How many people over the years have looked at the moon
and longed to visit?
This sight is one of the few experiences that all of us
all around the world share
Over the centuries it must have inspired a lot of dreamers
Little wonder that as soon as the moon fell within reach
we grasped for it
We choose to go to the moon in ths decade and do the other thngs
not because they are easy but because they are hard
because that challenge is one that were willng to accept
one we are unwillng to postpone and one we intend to win.
And director of flight to operatons...
To what became known as his "Moonshot" in 12
President Kennedy set out a dream so outrageous and ambitious
it demanded unparalleled urgent innovation
and effort from a huge multinational team
...two one zero. We have commenced. We have lift off.
And when the Moonshot was accomplished within the decade
it was a success that inspired people across the world
A defining achievement of human history
But its greater lasting impact was one that few in 12 could foresee -
the view back from up there
In reaching for the moon we found the Earth
For the first time we could see that the world we live on
is finite and precious
Ultimately it woke us to a distressing truth
we are still trying to come to terms with
The modern world we have built is at odds with the planet we live on
It's come to this our planet is now in crisis
its delicately balanced systems are becoming more and more unstable
with every passing year
So for the sake of future generations let's act now
Let's take inspiration from the Moonshot
and set ourselves a global challenge for this decade
a common goal to unite behind
to mend our broken relationship with our planet
and build a better future for all
It is for this very reason that I launched the Earthshot Prize
the most ambitious environmental prize in history
Each year until 200 we will award five 1 million prizes
to those who we believe can transform our chances
of repairing our planet within the decade
Five prizes because experts tell us there are five great challenges
we must urgently overcome to turn the tide
Over the next ten years
we MUST work hard to protect and restore nature
so that the wild stops shrinking and starts to grow
fix our climate to stop the rising global temperature
clean our air so that we can all breathe healthily
revive our oceans to become as rich and productive
as they once were
and we must build a waste-free world
by ensuring the waste of one process
becomes the raw materials of the next
As we work on these five Earthshots
the science tells us they will help each other
I n restoring nature we will help fix the climate
I n removing waste we will help revive our oceans
To help me in this extraordinary undertaking
I 've gathered together a group of remarkable experts influencers
and environmentalists -
the Earthshot Prize Council
I n this series I will join some of the prize council members
in exploring the five Earthshots one by one
We will discover the key problems we face
introduce you to people already working on solutions
and finally I 'll tell you about the new projects
we've shortlisted for this year's prize
This is a moment for hope not fear
A better sustainable future is within reach
We just have to grasp for it
We humans can achieve anything we set our minds to
Its one small step for a man...
...one gant leap for manknd.
So let's all set our minds to this
a decade of action to repower our planet
There's no time to waste
On with the first of our five Earthshots
Here to tell the story of how we can stop working against nature
and start working with it
is one member of our Earthshot Prize Council -
Sir David Attenborough
I ve spent my lfe learnng about the natural world
and our place wthn t.
I n dong so I ve been lucky enough to see more of the wonders of nature
that I could ever have dreamt of dong.
I ve seen the greatest mgratons...
...travelled alongsde the largest anmals that ever lved...
...encountered our closest relatves...
...and been daled by the beauty of nature.
And I ve tred to share much of these experences
wth audences around the world.
But now our planet s a lot less wld than t was
when I began my travels.
Here n the Brtsh Isles over the centures
weve long snce turned our natural wldernesses
nto a tamed orderly landscape.
The same s happenng rght now across the globe.
And ths has consequences.
A less wld world s a less stable world.
And that s a world less able to support all speces
ncludng ourselves.
Thats why I agreed to jon the Earthshot Pre Councl.
We CAN protect and restore the natural world
and as we do so we start to brng stablty to our planet.
Before we can understand whats gong wrong
we need to understand how the system works
when ts functonng as t should.
BI RDS SOUAW
WALRUSES SNORT
The natural world of whch we are an ntrnsc part
s mnd bogglng n ts complexty...
...teemng wth bllons of ndvduals of mllons of speces.
No one organsm lves n solaton.
They work wth others n communtes called ecosystems
held together by countless ntmate relatonshps.
Peces may feed on one another...
...pollnate others...
...dsperse seeds
compete for mates...
...or for space n the sun.
Bologsts try to sum up ths remarkable varety of lfe
n one term
bodversty.
All ths lfe evolved together over mllons of years
nto the reslent and stable natural communtes that we see today.
We need the natural world to be dverse and thrve n ths way.
Thats because a thrvng natural world
provdes a long lst of servces for us for free.
The servces such as lockng away vast stores of carbon
to keep the clmate stable...
...keepng the water cycle movng to brng dependable rans...
...provdng the world wth oxygen and flterng the ar we breathe
replenshng sols and pollnatng our crops...
...not forgettng all the materals
foods and medcnes that ecosystems provde.
Everythng that humanty has acheved s bult
on the foundaton of a healthy natural world.
Wthout t lfe as we enjoy t could not happen.
And yet the lfe we now enjoy s threatenng bodversty.
Ths could prove catastrophc snce ecosystems are held together
by ntmate relatonshps.
When one element s removed the whole communty may collapse.
O what of the thngs we do pose the bggest threats to bodversty?
The sland of Borneo les across the equator...
...whch means ts tropcal forests
have been constantly bathed n regular sunshne heat and ran.
The perfect condtons for lfe to floursh.
Many speces are found nowhere else...
uch s the case wth the slands largest prmate
the Bornean orangutan.
I n recent years the ncrease of ol palm plantatons
has been one of the leadng causes of deforestaton n outheast Asa.
I n the process an mmensely dverse ecosystem
s exchanged for lnes of a sngle speces of plant
and lttle other wldlfe.
Over the last years Borneo has lost of ts tropcal forests
and half of ts orangutan.
The reason wld areas across the world are stll beng destroyed s smple.
I n todays world a wld habtat brngs less fnancal ncome
than a cleared one.
We place lttle value on nature
even though t s our essental lfe support system.
I n Borneo the felled hardwoods are worth money
and the palm ol that s then grown on the land s worth more money.
O there s double ncentve to cut down the forest.
But Msln has a dfferent approach
one that she wants to see rolled out across the sland.
He only grows ol palm on exstng farmland
whch lost ts natve trees decades ago.
Because of ths the palm ol she produces can now be labelled
deforestatonfree.
Forest corrdors help to provde safe passage
between larger patches of forest
as well as food and homes for much of ts wldlfe.
To stop the complete removal of Borneos tropcal ranforests
conservatonsts lke Msln are tryng to change the palm ol trade.
And that means changng the entre chan
from where the ol s produced to where t s consumed.
I m Cat Barton I m a wldlfe conservatonst.
My journey nto palm ol started n Borneo
but I quckly realsed that t was a battle
that we could also fght rght here n England.
Palm ols found n so many dfferent products on our supermarket shelves.
The bggest challenge s educatng people
that deforestatonfree palm ol exsts.
Rght now only a small porton of palm ol
can be classfed as deforestatonfree.
But that can change f more consumers demand t.
Cats work has helped Chester to clam the ttle
of the worlds frst ustanable Palm Ol Cty.
O far more than organsatons
have made a commtment to use only sustanable palm ol.
There s so much more to do
but we can only do that f we work collectvely
wth plantatons on the ground all the way through to consumers
that buy the products n the supermarket.
Although habtat loss today s most obvous n the tropcal ranforests
we need to remember that natural habtats were lost
across much of the rest of the world centures ago.
Today we have a mancured landscape.
We tamed our wld a very long tme ago.
We dont want the same to happen elsewhere.
The conflct between humanknd and the wld habtats of the world
goes back over years to the dawn of farmng.
And one source of food has had a greater mpact across the world than any other.
The sngle largest cause of bodversty loss
comes from the land we cleared to rase and feed lvestock.
SPEAS I N PORTUGEUSE
CH EERI NG
an Alves s the most decorated footballer n hstory
and has captaned Brals natonal team.
Bral produces vast amounts of beef
and ts mllon cattle
grae an area the se of France pan and ermany combned.
Farmng the lvestock and the crops to feed lvestock
s the countrys leadng cause of ts habtat loss
ncludng parts of the unque Amaon ranforest.
Centsts predct that f the Amaon forest s reduced
by another t could fal to create enough mosture
to keep tself stable.
And that could trgger an unstoppable transformaton
nto a far less bodverse savannah.
At current rates of deforestaton
ths process could begn wthn the decade.
Once that change happens
large parts of the ecosystem
wth the greatest varety of speces on land
whch has exsted for tens of mllons of years
could be gone forever.
I n the very lttle of our beef comes from outh Amerca
and some farmers do rase lvestock more sustanably
such as grassfed free rangng herds
and lvestock as part of regeneratve farmng.
The problem s that these methods cant provde the huge volume
of meat that humanty currently consumes.
Lobally the area we now use to rear and feed lvestock
takes up land equvalent to the se of North and outh Amerca combned.
Of course on land ths loss of the wld s obvous.
But beneath the surface of our planets rvers and lakes
ts surprsngly easy for changes to go unnotced.
Travellng across the Earths surface
rvers play a vtal role n natures water cycle
and support ther own freshwater ecosystems
rch wth speces that are often unque to partcular regons.
Rvers also transport mnerals along ther length
feedng the plants of flood plans marshes and deltas
wth vtal nutrents.
The contnual flow of freshwater s essental to everythng
that lves on land ncludng ourselves.
ENGI N E WH I RS
The Mekong Rver runs almost mles
from the Tbetan Plateau to the outh Chna ea.
Here straddlng the border wth Laos
are square klometres of flooded forests
essental nurseres for mllons of fsh that mgrate here to spawn.
The nurseres underpn the worlds largest nland fshery
supportng the lvelhoods of over mllon people.
I n on ahong am came onlne
close to the LaosCambodan border.
The Mekong Rver has been dammed more than many rver systems
hydropower dams have been bult across t so far
and many more are planned.
Hydropower can be a postve renewable source of energy
but large dams on the man rver channel can be devastatng
blockng the flow of fresh water and ts nutrent rch sedment
and creatng a barrer for the mgratng fsh.
As more dams are bult
the spawnng grounds of the flooded forests are emptyng
and the worlds largest nland fshery may smply collapse.
Our mpact on rvers globally s staggerng.
I n North Amerca alone twothrds of major rvers are dammed.
Whats more across the world we extract ten bllon tonnes
of fresh water every day.
Over of t s used n agrculture and ndustry.
As a result the flow of fresh water can falter
threatenng both the ecosystems and the people that rely on them.
The facts are clear
the natural world s n crss because of us.
Humanty has left ts mark on almost of the Earths land surface.
I n the short perod snce 7
the populatons of mammals brds fsh reptles and amphbans
are thought to have declned on average by .
We rsk causng the bggest extncton event
snce the end of the dnosaurs mllon years ago.
I n the face of ths onslaught
the nteractons that te speces together are unted
and the planets ecosystems fall apart.
I n turn the clean ar freshwater
fertle sol stable clmate and foodstuffs
that the natural world provdes for us wll be jeopardsed.
That s the realty of the road we are on.
But we can change drecton.
Its not yet too late.
We need a global response to pull us back from the brnk
and we all have a part to play.
We need an Earthshot.
Fortunately there s some cause for optmsm.
I ndvduals communtes companes and even governments
are fndng ways to protect and restore nature
that mght be rolled out across the world.
J ust years ago
ths land n southern England was a typcal modern arable dary farm.
But the two passonate landowners embarked on an experment.
They decded to work wth nature rather than aganst t.
They stopped the sprayng and fertlsng
they took down the fences between the felds
they stocked the land wth a mx of lvestock
that resembled the anmals that once roamed wld
n ths part of the world.
They harvested some of the lvestock as meat
n effect replacng the absent wld predators
that kept the ecosystem n balance.
They gave the natural world the chance to rebuld.
The nepp Estate s once agan home to speces that were
long gone from ts former ploughed felds.
Even n the Brtsh Isles
one of the most naturedepleted countres n the world
bodversty can recover.
Nepp s just one small scale soluton
evdence that nature can return quckly when gven the chance.
Yet even some of the places we already consder as beng wld
can do wth a lttle help.
My name s ra Cassdy and I m a scentst studyng grey wolves.
The Yellowstone area looks lke a wonderful wlderness
Amerca at ts wldest...
...but n fact untl just recently t wasnt truly wld.
HOWLS
I n the last wolfpack n Yellowstone was wped out.
HOWL CONTI NU ES
Wthout ts top predator
the Yellowstone ecosystem was thrown out of balance.
Elk numbers soared
and they overgraed the plant lfe.
Ths had knockon effects throughout the ecosystem
and reduced bodversty.
The park authorty tred to manage the elk
but even cullng them wasnt enough.
It was tme to brng back the wolves.
I RA Noone had rentroduced ths knd of predator n the before.
But the wolves acted as f theyd always been here.
Rght away they started huntng and formng packs.
I thnk I have the best job n the world.
I get to track the wolves.
And that way we can see where theyre gong
but most mportantly we can fnd out what theyre eatng.
We knew theyd reduce elk and deer numbers
but that was just a start.
Wth wolves about the remanng elk and deer could no longer
stay n one place for long browsng on the trees and shrubs.
They had to keep movng.
Ths smple change brought about a transformaton.
Berry bushes grew back
whch helped the bears.
Rver banks sprouted saplngs lke aspen and wllow
whch retaned the sol and changed the course of the rvers.
Ths helped beaver populatons
whch n turn created pools that provded homes for more fsh.
Moose flourshed wth the returnng vegetaton.
As dd scavengers lke coyotes foxes and eagles
drawn to Yellowstone by the carcasses left by the wolves.
The wolves had brought order back to the entre ecosystem.
It has now been years snce the wolves were released
and ths area s the wldest ts been n over years.
Removng wolves was a mstake
and I thnk we should correct our mstakes whenever we can.
An ecosystem runs best when t has all ts component parts.
Ths also helps another of our Earthshots
to fx our clmate
because a healthy ecosystem means more plants growng more rapdly
and capturng more carbon from the ar.
We often thnk about our mpact on the world as beng pretty negatve
but the Yellowstone rentroducton s an example of a really postve
mpact that weve had on the world.
Every tme I step nto ths wld place
I m remnded that the bodversty loss we see across the whole
planet can be changed and t can be reversed so quckly.
Ometmes we just need to gve t a lttle helpng hand.
Yellowstone was the worlds frst natonal park.
Its part of the of our planets land that s protected.
But t s publcly owned.
Most of Earths land surface s n prvate hands
whch means the land has to generate ncome for ts owners.
O how do we make wld places more valuable
to the people that own them?
The Maasa who occupy thousands of square klometres
of wld savanna n East Afrca have found a soluton.
A system that enables them
to earn more ncome the wlder ther land becomes.
SI NGI NG
Cattle are central to the Maasa culture
a vtal source of both food and ncome.
For centures ther cattle have roamed these areas
coexstng wth local wldlfe.
But recently as some tradtonal lands were fragmented or
turned nto natonal parks
and as the Maasa populaton and ther herds ncreased
the balance wth nature was lost.
The land became overgraed
and both the cattle and local wldlfe
struggled to fnd enough food.
The conservancy model frst proposed by conservatonsts
helps communtes to create a new source of ncome
from the land they own.
A source that can also protect and restore the wldlfe.
I n ths case t was ecotoursm.
The dea took hold and snowballed.
Now other communtes have bult conservances
and wldlfe can roam more of ts orgnal habtat.
As more wldlfe returns t attracts more toursts
and brngs more ncome.
As the Maasa have found bodverse places
wherever they stll exst
can become valuable to the people who look after them.
We need space to lve and feed ourselves
but we can certanly work to be more effcent
and use as lttle as possble...
...lke some poneerng farmers n the Netherlands.
These arent smple greenhouses.
They are supereffcent sustanable food factores...
...just one of a poneerng group of farmng busnesses
that have helped ths relatvely small naton
to become one of the worlds bggest exporters of food.
To create ths much food as rapdly
ths farm together wth other farms and research labs
use stateoftheart technology.
From seeds n bodegradable pots to fully grown plants
the growng cycle s entrely automated.
Its not just the Netherlands developng new
effcent farmng technques ts happenng across the globe.
There are farms growng tomatoes wthout sol...
...vertcal farms...
...even farms n our oceans...
...and laboratores researchng
strong and effcent crops of the future.
Across the globe
we could begn to restore an area of land larger than North Amerca
and Bral rght now
just by changng how we farm and what we eat.
Poneerng farms lke bera are showng that there are
more sustanable ways of producng some frut and vegetables en masse.
And researchers are also explorng new ways of producng
more sustanable meat from less land.
My name s hulamt Levenberg.
I m a professor at the Israel I nsttute of Technology.
Centsts around the world ncludng myself
had succeeded n growng human tssue for medcal research.
Its called tssue engneerng.
And that was the trgger for the new drecton.
One of my students asked f we could also try to grow tssue from cattle.
We thought that f we could grow cultured beef
t mght have far reachng postve mpacts.
Cultured meat refers to the growng process.
Frst small sample cells are taken from a healthy lvng cow.
These are placed n a culture
a soup of the nutrents that the cells would normally be takng
from the cow protens sugars vtamns and mnerals.
I n ther culture the cells grow multply
and connect together.
O far ths work has created a thncut steak
and developed the technology to make the worlds frst
cultured rbeye steak.
Whats produced s not just smlar to beef t s beef.
Rowng meat lke ths s really fast.
O we take just three weeks compared wth an average
of two years usng conventonal methods of growng meat.
And t uses a fracton of the resources requred for rasng
an entre anmal for meat.
Its great to see the reacton
when people try our cultured meat for the frst tme.
Its such a surprse.
That realsaton that ths s meat
but weve not klled any cows to have t.
Across the world other companes are producng cultured eggs
chckens and fsh.
It makes me feel proud to be dong ths.
We are helpng gve people choces that help the planet.
Cultured meat s stll n ts nfancy
and wll become cheaper
when producton scales up n the near future.
And f we are able to create solutons lke ths
whch move us away from ntensve lvestock producton
t gves us hope that we can stop causng any more bodversty loss.
There s no sngle soluton to restorng the natural world.
Every patch of land wll requre ts own talored approach
so that we can both feed ourselves and ncrease bodversty.
If we choose to spend the next ten years
perfectng all the new deas weve seen
and searchng for many others
just magne what mght be possble.
A world n whch landowners gan more from buldng dverse
wld habtats than destroyng them...
...a world n whch we can work wth
rather than aganst natural cycles...
...a world n whch weve become so effcent at provdng
for ourselves that we can spare enough space
for the rest of lfe on Earth.
Tomorrows world could be more dverse more stable more wld.
Its wthn our power f we start makng the rght choces from today.
It's clear that a thriving natural world is essential to our own
existence on Earth
It therefore worries me deeply that nature is in decline
in so many parts of the world
But it's entirely within our gift to turn the situation around
We can protect and restore nature on a global scale
And the Earthshot Prize is here to celebrate and scale
the best solutions to achieve this
I 'm delighted to be able to introduce you now
to the three finalists in the running for the first-ever
Earthshot Prize to protect and restore nature
First we head to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
where the Pole Pole Foundation is helping to protect
the local population of gorillas from bush meat poaching
by encouraging people to eat a plant- based diet instead
The numbers of the local gorilla the Grauer's gorilla
have more than halved since 15
The main cause of this decline is that they were hunted
for bush meat and even heavy fines weren't a deterrent
Perhaps that's not surprising in an area where many people
live in poverty and are unable to afford regular healthy meals
Pole Pole are providing families with an alternative source
of protein by growing a nutrient- rich blue-green algae
called spirulina that can be cheaply and easily produced
from little land
It is grown in pools rich with salts and other nutrients
then dried in the sun
and made into a nutritious paste that is spread onto cookies
WOMAN LAUGHS
Pole Pole is an impressive and humbling project
created and operated by a local team who understand all the issues
Thanks in part to the work of Pole Pole
the gorilla numbers in the local National Park are now on the rise
With the support of the Earthshot Prize
Pole Pole want to help in other areas where food is scarce
and wildlife is threatened
by teaching locals how to produce their own plant- based super foods
Our next finalist is the Republic of Costa Rica government
which has overseen perhaps the most successful
ecological restoration project in the world
I n the 10s financial incentives began to be offered to anyone
protecting and restoring the nation's heavily depleted forests
At that moment our economc model supported people
cuttng down forests.
Weve realsed that to have a healthy economy
and a healthy socety we need healthy ecosystems.
We have learned to value nature rather than take from t.
The government pays people to preserve their ecosystems
with experts advising people on how to sustainably manage
and generate an income from their land
The initiative has doubled forest cover in just 25 years
and boosted the economy through a boom in ecotourism
This nomination will hopefully help to inspire
communities all over the world to follow in Costa Rica's footsteps
If other countres followed what we have done
we can not only stop tropcal forest loss globally
we can reverse t and have a healther planet.
Our final idea is a free online resource called Restor
which can help anyone anywhere bring back more biodiversity
to their land
Its creator is ecologist Tom Crowther
The map helps identify what native species to plant
and can predict the amount of carbon dioxide
a rewilding project would capture
It also connects an international network of environmentalists
Though still in its infancy Restor is already helping
thousands of sites across the planet to bring back nature
Tom and his team hope that winning the Earthshot Prize could help them
supercharge the growth of their budding global network
Those who work to protect
and restore the natural world are doing us all a great service
The winner of this Earthshot Prize will get investment support
and a global platform to fully realise
the potential of their solution
And over the coming years till 200
nine more transformational solutions for protecting
and restoring nature will receive the same
The natural world can return with vigour if we choose to protect it
And in return it will protect us
I n the next episode we will discover how
with the story of our second great Earthshot - Fix Our Climate
We'll learn about a community leader who triggered
the transition of a whole nation to renewables
meet a man capturing carbon from the atmosphere as diamonds
and discover other emerging innovations aiming to stop
climate change in its tracks