for 5 decades geragos islanders have preserved their culture in exile and they're now escalating their struggle to return home. but their fate still lies in the hands of their colonisers. another paradise i witnessed a documentary on a. in conflicts one of the silent and forgotten casualties is often the environment. from the chemical contamination of soils and the collapse of water and food supplies to the habitat damage caused by displacement. has devastating consequences.

not seen any manmade infrastructure has but also natural ecosystems are destroyed and i'm alive so i lost as well as human. but even amidst the most vicious struggles through people fighting to protect the world we live on to cover what was lost. i'm tanya a sheet and bangladesh in the world's largest refugee camps where people are working to co-exist with the elephants for which this region is home and i'm happy with our love and on we're group of scientists is rebuilding a seed bank that was displaced by the war in syria. in august 27th team a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing began in myanmar. the military and buddhist radicals claimed the lives of more than $6000.00 in a single month. fearing death thousands more fled the country for the forests of bangladesh. the scale of the exodus was enormous. today they are still

unable to return home. there are over 1200000 rohingya refugees living inside of the sprawling cast the bunker that. this is now the biggest not amount of refugees in the world. many of them don't have access to clean water sanitation or even electricity. but after they arrived the survivors faced a new threat wild elephants rampaging through county. i'm meeting on one about them who witnessed the initial episode firsthand it came from their weekly. ballots and came to a cost you know from the jungle over that way by directly church hall that started feeding her husband but it struck. this was no one not only construct repeatedly

throughout the camp killing 13 people in the space of 5 months. can you tell me a little bit about what happened the 1st and last run of the mother but it was just so that the body was difficult on her own to hold on to the little one little bit of a little bit i believe that i do agree with what happened after that that i shut it out i will be out again in wimbledon or the us in the morning a lot of you only knew but going to head into a sort of fairness issue the 100 i didn't hear the whole hall that a mother that they talk to one of them mother said to him as if it had told the public good was i love you i got lost in his official mind what okun is all about budget bloom is about oh i. don't know a lot. more got how to google the girls or whatever you pulled over here going little bit who's. the attack

sparked an investigation into what was going on. recchi but i mean from the international union for conservation of nature believes the rapid expansion of the settlement had a profound impact on the natural environment this is the edge of the camp of a cave right here as this is where the forest began yes what's been going on was the cause behind all of these that you see on all camps they used to be forest there seems to be an elephant have habitat. the cap expanded at an astonishing rate over $1500.00 hectares of forests were cleared to accommodate the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees. but nobody realized the devastating impact this would have the growing camps severed a vital lifeline for some of bangladesh's last remaining wild elephants blocking a herd of 40 from their only path to essential grazing brown. just over there is there is

a space we call the elephant now the since the camp is completely blocking that coded door elephant cannot pass through this have it in such an office shelter in search of his food essential fizz migration path elephants was trying to come inside the camp elephant came so many times and 13 you know sent lifeless and lost . and elephant is not necessarily a violent mammal it's very intelligent understands it has these emotions and is shows that he's lost his habitat he's desperate to do this animal migration. it's in their d.n.a. elephant as a genetic memories and then know exactly where they have been growing where they have been roaming generation after generation they take the same path. the elephants of bangladesh are critically endangered there are just $268.00 left and they're increasingly under threat. $15000.00 hectares of land are already

deforested in the country every year and this camp only adds to the problem. to help me understand what the elephants are up against i've hired a local guy. so the man in front of me. his name means golden boy and he's our tracker for the day i think we're going to have. it's not long before we find clues that we're on the right path. that out that is if we're not there boggling going to say is that they just saw bungalow going to feel the color didn't it out without i will basic i thought i believe bungling because. we find evidence of a 100 elephants everywhere where you just stick our system it's the sky it's like the elephant whisperer. 'd tells me that by the end of the summer much of the elephants food here will be gone. then they face

a nightmare scenario attempt to migrate through the cap to me and mars in search of fresh vegetation or risk running out of food. this is a place where they deny me guess if they. were following the actual footsteps of the elephants. elephants have walked along this path every season for thousands of years i'm feeling really excited i wonder for actually going to encounter some elephants were being told that just a few steps away that they're there then against the odds a moment i can't believe. a majestic hour standing proud on the horizon. it's just quite scary i've never seen an elephant like my own my 1st time. it looks so peaceful in its natural habitat it's just really crazy to think that

before the caps were put in place that the sis what it was a large for with animals roaming about and now there's a human made crisis at play with sprawling refugee camps and it's just a very sad situation. but a select band of refugees is working to solve the problem with the support of the international union for conservation of nature there formed a group dedicated to safety shepherding the elephants from the camp. they call themselves the toughest course. central to their strategy are $94.00 watchtowers which they built around the camp perimeter. they are manned by a team of over 500 brave refugees ready to intervene and protect both the people and. i'm heading up for a bird's eye view. of what. ok so what's going on there

simulating what actually happens when an elephant comes and you see the yellow shirts yeah so they have the best possible x'mas so they are using their medicine they know. how to respond and they want to fawn with him and say it will and slowly moves towards allison so that elephant understands this danger i have. down on the ground it's clear how committed the test scores are. i don't need conditional training go to the i mean i stand. by the hockey i see me not that i think of the stuff i thought it was. quite loud and scary i think that would certainly show an elephant off. since the times 1st started there has been no loss of life here despite 45 incursions by elephants it's an effective

temporary solution until a longer term plan is made for managing the animals migration. the tusk force has motivated the community with over 500 people signing up to join and has supporters throughout the camp. what are you doing over here what is this. i think all these different patterns and colors seems like it's a lot of work to do why go through all this trouble to do it right out of the holocaust my by that had to be. one where only one with a machine a 3rd of. my body just learning how to. do you feel that there's more danger living on the edge of the forest versus people

who live in the camp. that have. a sort of philip is not on. his own with. his own. and. not only do people feel more secure they are also more sensitive to the elephant situation saving the animals is now even part of the school's curriculum. you know what you're. doing. the objective is not to build on this momentum. recchi was already taking steps to find a permanent solution to the problem beginning with an in-depth scientific study of the elephants migratory habit. we are planning to put radio on that listen this will give us a valuable data valuable science to have a better management of the situation once the exact migration route is no the goal

is to clear a path for the elephants so that they can migrate unhindered once again of course we want to open the possible that are so few leases that we need to consider before doing that it will take about 100000 people. people to move somewhere else that would be an m. ments logistical challenge but as human refugees continue to resettle around the world bold moves are needed to reduce the impact on local animal populations what acts seen here gives me hope that animals do not always need to be victims of conflict and that a peaceful coexistence is possible. to. the over 40 armed conflicts happening in the world today. each of them will leave a dangerous environmental legacy. and we can see that protection the environment as

a norm is something which we do there are standards in place we have joint conflict it's almost that anything goes because whatever damage you like and there's no accountability there's no redress. we see very severe damage to many countries in many different ways damage to infrastructure such as serious revs a water facilities over extraction of resources. tax on industrial sites causing vast amounts of pollution so you can have these impacts there's going to spiral on the last few decades after the conflict ends. when iraq in 20162017 islamic states at $530.00 oil wells on these ben for 9 months covering hundreds of square kilometers in fallout and pollution. dealing with health terminations caused by these fires it's going to take years. so for the last 10 or 15 years we've seen increasing interest from governments around the touch the environmental relation to conflicts it's got to me fair it's got to move fast it's no all the comforts of merriment rambam spend damage in many ways and that has consequences. so unless we

focus on the environment you're in conflict in a storing up a lot of problems and. live in a turbulent world where conflicts and climate change are threatening our environments . the scary part is that the crops through and for food are increasingly finding it hard to survive and in some cases they're going extinct. crop diversity is essential for food security and has declined by 3 quarter since in 1906. but there is an insurance policy a global network of seed banks these are backup repositories of seeds which safeguard their biodiversity and can be turn to in times of crisis. when more broke out in syria in 20111 of these vital stores came under threat. on

the outskirts of aleppo the team of scientists charged with maintaining the seed bank were forced to abandon their work and flee the country. but they never gave up hope. when some of them resettled just over the border in lebanon's bekaa valley they began rebuilding their collection. i'm traveling to the i car to seed bank to meet one of these scientists dr alisha had the ira good to see it to what happened to the seed bank in aleppo syria it became possible to access to the gym by god the premises and public 2015 because we accessed through the center by the armed group controlling the area. they stole the vehicles they stole the lot of equipments nothing left in the head coach to exit the buildings and the duma. the war forced 5000000 refugees out of syria right

now it's not safe for a doctor so how did to continue his work at home. how hard was it to leave that seed bank behind i spent more than. 27 years of my life working to the gym bag so it's a like you someone who left behind the babies or a long long history we dealt with them day by day we knew everything about the behavior of those plants in the field in the plastic houses even in the dream bangs time effort made by everybody. both syria and lebanon lie in the fertile crescent which is where farming began. it makes this part of the world an ideal place to work on safeguarding future food supplies this is the center of origins or we can probably the center of the drama see cation because it's gone things all the forms of crops like. we lentil chickpeas

all these crops originated from this area. i want to get a closer look at the operation dr mariana yes big leads a team of 20 scientists including 3 who have relocated from syria. their task is to painstakingly rebuild the syrian seed collection the seed vault here has a capacity to store 130000 seed varieties for over 100 years. the seeds are preserved by freezing them at temperatures of minus 20 degrees. all right. there we go. there was cold. can see here south poles of the fresh crops are being conserved we're looking here . and you know me this is the heart the hard that is used for pasta making so we have

a big collection of this and so i just decided for pasta say fear you're going to get your thoughts that it's all the cups are here you have here bartley a very important crops when you talk about dry areas and you talk with the 3 main crops which are really to talk about rice and you talk about corn so these are 3 main staple food that most of the users are using so important place this is a treasure these are important samples that we have to make sure they are surviving they are monitored they are available to the international community. there are $1750.00 strategically placed seed banks around the world each gives a back up copy of their collection at the jewel in the crown of seed banks norway's fall of our global vaults. the doomsday vault it is built into the side of an arctic mountain so that the seeds can be frozen without the need for power. over

1000000 c varieties are stored here so when the syrian seed bank was abandoned due to the war dr yes because team were able to recall their backups so that this isn't was made to reconstruct our connection we did treat it from small bark we brought part of it here to 11 or you could build our collection here we could make it available again for researchers. all the seeds that come here are tested in the lab for viability some are then cross-bred to increase their resilience and improve productivity. they have to make sure of 2 things 1st that they are free of diseases 2nd that they can actually germinate they can produce plants they're alive and work in. c each one of those sounds to have at least $85.00. out of $100.00 that proud and good have that's the rush that's the pressure. these seeds are thriving. but back in syria the war has

decimated the country's ability to grow food one of the goals here in lebanon is to create a healthy seed collection to help ensure the future of agriculture in syria when the conflict ends. up here from the roof i can see that there are fields there are greenhouse is there is even some cattle and it's not just about saving the seeds but also testing that trying to find out the best variations that can withstand climate change and secure our food supplies in the future. this region has been struggling with worsening drought for decades the dry soil in lebanon a similar to serious by testing seeds in the harsh conditions here doctors and how they and his team can be confident that the crops will be resilient enough to survive the arid syrian farmland. what are these plants right here this is a wild week this is opposed to domesticate and wheat they are very unique and very

volatile for a while then you can close it because they have adopted already to the hotshot environment and has very very useful genes to overcome climate change afaik diseases out frost he. with climate conditions changing the biodiversity found here is vital not only for local but also global food security. already one of the wheat strains bred here has proven resistant to a disease known as yellow rust and has been sent to the u.s. where crops were failing to fight it. but with global warming seed banks themselves can be vulnerable. what's worrying is that melting permafrost is even threatening this fall bar doomsday vault. research shows that the arctic town

in which it's based is warming faster than any other. which makes the work being done in lebanon even more critical. 25 syrians in the same number of locals attend the farmland here. so it looks like they're doing some really important work over here can i give them a hand yes of course they are doing the hand weeding. seems that modern science hasn't quite figured out an alternative to getting down your hands and knees and just getting your hands dirty so we're just looking for the weeds we don't want weeds interfere with his experiments we want to make sure that his crops grow right and we have to also be careful not to hurt the crop so the weeds kind of grow in between here so you really got to have a good eye. a so good. but. but then fairly and i still lost out on him camilla is she and stuff in the novel.

dr ali has invited me for lunch meals are of course the final products of the crops grown here it's a chance for him to tell me more about the life in syria he was forced to leave behind this is actually the. nice memory everybody had a role for leading because we had. failed infested by autobahn keys unit had decided to go all together the breed the. international the scientists the technicians assistant their labors even the tea lady contributed to that day happy days it was happy days one of the most beautiful days and you're sure you'll go back yes very confident i go back because i should go back. and nothing like home. it would've been easy to write off the card a seed bank as just another casualty of the syrian conflict but the hard work and dedication of ali and his team have ensured that their work transcends the conflict

and is able to continue to play a vital role in protecting global food supplies. environmental for a lot of. its work is being done to heal the damage. the charity hainault trust have cleared nearly a 1000000 mines from cambodia helping to make over 6000 hectares of land safe in farming. in cameroon almost 50000 trees to be planted on degraded land around mina wow count which shelters refugees escaping violence in 1000. and 10 after 50 years of conflict in a. was able to protect colombia's charity cattail rain forest a former guerrilla stronghold. declaring this rich spider virus arian to be

a world heritage site. in the midst of war the consequential damage to the environment can easily be overlooked but if we don't act to protect our natural wiles they'll be nothing left to fight for. $150000000.00 trees disappear every year into the clothing that we all wear from uk cycling to save the forests the famous yellow dress fade from blue jays. to conserving the world's dwindling wetlands 3 of the aids world's global bird migration flight intersect right where we are the basic discovered a treasure trove it is one of the most special that lands on the planet. ecosystems elaborate on al-jazeera.

this powerful social network is sculpting global cyber society and regulation is playing. scandals. they weaknesses that we should not be in this position. and how the. facebook.

how they look at the headlines here in al-jazeera the protests of. the defense minister dismissed the use of excessive force against demonstrators alberto a spinner says soldiers deployed during the state work professional and disciplined . in america. has more from santiago. people are been particularly angry by an unfortunate comment made by a police general said he was referring to a pellet guns that have left at least 220 people injured in their eyes some people have.