clearly as an economic crisis mounts tens of thousands of people are still displaced by widespread flooding in eastern africa 65 people have died in the past 3 days in kenya alone relief teams have been slow to reach affected regions as some roads and bridges have been cut off by landslides somalia ethiopia and tanzania have also been hit by heavy rain with more forecast. police in georgia have used water cannon to stop protesters attempts to block politicians from entering the country's parliament they're campaigning for a change to a proportional electoral system thousands of protesters agree to rest it over to. is a top story stay with us earth rises next conservationists fighting to protect the world's ecosystems where news of half an hour a seat on. a chinese casino empire is transforming cambodia green fog funny rapid development and criminology one o one a 50 gave to win is

a loser you can go to to see. on al-jazeera. back. to cope with our growing population we've tripled our exploitation of natural resources in just 40 years as a result of the fast expansion of mining industrial scale farming fishing and other human activities natural ecosystems have lost nearly half that area and $1000000.00 plant and animal species a facing extinction without the ecological networks which regulate our planet's from cleaning and water to providing food we simply cannot survive with the is

still time we meet the pioneers striving to protect 2 of our most valuable remaining ecosystems. will breed in sweden where an inventive clothing company is using groundbreaking technology to fight before station and i'm a man to borrow in tacking where one man is fighting to protect a wetlands haven for migrating bags. the fashion industry is worth $1.00 trillion dollars every year tech so my new partner is making billions of garments and why only be born wants a choice before ending up in a lot of fill this so-called fast fashion is incredibly resource and attention. and perhaps surprisingly one of the key trial is biodiversity loss and deforestation. i'm in sweden where one company is working on

a green solution to this global problem but 1st i want to understand the impact of fast fashion. so just 20 kilometers of sates who is to try to meet the interest of forests that were on our way there to meet the cool write a book she's conservationist and she's on a mission to protect against forests around the world and it's. great to see with you thanks so much we come to stockholm to do a story about fashion why everyone for it is so there's 115000000 trees that disappear every year into the clothing that we all wear and slated to double within the next decade i have never heard of that connection between the training of fashion and an a for street. it's not an intuitive flick that something that soft and soaking extra skin and actually starts off is a treat many of these trees come from endangered forests thousands of years old

known as primary forests around the world 50 percent already being lost due to human impacts such as logging. nicole brown's canopy an organization dedicated to protecting those still remains it's a complete breakdown of the ecological functions of the area and is a massive release of carbon into the atmosphere and disrupts species have attacks even though trees can grow back ancient and in danger of farce or clay simple. after the forest to clear the wood is poked and processed into fabrics called rail and viscous but it's shockingly wasteful. as much as 70 percent of the harvested wood is dumped or incinerated. just 30 percent ends up in the gods to be where. kind of people words with businesses that source from primly forests to point to green alternatives one of their main focal points is the global fashion industry

what's your strategy how you're going to make a difference in this my experience is that it's some of these big global brands they have the ability to actually engage their suppliers to stop them from logging in ancient and endangered forest ecosystems and if we can redirect it to be more sustainable now using recycled fabrics rather than ending up in landfill and for the current capacity that's already in production let's just make sure it's not coming from really important ancient endangered forestry chance. so you're talking about kind of a 2 prong approach one is the kind of conservation stopping that deforestation in the 1st place and the 2nd one is this recycling element so reusing what's already been produced so that's a big priority for canopy is to really help kick start commercial scale production on things next generation solutions like recycle clothing being used a confession to make have to get thermal because i was terrified we're going to

freeze and i looked at the label and the way here is that there is 3 percent this go there we go i wouldn't feel bad as you i was surprised when i 1st discovered the link between ancient and endangered far some discos. can appear helping to transform the fashion industry. one of their partners is a recycling company in the town of christian called when you sell. they've invented a pioneering technology that promises to transform textile manufacturing. it came of age in 2014 when a catwalk modeled on the yellow dress made from 100 percent chemically research group fabrics the 1st time i. see your math is johnson is offered to show me how old works. start right at the beginning yeah this post don't you. this is this is the blue jeans that people have a where the chair and them disposed off so what's next for this it goes into our

frederick that the protests in a riot state will be separate any at home and then it goes into what stage we just a little bit you just lowering it would take out some of the color we bleach it a bit and then we draw it what would be happening in itself if you guys weren't using it you approach it most of it would be a landfill or we're getting from evil no from you guys i think if we don't weed in the machine i don't know if it didn't break down. every stage of the process is being carefully considered. the dyson chemicals are all recyclable. in the water as we used to. after the drawing process the fabric is pristine packed into people like sheets. surprising to me they could be the end product this is. the basis on paint something not a standalone and that's one of those really good start for making gold fiber.

this is to roma to you from which the fiscals fabric is plainly made. this is the best you can put it like a normal fiber then you can't go on but it could be woven into any our clothing. what we go here this is a famous yellow dress and this is the world's chemically recycled piece of garment well ok it's made from blue jeans you know from the same stuff it doesn't look like it would be environmentally friendly garment this looks like any other garment you would see in the high street absolutely and that's why we are not necessarily called this recycling we call it absolutely right. i'm inspired but we're seeing here that when you sell hoping to open another 3 plants from. in the next 5 years manufacturers are taking steps towards reducing the pressure on primary forests for all this to make a real difference in these to be demand and that demand starts here high street.

we are aware that there is a connection between the fashion industry and deforestation actually did nothing to both of you do you know what this code is. you know it's synthetic material right. think material do you know where it comes from knowing you know are you aware of this connection between the fashion industry and the forestation no i had no idea. but judging by these shoppers there's some way to go before awareness to drive to my. organization kind of be working to bring suppliers like we knew so together with brands can stalk their products bake fashion brands they are driving a lot of the the problems that we're seeing how do you dress that sure seems to be a bit with this connect the clothing touches all of our lives on a daily basis it produces 100000000000 gallons every year it has a big footprint and i do not have

a big footprint when you're that big and it's exactly because of that reason that we need them to be part of the solution so it's fun to be here i think on on high street name and tween 2 of canopies brand partners kampala and who are part of $170.00 plus brands that we're working with in the fashion sector to transform the viscous around supply chain so you said you've been working with them and we see some of the stuff we've been working on yeah absolutely let's just go inside and have a look. try to be success is growing all the time because hoopy soon every store will store clothing. so this is a frac of clothing that has a variety of different environmental quality so this product here is really interesting as far as you can tell just a pair of denim jeans. that's cut 20 percent recycled caught renu so we saw them producing a kind of a feedstock that was 100 percent recycled cotton do you think we're going to get to

that point i do and i think you know in the short term this is what's available today and when you sell is hopefully next season it's clothing so that this moves from having 20 percent recycled cotton to 100 percent recycled. h. and m. recently partnered with 3 new cells to support its continuing research this is part of the clothing joints pledge to use 100 percent sustainably source of clothing by 2030 which should be praised the same cost as non-sustainable items and in-store customers are encouraged to drop of unwanted garments to be recycled by companies like what you sell. i'm quite serious to see if there's anything in here if there is that's the thing in your own look at that they can be any quotes they can be any brands of clothing we have been working with big global retailers and designers on ensuring that this recycling program actually continues to increase so that it gets fed back into the calling supply chain and ultimately becomes next season's fashion

so literally a kind of closing loop that's where we want to get that's that's where we want to get to. discovering the link between the fashion industry and deforestation was deeply shocking i think with organizations like canopy and when you say oh raising awareness there is hope for the future it's a massive challenge but i think in the public are armed with the right information they'll be able to demand more from the retailer is and then we might see a precious forests stop being the victims of fashion. ecosystems. are just like the systems of the but as long as they are looked after and managed well then the body is in good shape and if they're mismanaged and not cared for the body could potentially die. ecosystem collapse is

akin to organ failure in our own bodies if enough of the organs that make up the terrestrial body are removed or are made sick the body dies. again the earth is no different. each of us has a role to play in fixing this problem. we could have a world that is beautiful and vital and alive. or one that is quite bleak and quite brutal it's directly related to what we choose to do whether or not we actually choose to do the work necessary to mend and repair and rehabilitate our ecosystems or to participate in their death.

when the richest habitats on the planet in this remote corner of north eastern turkey is one which is proving to be an ecological gem conservationists have only recently realized its vital importance not only for local birds but also for those migrating from all over the world and yet the arris river wetland is under threat i've come here to me some man who's hoping to save this remarkable part of the world's. chance check it yonder is a world renowned on astrologist souljah to become a professor in the united states every year china returns to his homeland of turkey and comes to this irish part of the country push draws in here is a 5 kilometer squared pocket of land the arid river where. china came across it in 2005 and was looking just playing with google earth and i thought this looks like a globally important oasis in critical spot for migration breeding and wintering

birds and it's confident coming here in person and i thought this is this is a place where i want to do long term research to really understand what birds use this area this rare wetland situated in a dry sub desert region is created when the iris river floods it's ideally located for migrating birds are off $35.00 global hotspots we're at the intersection of not one but $23.00 of the eights world's global bird migration flyways intersect right where we are in north eastern turkey it is one of the most special wetlands on the planet if you base it discovered a treasure trove how did you feel it was so exciting and it was so beautiful i mean i really did not expect after 15 years we would have recorded almost $300.00 burst species the 2 thirds of the end tar even far off the whole country. recorded over centuries i mean in this one spot of the 290 bird species on

a phone i documented here 21 globally threatened or near threatened. gyptian vulture and the current but further danger is looming the government wants to down this tar valley as far as that village over there flood this whole place all this will be under 45 meters of water and every season i come here just seeing it still there is like a relief because i'm always afraid it will all be gone i have to come here and see it for myself. early the next morning chan takes me to the burgeoning station down in the wetlands and. he's currently fighting the calls to reverse the government's decision to build the dam he hopes the data gathered here look proves the wetlands rich

biodiversity and thereby ensure its protection we see everything here from minus 10 to plus 40 centigrade in the shade during a very cold here or very well that was 10 degrees today exactly to get inside sort of yeah we're going to see on the oh yeah we do we really are right in this turkey inside the team already hard at work on a raising the city to the tiny way and i touch i don't want to see. if you've got. $600.00 metres a curtain that surrounds station every hour from sunrise to sunset during spring and autumn migration seasons the nets check to see if any bad to flowing into them is going to check the raptor and that. there's nothing there so we go back but it's migrate to find conditions favorable for living and breathing it's early in the season here so bird numbers are low but there are some beautiful specimens so we've got a bird's ok in the net this is up. to the electorate. they

hit the slide into a park and then get entangled. some of the birds courts here have flown for days nonstop and migrate for hundreds or even thousands of kilometers initially to be able to survive the journey is one thing they meet that feel right before migration some birds will double their body mass and that's why places like this are so critical because they need these stop over locations to keep eating and to keep replenishing their fuel reserves now that i'm down in the valley i can get a sense of why they stop because it's warmer than just a bit higher up there's water everywhere it's a phone it's coming out and the thing that you can't see on camera is that there's actually less insects so there's a huge amount of food to be got here by migrating birds one in 8 bird species are facing global extinction due to perils including habitat loss and policeman so it's

only increases the importance of an oasis like this these days if you're studying biodiversity it's almost impossible not to become an activist because you know your study things that are being destroyed every moment you study them one roman ramírez is a spanish on a fellow just one of 401 in tears from 33 countries who've come to work here since chances at the station in 2005 now we've got the birds from usenet that would go to the station would bring them think. that on the back of the right. that was born. last year and this is their 1st being the nation for these birds it's amazing so even when it's just one year old it knows instinctively where it has to go that's incredible. natural signs including changing day length trigger the birds who moans which switch on the urge to travel. all the information

gathered here is sent to a central database a chance university in utah. ready with on m.l.s. . talkies. and some one of your 6 or. one of those. who will live to get on the. good. fats go free for this very very condition on the other one by blowing on the bad chest one can tell it's fact levels if it is pink they are low and if yellow the bird is clump enough to travel on. ice just saw those lights and think that this bird has come from really thousands of kilometers forever for the start of its journey in africa. it's just extraordinary is it so tiny. or something. like oh for every individual with

a couple of figures. or you can feel its heart beating its tiny little heart once all the data has been gathered for the birds can be released we don't want to go. over 14 years the team have rings around $108000.00 birds. when they're caught elsewhere researches can contact the station here and their migration can be tracked. i feel like i've learned so much about why this place is so important as a refueling station for those birds which are travelling across the world on their journeys and being here with a team witnessing of their passion and their commitment to the cool was has really brought home to me just how important this places. but 16 kilometers up the right in their mind that despite its importance the fate of the

ira through the wetland it's far from secure this is why i wanted to bring you here just to see what happens when you build a dam on you ever could but it's not if you scan already and there's basically nothing i mean there is a couple things on the arid cliffs but where are the wetland birds nothing on the shoreline no waders on the mudflats. about a decade after this is built there is no or revegetation hardly anything has come back and remember at our us it's the floodplain of the river that's creating all those wetlands and because here by design there will not be any flooding you're not going to have that rich soil and all the vegetation that grows on the whole valley will look like this ecologically everywhere you go around the world this that fine balance between development and nature and of course progress has to be made what's

needed is solutions that benefit both populations and the natural world. chan has some reason to feel hopeful in his efforts to win protected status for the arris river wetlands. in 2009 with data provided by him and his team make clear 70 kilometers north of paris was designated a ram cell where. international recognition as being of global importance i can see hundreds hundreds or any yeah i see that concert by the kids out and see the cranes got there and there are some ducks in there these critical lakes when dealing in going out one by one so could you because one of the last and most important lakes in the entire north eastern turkey but from star status doesn't mean the lake is thriving direct impacts such as draining it for irrigation and hunting have stopped but indirect threats remain groundwater extraction through

need by wells is reducing the lakes water levels and animals still graze the retired state in september 28th the lake dried up completely it was just like dry mud during the season when it is the most important for birds there was no water and no birds the chance a it's a ram sar site and declare victory and walk away i mean. casu issues a never ending battle like as long as there are places where you have to make sure it stays chan is working on a number of fronts to save the lake and has just signed an agreement to protect it with the provincial governor meanwhile his struggle to prevent the dam from being built on the iris river wetland continues just coming here regularly year after year with eyes being the importance of the work we are doing and even if i lose all have it on my conscience i'll know i have done my best and i didn't just turn my

back and gave. it to that tomato was around half the world's wetlands have disappeared in the past century. lake and the iris river wetlands have a chance to champion them but as global development continues apace more wetlands in other parts of the world are going to need a local hero to fight that corner. across the globe ecosystems are falling victim to human exploitation. one possible way of ensuring their protection is to enshrine their right to defend themselves in law. in the us in the 1970 s. a legal scholar called christopher starr proposed that nature should be seen as a living entity with the same legal rights as people. it which through human representatives be able to stand up in court and defend itself against threats to its well being. since then the idea has been gaining traction. in

2008 ecuador wrote it into its constitution becoming the 1st country to give nature the legal right to exist and flourish and in 2017 new zealand sad largest river the fact he knew he was given legal status after marriage tried food for its rights to be preserved. the way forward isn't simple with the future of conservation may lie in ensuring nature has recourse to justice. as flames engulfed pianist of the world watched in horror but behind the smoke screen a murky world is devouring the forest and its inhabitants killing through the personal always standing up on defending the force back elian sends a message to everybody in the community faultlines meets those on the front line of defending their environment and asks who stoking the flames in both scenarios

brazil has been burning on al-jazeera. al-jazeera as there were dozens or breaks but it's also a day to see what happens next iteration on the wired by the barriers for a model barricade of all 7 streets that we need to hear that movies now is being all about change people have gone hostile here area the mission of the national army is to search the entire one complex and i'll just your stories about telling it from the people's perspective what they think is happening in their culture. so meowed is nearer london to a cost center to special guests in conversation i don't feel because of colonialism unprompted it's uninterrupted there's a sense of what it must but i'm still having some legitimacy in terms of spreading the knowledge and technology pretty ago powell meets jules the community make a declaration for something more new mentally horrific past slavery studio b.

unscripted on al-jazeera. this is 0. 0 and welcome to the. world headquarters. coming up in the next 60 minutes crowds overtops u.n. compounds in the democratic republic of congo a war now keep targeting peacekeepers until all of them leave more than 20 killed and hundreds injured by a powerful earthquake in albania that buried people under their homes also this hour as sectarian tensions rise lebanon's outgoing prime minister's.