenge.

301
00:27:39,150 --> 00:27:42,700
"Freetown The Treetown"
is a community-led,

302
00:27:43,020 --> 00:27:45,620
community-owned, community-driven

303
00:27:45,660 --> 00:27:47,510
restoration process.

304
00:27:48,900 --> 00:27:52,940
The Treetown project pays residents
like Sinneh Turay

305
00:27:53,190 --> 00:27:54,900
to not just plant trees,

306
00:27:55,150 --> 00:27:58,340
but also be their
long-term guardians.

307
00:27:58,900 --> 00:28:01,300
Literally pay to grow.

308
00:28:14,470 --> 00:28:17,900
Sinneh's planting
a mix of 52 different species

309
00:28:17,940 --> 00:28:21,980
chosen for their environmental
and also economic benefits.

310
00:28:24,550 --> 00:28:29,510
And technology is ensuring as many of
these saplings survive as possible.

311
00:29:08,620 --> 00:29:12,020
We've integrated digital
technology into the process

312
00:29:12,150 --> 00:29:15,830
to ensure that we get a digital
footprint of every tree,

313
00:29:16,110 --> 00:29:19,150
and that way we can use
the digital space

314
00:29:19,260 --> 00:29:23,020
to track the life
and the health of the tree.

315
00:29:23,220 --> 00:29:28,110
And so that creates the ability
for the city to do something

316
00:29:28,150 --> 00:29:30,470
that most cities
have never been able to do,

317
00:29:30,510 --> 00:29:34,390
and that is to guarantee
an 80% tree survival rate.

318
00:29:36,220 --> 00:29:38,550
The tracking happens
four times a year,

319
00:29:38,580 --> 00:29:43,340
but the critical piece is
that we have created a care economy.

320
00:29:46,550 --> 00:29:49,750
Whenever a tree is tagged
and in the database,

321
00:29:49,790 --> 00:29:53,980
its digital footprint can be traded
on the worldwide carbon market.

322
00:29:58,190 --> 00:30:00,260
And thanks to the ongoing monitoring,

323
00:30:00,470 --> 00:30:03,660
companies that need to offset
their carbon footprint

324
00:30:03,700 --> 00:30:06,260
can guarantee
the tree's continued health

325
00:30:06,300 --> 00:30:07,980
and lasting value.

326
00:30:11,190 --> 00:30:13,940
So we have built a natural capital
investment strategy

327
00:30:13,980 --> 00:30:16,020
with corporate
and institutional partners

328
00:30:16,070 --> 00:30:19,580
that are looking for carbon offsets.

329
00:30:20,150 --> 00:30:23,790
That are... That have made
net zero pledges, right?

330
00:30:23,900 --> 00:30:26,700
That have supply chains
into Sierra Leone.

331
00:30:27,940 --> 00:30:31,390
Carbon offsetting
is not a licence to emit,

332
00:30:31,750 --> 00:30:36,790
but it could be a short-term solution
to some urgent challenges.

333
00:30:37,870 --> 00:30:40,830
The ecosystem services
from those trees

334
00:30:41,070 --> 00:30:44,110
will really manifest around 2030.

335
00:30:45,580 --> 00:30:48,870
But they have already begun
to sequester carbon.

336
00:31:00,340 --> 00:31:04,550
Such big ideas could make a real
difference to the people living here.

337
00:31:47,750 --> 00:31:51,260
The legacy of the project
could extend far beyond this city.

338
00:31:53,220 --> 00:31:55,390
The thinking
was Freetown The Treetown

339
00:31:55,430 --> 00:31:57,660
and what we like to call
Treetown Africa.

340
00:31:57,940 --> 00:32:02,580
And so we've been doing a lot
of work to build out our model.

341
00:32:03,340 --> 00:32:05,340
- We've got one over here.
- I see it.

342
00:32:05,790 --> 00:32:09,580
This has created a context for us
to share broadly, step by step,

343
00:32:09,620 --> 00:32:13,070
with cities across Africa
and across the Global South

344
00:32:13,110 --> 00:32:15,430
what we've been doing
and how we've been doing it.

345
00:32:25,150 --> 00:32:26,900
If we can embrace nature,

346
00:32:27,430 --> 00:32:30,390
carbon can reinvigorate
our livelihoods.

347
00:32:30,660 --> 00:32:31,710
(bleating)

348
00:32:36,790 --> 00:32:37,790
(whistling)

349
00:32:37,860 --> 00:32:38,860
Meg!

350
00:32:39,860 --> 00:32:41,540
Come by. Come by.

351
00:32:42,510 --> 00:32:44,260
Away, away, away.

352
00:32:48,900 --> 00:32:50,980
No, Meg. Meg!

353
00:33:10,150 --> 00:33:11,470
There, sit.

354
00:33:31,540 --> 00:33:33,710
For farming families like John's,

355
00:33:33,750 --> 00:33:36,030
one particular gift from the land

356
00:33:36,070 --> 00:33:39,470
made the difference
between survival or failure.

357
00:33:57,900 --> 00:34:01,860
Peat is waterlogged,
oxygen-depleted soil

358
00:34:02,030 --> 00:34:05,620
filled with slowly decomposing
plant material.

359
00:34:33,260 --> 00:34:37,220
Small-scale cutting for families
has never been the problem.

360
00:34:38,940 --> 00:34:42,070
But large-scale
commercial peat extraction

361
00:34:42,110 --> 00:34:44,430
has had devastating consequences.

362
00:34:56,070 --> 00:34:59,750
Dr Guaduneth Chico
works with WaterLANDS,

363
00:34:59,860 --> 00:35:04,860
an EU environmental initiative
aiming to restore the peatland.

364
00:35:19,710 --> 00:35:21,830
On top of the Black Mountain,

365
00:35:22,030 --> 00:35:25,860
Guaduneth can see why degraded
peatland is such a problem.

366
00:35:54,510 --> 00:35:59,030
Years of accumulated carbon
make peat the largest store on land.

367
00:36:02,980 --> 00:36:06,750
But this ancient landscape
is extremely fragile.

368
00:36:41,620 --> 00:36:45,030
Peatlands cover
nearly 3% of land on Earth,

369
00:36:45,940 --> 00:36:49,110
but 15% of them are degraded,

370
00:36:50,030 --> 00:36:52,390
turning them from carbon sinks...

371
00:36:54,150 --> 00:36:55,980
...to carbon sources.

372
00:37:01,940 --> 00:37:05,750
In Ireland,
just a fifth of peatlands remain.

373
00:37:06,940 --> 00:37:10,710
But Guaduneth's showing
the community how to restore them.

374
00:37:33,980 --> 00:37:35,540
- About...
- Yeah, two meters.

375
00:37:35,660 --> 00:37:36,860
Two meters. Yeah.

376
00:38:07,350 --> 00:38:10,110
Despite the damage
to the environment,

377
00:38:10,220 --> 00:38:14,540
commercial peat-cutting
was only banned in 2022.

378
00:38:16,300 --> 00:38:18,430
But more recent uses of peatland

379
00:38:18,540 --> 00:38:20,580
still impact the carbon cycle,

380
00:38:20,710 --> 00:38:23,860
as well as the communities
trying to live alongside.

381
00:39:04,660 --> 00:39:07,620
But there's a plan to help
communities thrive here -

382
00:39:07,750 --> 00:39:10,070
and support the peatlands, too.

383
00:39:10,350 --> 00:39:11,940
- That one over there?
- Yeah.

384
00:39:13,220 --> 00:39:16,510
Guaduneth is working
with local farmer Sean McGovern

385
00:39:16,540 --> 00:39:19,110
on a particularly prickly problem.

386
00:39:19,220 --> 00:39:21,510
There's a couple up there,
Guaduneth, I think.

387
00:39:21,620 --> 00:39:23,470
Yeah, yeah. I can see them. Yeah.

388
00:39:32,580 --> 00:39:33,980
No, no.

389
00:39:34,110 --> 00:39:36,070
There's no chance on that one.

390
00:39:37,750 --> 00:39:41,660
It's amazing how fast
they grow in a few short years.

391
00:39:53,260 --> 00:39:55,070
- One less.
- One less.

392
00:39:55,180 --> 00:39:56,620
There's a couple more up here.

393
00:40:21,150 --> 00:40:24,470
By restoring peatland
for carbon drawdown,

394
00:40:24,940 --> 00:40:29,030
Sean is eligible for an environmental
grant from the government.

395
00:40:29,860 --> 00:40:32,030
The better the condition of his land,

396
00:40:32,830 --> 00:40:34,510
the more money he'll be paid.

397
00:41:10,980 --> 00:41:13,540
So what we can do is,
you know, invest on the farms

398
00:41:13,660 --> 00:41:15,540
and improve the quality of the land.

399
00:41:19,470 --> 00:41:20,470
We train you...

400
00:41:24,710 --> 00:41:27,030
We pay for the training and
then we pay also for the labour.

401
00:41:27,070 --> 00:41:29,510
So you can actually have
some people full-time job, I think.

402
00:41:29,540 --> 00:41:32,980
If you measured the black area,
where that's bad,

403
00:41:33,110 --> 00:41:35,150
it would probably cover about...

404
00:41:35,830 --> 00:41:38,830
It would cover about
three acres, four acres?

405
00:41:38,940 --> 00:41:40,390
- Oh, more, more.
- More.

406
00:41:40,510 --> 00:41:43,110
- Yeah, yeah.
- Oh, would it, yeah...

407
00:42:00,300 --> 00:42:02,150
...to do this because obviously
this is a very big job.

408
00:42:02,620 --> 00:42:04,150
Oh, yeah. Of course.

409
00:42:12,860 --> 00:42:17,790
It is possible to see a future
and live a better life with carbon.

410
00:42:19,110 --> 00:42:20,430
And we can even do this

411
00:42:20,540 --> 00:42:23,660
in the face of the most
immediate challenge of all.

412
00:42:27,510 --> 00:42:29,750
For at least one month every year,

413
00:42:30,110 --> 00:42:32,900
nearly two-thirds
of the world's population

414
00:42:32,940 --> 00:42:35,510
face a severe scarcity of water,

415
00:42:36,300 --> 00:42:39,510
and supplying enough of it
to our growing cities

416
00:42:39,540 --> 00:42:41,390
is increasingly difficult...

417
00:42:41,580 --> 00:42:45,260
...even in some
of the lushest places.

418
00:42:57,070 --> 00:42:59,790
Rio may be Carnival City,

419
00:43:00,030 --> 00:43:04,660
but beneath the glittering surface
there are big challenges.

420
00:43:09,750 --> 00:43:13,150
Most of its water is supplied
by the Guandu River,

421
00:43:13,260 --> 00:43:17,300
but heavy industry
and intensive farming along its banks

422
00:43:17,830 --> 00:43:20,940
have left the river polluted
and silt-ridden.

423
00:43:24,300 --> 00:43:27,750
With the city's water treatment
plant working overtime,

424
00:43:27,860 --> 00:43:30,830
the cost and reliability
of the water supply

425
00:43:30,940 --> 00:43:34,830
is a growing problem
for Rio's 14 million residents.

426
00:43:40,300 --> 00:43:43,790
But there's a simple, free solution

427
00:43:44,390 --> 00:43:45,830
right on the doorstep.

428
00:43:56,980 --> 00:44:00,940
Otavio Barros
has lived here all his life.

429
00:45:11,390 --> 00:45:16,070
The Enchanted Valley community
has enough clean, free water

430
00:45:16,620 --> 00:45:20,350
because it's alongside
a crucial natural resource.

431
00:45:22,710 --> 00:45:24,540
The Tijuca forest.

432
00:45:35,220 --> 00:45:36,980
Forests are like sponges,

433
00:45:37,860 --> 00:45:40,510
collecting and filtering rainfall.

434
00:45:51,390 --> 00:45:57,260
The Tijuca Forest is a small remnant
of a once-giant watershed ecosystem.

435
00:46:00,510 --> 00:46:02,900
The Atlantic Forest.

436
00:46:03,030 --> 00:46:08,540
Spanning the length of Brazil,
it was twice the size of Texas.

437
00:46:12,300 --> 00:46:15,150
But today, farming and industry

438
00:46:15,260 --> 00:46:19,260
has made it one of the most
depleted ecosystems on Earth.

439
00:46:21,300 --> 00:46:24,110
And the region's water supply
is in trouble.

440
00:46:32,540 --> 00:46:34,830
But 60 miles south of Rio,

441
00:46:34,980 --> 00:46:37,150
conservationists at REGUA Reserve

442
00:46:37,220 --> 00:46:40,430
are piecing this giant
watershed back together.

443
00:46:47,300 --> 00:46:52,860
They can only do it with the help
of Brazil's largest gardener.

444
00:47:08,900 --> 00:47:10,940
Professor Maron Galliez

445
00:47:10,980 --> 00:47:14,580
is returning tapirs
to their natural environment.

446
00:47:31,470 --> 00:47:34,030
The tapirs have come from zoos,

447
00:47:34,430 --> 00:47:37,510
so to prepare them
for life in the wild,

448
00:47:37,790 --> 00:47:41,220
they'll first spend time
in an outdoor enclosure.

449
00:47:59,790 --> 00:48:02,030
Weighing over 300 kilogrammes,

450
00:48:02,430 --> 00:48:06,070
tapirs feast on large fruits
and seeds,

451
00:48:07,070 --> 00:48:09,390
which become large trees,

452
00:48:10,580 --> 00:48:12,260
and the larger the tree,

453
00:48:12,470 --> 00:48:14,620
the more carbon it can store.

454
00:48:26,470 --> 00:48:28,430
While the tapirs acclimatise,

455
00:48:29,180 --> 00:48:31,110
REGUA manager Raquel Locke

456
00:48:31,580 --> 00:48:35,390
is evaluating how best to restore
the health of the watershed.

457
00:48:36,580 --> 00:48:41,220
We must think of the forest
as this live entity,

458
00:48:41,470 --> 00:48:44,710
where every little form
of life is necessary

459
00:48:44,750 --> 00:48:48,180
and has to be added when possible.

460
00:48:49,030 --> 00:48:54,180
All that diversity will have
communities of insects,

461
00:48:54,510 --> 00:48:57,830
animals coming back in due time.

462
00:48:57,980 --> 00:49:01,260
Certainly some bigger animals

463
00:49:01,430 --> 00:49:04,220
won't be able to come back
by themselves.

464
00:49:05,940 --> 00:49:08,220
The more wildlife can be returned,

465
00:49:08,540 --> 00:49:11,860
the better the chance
of restoring the watershed.

466
00:49:14,980 --> 00:49:18,470
Having spent a month
acclimatising in their enclosure,

467
00:49:18,940 --> 00:49:22,430
the tapirs are ready
to go to work in the forest.

468
00:49:23,940 --> 00:49:27,260
The promise of a treat
is enough to lure one of them

469
00:49:27,300 --> 00:49:28,710
into its transit box.

470
00:49:37,790 --> 00:49:41,430
But the other tapir
is not so easily fooled.

471
00:49:42,830 --> 00:49:45,150
The team will need all their skill,

472
00:49:45,180 --> 00:49:48,070
and a lot of patience,
to lure this one in.

473
00:49:55,710 --> 00:49:57,860
We are using his favourite foods,

474
00:49:58,150 --> 00:50:00,510
but he's too clever.

475
00:50:01,110 --> 00:50:04,070
And just when the team think
they've got the better of him...

476
00:50:08,470 --> 00:50:13,660
We decided to try it later
because it's too difficult.

477
00:50:13,940 --> 00:50:16,750
So maybe he can get in then.

478
00:50:19,750 --> 00:50:23,620
After some time,
and a fresh bag of treats,

479
00:50:24,150 --> 00:50:26,350
they're ready for one more attempt.

480
00:50:38,470 --> 00:50:40,110
I'm relieved now.

481
00:50:42,660 --> 00:50:46,900
Relocating large animals
is ambitious, expensive work.

482
00:50:48,660 --> 00:50:51,070
And making projects like this happen

483
00:50:51,110 --> 00:50:54,710
means we must
all make some tough choices.

484
00:50:56,180 --> 00:51:00,790
Refauna's biggest financial backer
is a fossil fuel company.

485
00:52:10,900 --> 00:52:11,940
I'm happy.

486
00:52:13,300 --> 00:52:16,430
It's nice to see all the stages

487
00:52:16,830 --> 00:52:19,940
and everything for this.

488
00:52:23,220 --> 00:52:26,070
The tapirs will expand the watershed,

489
00:52:27,110 --> 00:52:32,860
and Rio could save nearly $80 million
in water treatment costs.

490
00:52:34,900 --> 00:52:38,260
Abundant nature benefits everyone.

491
00:52:58,150 --> 00:52:59,940
All across our planet,

492
00:53:00,150 --> 00:53:05,260
people are making changes
to build a future with nature.

493
00:53:06,580 --> 00:53:12,180
Without people's involvement,
care of a conservation project,

494
00:53:12,390 --> 00:53:13,710
it just wouldn't work.

495
00:53:14,030 --> 00:53:17,620
The more people involved,
the better for nature.

496
00:53:28,790 --> 00:53:31,750
Just imagine
what could be achieved...

497
00:53:35,260 --> 00:53:38,350
...if every one of us
was part of this.

498
00:53:40,750 --> 00:53:43,710
A global movement for nature.

499
00:53:47,030 --> 00:53:51,430
If we want to have
a flourishing future

500
00:53:51,470 --> 00:53:54,470
and be thriving in 2050 and beyond,

501
00:53:54,860 --> 00:53:57,660
we have to do this.
We have to make changes.

502
00:53:58,030 --> 00:53:59,580
We have to make a trade-off.

503
00:53:59,900 --> 00:54:02,390
The trade-off doesn't
necessarily mean we lose,

504
00:54:02,660 --> 00:54:05,710
and this kind of dynamic
will actually win.

505
00:54:06,620 --> 00:54:08,470
That's all I got.

506
00:54:12,790 --> 00:54:15,180
The brighter the future of nature...

507
00:54:18,180 --> 00:54:22,150
...the brighter the future
for all of us.