the small town of double lena is located in the center of desert of the cation in the lake here the only plant that still thrives here is the watermelon not only is the sandy soil ideal they also need surprisingly little water what bordeaux is to french wine double leaner is to remain the end melons but there is a limit to what they can withstand the entire harvests have withered under the blazing sun here too we can see the effects of climate change. but octavian suspects that climate change is not the only reason for the devastation the cause of the desert of acacia and goes back much further down introduces him to beyond spirit the mayor of the small community of us who is at the forefront in the fight against the expanding desert of.

the oak the mayor uses this map to explain to a tavi and how the sand spreads from west to east but there was. 1350 to 100 years the signs will have taken over all of southern romania if the desert is not stopped bucharest will also be colored. march forests can still be seen on old maps from the 19th century they were planted by eon spirit owns ancestors to protect the soil the fear of little lake here being silted up is not new. the problem has existed here for centuries and centuries goes on to say this was once a sea floor a body of water reached up to a year leaving a long chain of jews. you know move about 300. years ago people noticed that the

sandy soil was slippery and planted trees that. they created huge forests from us here in to the jew valley what happened to the force of the forests were caught down under communism and the land was used by a great culture you know how it was back then in order to gain more farmland hold lake was drained in this region and a complex irrigation system was created and really got. how do the authorities deal with the situation today the institute for agricultural research is run by the remaining in state director a really idea cohen who understands that the climate is changing and is conducting research on fruits that can be grown in the sand. through a civilian quote in that we are looking for alternatives aside from melons of

course melons from dabbling in our trademark both in romania and abroad. but we also need to develop your trademarks for the region so that farmers have alternatives in the future fairly a growing melons is a short term business. she we are trying to teach the farmers to invest in long term enterprises for example in orchards or berry bush plantation exist escapade there are many. it was from this very building that the state once dictated to farmers what they should plant nowadays the emphasis is on teaching the. last 3 types of peas and different types of peanuts we have cultivated all of these here. she and this is our traditional wine. this also grows in fairly dry conditions largest in.

the institute has many large fields which are regularly inspected by a real. a wide variety of crops are grown and tested here under the hot sun for example chinese dates kiwis peanuts beans raspberries black berries and several types of wine all part of the agricultural program that the institute runs as they try to adapt to the new conditions more heat and less rain. who are in an ongoing race with the sand and climate change that is why we are experimenting here with new irrigation technologies but above all with new plant species some of them are very promising we actually have good climatic conditions here he's wearing comes very early in this area right in plant seed potatoes in

february and harvest new potatoes as early as april. for our really idea of the expanding desert is actually more of a blessing than a curse properly harnessed sandy soils can yield exceptionally good produce as big . aroma of the fruits that grow in sand is stronger than a normal soil the sugar content is much higher due to the strong sunlight and high temperatures they give the fruit its flavor color and quality who are there. in the region be saved by embracing climate change and making the best of the desert if occasion up. tavi in a seriously considering this approach as well he wants to discuss it with experts from the world wildlife fund but one thing is certain growing other fruits will not

improve the climate in the area and the devastation could continue. that's why you really are cool you and her assistant deanna played from the w w f are focusing on the complete restoration of little lake. in addition to reforesting they plan to reestablish a huge lake one that was drained in the 1970 s. to make way for farmland. look that was a lake it went on for kilometers in both directions if the danube were allowed to flow through its old flood plains again lake put hello would also fell appear within a few years. the w w f already revived this romanian lake large wetlands in the danube delta were successfully

restored here to natural habitats were destroyed to create farmland today fishery and tourism are flourishing the combination of plants and humid conditions could secure the sounded like patel low and keep the desert at bay. that is what it could look like here again octavian is campaigning for this and bucharest local authorities however do not support the project the state leases large areas of land here to international agricultural corporations octavian wants to know who it is that profits from this he's determined to find out his activism is well known and romania he has tangled with the mafia and organized poachers as well as with corrupt politicians his projects receive a lot of attention. and approval which both protects him and amplifies his voice.

octavian begins the last leg of his journey the worst is yet to come riven ari is the 2nd epicenter of romania's desert of the cation an old coal fired power plant has supplied the grid for almost 50 years it's surrounded by refuse from coal mining and the toxic sound has spread far beyond the region climate change accelerates the consequences of this environmental pollution. but there is reason for hope. and his son catalin have been working for years to turn these dead and landscapes into living ecosystems again the note headed the region's forestry office for many years and his son catalin has a doctorate in forestry both are researching plants that can bring the nature here back to life. or margaret.

barren desolate landscape as far as the eye can see octavian is speechless at 1st then angry you remind some self that this is exactly why he began this journey a man may desert in the middle of an area that is already threatened by drought and no off fardy and the whole country seems to care. the adjacent land also look that desolate once but with the help of dino and ca telly in dino nature has reclaimed the land so it is possible to revitalize the area. on this great part we have. covered by. hundreds of hectares. and besides we have an example a very good example of how nature. could carve our. weave green. my mission how my mission is how to make people to understand

the big picture how to involve them in the ecological record fluxion to make them understand. which you go through the growth it is throwing our body and our lands through. our freshwater. here to the dino cars have used occasions they are the 1st line of defense. once a healthy layer of humus has formed on the ground in the forests native trees can be planted again. but how long does that take. a month or so does the planting the acacia stabilize the soil been reduced to allow fear article i wrote my doctoral thesis on planting intoxicate soils. and archangels are like medicine for these areas equal to phycological how after about 20 to 30 years you can then

replace them with multiple charges there and nothing about. all other don't go in that direction. you can see very well that actually does not exist. this is. the 3rd on top of. each game and this is the 1st the those are the 1st family matters of 2 or for me the math there's the 4th step the cover of this this or this his head now buzzing with new ideas and concrete solutions octavian heads back to the capital back to the heart of politics he now needs to win over a powerful supporters but it won't be easy because environmental protection projects are not money makers in the short term so why does he sacrifice so much of his time for the common. good what drives to me. i don't have

a proper us i because the game is from inside me it doesn't mean that i lost often if or when i'm doing something that i like it and that i love it and i have 5 children exalts it's a for filling me with a lot of energy and hope that the some of the some of things bad things will be changing the next in the future and closely watch of. the desert is still advancing in romania. but it has for medical and creative opponents 1st and foremost octavian bear china. was determined to fight and protect his homeland against the sand.

is there life on mars. the american space probe rover has set out to answer this question. just landed on the red planet but it's not on. he's competing with 2 other mission. everything you need to know about the

spectacular race between explorers on mars tomorrow today. next on t.w. . young german and jewish just one jewish or so water. does that mean in daily life and at school. we shouldn't be given a special status but the completely normal manzoni out 11 teenagers 11 stories saying i'm jewish and so. in 45 minutes on d w. they were forced into a minimalist mass. their bodies to. the

history of the slave trade is of africa's history. describes how the greed for power and profit plummeted an entire continent into chaos and violence. this is the journey back into the history of slavery. our documentary series slavery routes starts march 10th on g.w. . the final preparations ahead of last year's launch the hope is now over to mass the aim of the united arab emirates mission is to examine the planet's atmosphere and climate. the chinese t. and when one mission has the same goal the unmanned spacecraft has also reached the orbit of mars in a few weeks it is said. deploy a rover to investigate its surface. the u.s.

is also up there with nasa as perseverance rover. the red planet has been a goal of space programs for decades. the race to mars and more coming up on this edition of tomorrow today the science show on t.w. . almost 60 years ago mariner 4 was the 1st space probe to perform a successful fly by of majlis it sent back images that showed a crater popped moon like planets later viking probe sent the 1st detailed pictures of its surface including one that showed something that resembled a human face. in the late 1990 s. now as us pathfinder mission brought the 1st robotic rover to mars. the europeans are also drawn to mars the european space agency suffered

a setback with the loss of the mars lander skep at airlie in 2016 but the mars express remains in orbit 17 years later. our intriguing neighbor is bleak barren and inhospitable but a long time ago it may have supported life it's seen dramatic changes in climate evidence of that can be found on its surface since 2004 mars express has been studying the red planet with a range of complex instruments it was the european space agency's 1st planetary mission. emotions are. it's an unbelievable technological achievement or. store an answer of 2 born to build a spacecraft that can keep working for nearly 20 years in a very tough environment with high levels of radiation without maintenance or anything else or you feel a. thank you it's worked faultlessly to this day that's very very good to see as.

this special camera is the most important instrument on mars express it was developed by a man. the camera produces detailed images it has mapped the entire surface of the planet for the 1st time in 3 dimensional color images. the models of the terrain provide new insights into the geological development of mars and the history of its climate. shortly after entering mars his orbit the probe found frozen water on the planet a sensational discovery as the presence of water indicates the possibility of life and it provided evidence that huge amounts of water once flowed on mass. you know how high the mountains are goes and how deep the valley or sit come from that we can work out how much water was in which location and how long it was there

let's keep trying to establish where there was once life on mars and also in determining whether we might be able to do something there in the future. who can connect us to move on from. the river that once meandered along is comparable to the river rhine in germany it would have transported the same amount of water through the valley 30025000 cubic metres a 2nd. and on the planet's largest volcano mars express discovered signs of fresh lava some 2000000 years old that means there could still be warm areas on the ground where microbes might be able to live. that's what she needs near the equator the orbiter found evidence of past places another spectacular discovery. process. stage ice float into an impact crater there's

a 2nd impact crater beneath the 1st one the 1st overflowed and the ice split into the 2nd crater i was totally amazed i have to say i grew up in the mountains i almost felt at home looking at the images. the ice shows that the tilt of mars is axis has changed substantially over time causing the equator to move toward the poles and vice versa so i say this now near the equator was one of the poles the change occurred over millions of years during that time rivers came and went but evidence of their existence can still be seen today. mars express is also equipped with radar that penetrates the surface of the planet to a depth of 5 kilometers. that allows it to see what happens to the huge amount of liquid water that was once on ma's. radar

measurements show the southern polar icecap is the size of europe the ice here would be sufficient to cover the entire planet with a layer of water 11 meters deep. and 2018 the orbiters radar found the most important prerequisite for life liquid water located in underground lakes. it's the white lebanese the strait reflection line on this radar image. on mars express the trauma to also made an exciting discovery it found many thing in masses atmosphere. now says mars rover also detected the gas on the ground at the same time and in the same region. this is current is not too sure methane is a crazy kind of molecule it disintegrates with ultraviolet radiation so that means if it really is in the atmosphere and it can't be more than

a 1000 years old. it's very likely that the me thing came from below the surface but how did it get there could it come from microbes living in underground knishes that produce methane like on earth in the permafrost. or was. released through geological processes caused by the weathering of volcanic rock these are questions mars express contacts are. as though the trace gas orbiter was launched it reached mars in october 26th. then spent a year and a half orbiting the red planet drawing increasingly closer until it was ready to begin taking readings. the orbiter is designed to detect methane and other trace gases in the martian atmosphere twice per orbit at local sunrise and sunset it can also study the different layers of the atmosphere its instruments are

so sensitive that it can pick up just 50 me saying molecules out of a trillion molecules in the atmosphere. a camera on board the orbiter is designed to show where the me same could have come from. it's already sent back some amazing images but so far the trace gas orbiter has not found anything. in this your mission needs to continue for quite a long time to get meaningful reading when it comes to make everything we're talking about levels so low they may only just be detectable that on one's own talk to fix your wants currents. next year should see the launch of a european russian mars rover the rosalind franklin it will be able to drill 2 meters into the ground to search for complex organic molecules traces of microbes might have survived in the ground protected from the space radiation that bears

down constantly on mars that radiation would quickly annihilate any signs of life on the surface. you can find more on. mars' on our website d.w. dot com slash science 'd and on twitter. humans have long dreamt about colonizing mars. we'll ask you whether you can imagine humans sailing on mars in the future. magnus one layan drug on writes yes we should and it would be a great relief for our planet. have added publicity disagree no he writes it's enough that we are destroying our own planet so we don't have to destroy mars as well. due to joe has he raises

a few issues to consider writing i think that the mass of the extreme heart and cold temperatures will have to be taken into account and who will be president or king there. muntasser we asked you what mistakes we should avoid if we settle mars . everything that is causing us trouble here on earth rights allies approve. she fears however that won't work long term as soon as the pioneering spirit evaporates groups will form that will try to do their own thing. i do i.t.t. tweets that we should avoid dividing mars up into areas of national interest as we've done in the end arctic thanks for all your comments speaking of the antarctic . it is a bit like mars in that it attracts a lot of researches though with

a boom in tourism it's not something that's mystery. but the 1st research as there were breaking new ground on the terra nova expedition the british saw to be the 1st to reach the south pole but that ana winds you know we turn wrong . and with this famous from expedition. today's scientists still have their side sex on the continent. reema save us customs and us molina had a question about that. why is the antarctic so important for research more than a century after the race to the south pole researchers are still passionate about this remote desert of ice scientists from around the world are still trying to uncover the secrets of the continental ice cap they live and work in some 80 research stations in some cases all year round. far away from human influence antarctica its proper name offers

a unique laboratory to investigate the earth's history preserved deep in its layers of untouched ice. and because the ecosystem here is so sensitive climate changes and environmental impacts leave a precise record besides i samples from deep below the surface scientists also collect data high in the sky where radio transmitters on weather balloons record temperature humidity and wind. and what about them penguins are a living barometer of how changing food resources and global warming affect the ecosystem. scientists are worried the emperor penguins will suffer enormously under global warming they need the ice as a platform from which to dive and hunt for food and they also need the coastal ice shelf to stay frozen until january for nesting bats when their fledglings lose their down coats and can begin to go hunting in the icy waters themselves. if the

ice keeps on melting their outlook is graham. no other place on earth is warming as fast as the emperor penguins home the peninsula on the continent's west coast so researching and. understanding climate change impacts on and arctica is of critical importance for the continent and the world. development is right right right and if i do you have a science question you'd like us to answer 7 as a video text or voice mail if we featured on this road you'll get a little surprise from us as a thank you will find the address at the end of the show come on just. south american monk parakeets in the spanish capital madrid. the. red swamp crayfish in central berlin invasive species of threatening native ecosystems

and of the top 10 is the european standing which has spread to north america parts of africa and new zealand where it's endangering native bad life. the asian cup has spread to europe and north america due to the live fish trade and sport fishing. and. the cane tide that has made the leap to australia it was introduced to fight pests but now it's endangering native species. the water hyacinth is spreading worldwide the problem is that it deprives other underwater plants of sunrises and oxygen. and the zebra muscle is also on the move the next report is about a question invaded and takes us to know in germany. the sun sets on the north sea island observed setting the scene for an intriguing

nighttime spectacle a scoop neck trail through the water captures some interesting creatures repitch just little things that aren't native to the region the sparkling blue luminescence is the calling card of nemi abscess the warty comb jellyfish they probably arrived in chips palace. tanks. the genome our research vessel aims to find out just how far they've spread in the baltic sea how rapidly they're reproducing and their effect on marine ecology. expedition leader courtney a young person is a jellyfish expert the data that's been collected still has to be evaluated but the initial impression is worrying trend develops in spite of a coward the entire german baltic sea coast is just taking samples from a variety of doubts which show that the already counted jellyfish can be found everywhere you look in qualified nestlé in different sizes and density. but we have a big problem with them the op says especially hearing he'll in the southwestern

baltic in the absence of. the war to come jellyfish is native to the east coast of the us ships presumably carry them a stowaways to the black sea in the 1980s from there they've spread to the caspian sea the mediterranean and drawers in europe. the creatures also called sea wall much due to their shape may look in conspicuous but they pose a huge challenge cornell yeah spurs wants to know if the ecosystem here is holding up that's called limits nish time is not the problem with non-native species is that they don't belong. there only labeled invasive if they start to change the ecosystem. because of stanford and the problem with the walnuts is that they're extremely efficient predators and i don't know how much they generate a mucous that's invisible to most other organisms. their prey only notice the danger when it's too late and they're caught up in

a sea wall that sticky cells. i mean ups us and get bigger jellyfish can filter 450 liters of water a day. and they consume 80 to 90 percent of the living creatures the plankton increase in that water. you just saw plankton over there christiane these are. marine biologist kostin rising is looking into the impact of non-native species on the water and sea mudflats of the north sea. he immediately sponsor if you like the soft shell clams which disappeared here back in the ice age apparently the vikings then carried them back from north america as a fresh food supply. other species from even further away are also trying to establish themselves here. on this muscle you can see and they'd have barnacle and this little volcano here susy guesses but next to it

are 2 tiny stars it's those are australian barnacles dismiss the pocket to shake even managed to come this far. match because the hypothesis is that they arrived in plymouth on british seaplanes dolls and they've spread throughout the north sea in only a few decades because i did. a very special recent arrival is the pacific oyster native oysters became extinct on the soapbox lots here due to overfishing last century in the 1980 s. their asian relative proved a robust replacement for cultivation now it's privilege for reading wild across the flats thanks in part to ocean warming. to find me a home for breeding this oyster prefers 18 degrees celsius or warmer average summer temperature here in cotton pocked well we're just back in the 1990 s. that wasn't as common it only happened once every few years i'm fine to begin with

they bred relatively slowly but with global warming since 2000 every summer has been warm enough for them to breed. it became a kind of power a device for the oyster and it bred fast so you see it's more common here now than in its native yellow sea or in japanese waters. tiffin face. rises says the system adapts crabs have a stablished themselves here now a threat mostly to young boys stares but the warty comb jellyfish still has no enemies aspers wants to see if some types of fish might take a liking to it or perhaps the parasitic amphipod the high period galba which nibbles away other species reproductive organs the traditional kind of feel they have no natural predators in the central bank at the edge of where the net the outs with of expanded we have seen that caught fish to eat them. researchers have no

real idea what species might prey on these jellyfish and control their population that's a new field of research and what i'll be investigating in the coming years. at least research is also yielding some new insights contrasts larvae for example seem to be able to escape the warty comb jellyfish. clutches but many open questions remain what is the purpose of the jellyfish is fascinating light show and what impact will their presence have on the ecosystems of the north and baltic sea. and that has been rewound it was really home for plants and animals. in the past a lot of money that was drained to extract. or to create out of the land but that also released gases that are harmful to the environment. many more as are now being restored so they can once again act as calm things but what about the impact on

foamy. eggs small ponies and water buffalo graze peacefully in an area of south east germany known as the swabian door now morse. for decades this moisture friend was drained and used for farming during that time the pizza oil gave off huge amounts of greenhouse gases since it's been reflooded the levels of carbon escaping from here have dropped significantly but can a pharma still make a profit from this fun and agricultural engineer i mean a shoe man works for a foundation committed to preserving and developing the habitat she's working with farmers to test out new ways of using the land. so in the land the farmers were initially opposed to the flooding 50 years ago they had to drain it all so they didn't see why that should be reversed. but it's to reduce carbon emissions. by giving

a farmers the chance to keep livestock on the land were offering them alternative sources of income and. for my christan my agreed to work with the foundation in 2015 he builds up a herd of water buffalo the risk paid off the marshland is ideal terrain for the animals with their wide. cattle probably wouldn't cope with the story of the water buffalo have no problem at all they're happy to eat the ground in their meat shells well there is no comparison with cattle. question my i get subsidies for his life start from the local. he also and money by cutting the grass on land not used for grazing as another nearby fan scientists are overseeing the reflooding they're testing how different grasses affect carbon levels. we're looking at greenhouse gases it's an automated system that measures trace gas for us you can see the frames that have

been around with plants inside. comes over the top measure with gas we're interested in. inside the frame. so we can measure the emissions for a specific plant at a specific water level because. the water level mustn't be too high $10.00 to $15.00 centimeters below the surface seems to be ideal for the least amount of carbon escape into the atmosphere. the scientists are also testing to see which marsh and wetland plants could be most profitable for the farmer. experimenting with growing grass. on his farm he packages normally he feeds them hay but he's going to try them on freshly cut edges.

i'm intrigued to know whether they'll either. and how well they'll take to it we'll see. it's the 1st time this said field is being caught young houses colleague christiane maya has also same said they've grown very well on the damn ground and the mowing is going smoothly. next to it conventional summer crops grow on drained fan and this land emits 20 tons more c o 2 packed taf the. aim is to see the difference what we can do with the soldiers and how much profit we lose to see what the future could look like. as yet the farmers don't know what they can earn from the said. but the reeds have many potential uses. cotton so some for the grass is the basic fodder for our

livestock so of course we'll try that it could be fodder for the bio gas plants to generate energy would have been or we could create pellets for thermal worms or insulation blocks like this one which is made of gold rush which has excellent thermal properties. but. but all these options 1st have to be tested. and culls is intrigued to know whether his alpacas will eat the fresh said which is quite tough. but. that's about it so that was clear 0 interest. in one more try. then decided if they don't want to fresh i assume they'll eat it once it's dried as of the more we want it well this stuff dries well to top it off i'm optimistic about the whole project to miss this from

positive in. the trials and you to end in 2022 they stand to benefit both the farmers and the land as well as the climate. that's all for now thanks for joining us on tomorrow today. will be back next week with more fascinating stories from the world of science and technology until then but by.

moving. young german and jewish just one jewish so was. does that mean in daily life and it's school. we shouldn't be given a special status but being completely normal. 11 teenagers 11

stories saying i'm jewish and so. in 15 minutes on d w. 1700 years of jewish life in germany and 20 minute a journey from berlin to munich to meet cultural leaders in preserving memory means taking creative risks and building community. 1700 years of jewish life in germany march 20. 9th d.w. . what secrets lie behind these walls. discover new adventures in 360 degree.

and explore fascinating world heritage sites. t w world heritage 368 get me out now. and you hear me now oh yes we don't need you and i last years german chancellor will bring you an angle of madoff and you've never had to have before. surprise to so with what is possible who is medical really what moves i want somebody who talks to people who follow along the way maurice and critics alike join us for michael's last stops. frank food. international gateway to the best connections to road and rail. located in the heart of europe connected to the whole world. experienced outstanding shopping and dining offers and try our services. biala guest

trends food city managed by from. you're watching news the wire from. the u.n. nuclear watchdog says it's reached a temporary solution with iran over its nuclear sites the deal allows limited about continued access to monitor iran's nuclear program for the next 3 months buying up precious time for further negotiations also coming up on the show amid a fraught peace talks there's no letup in the spike in violence in afghanistan

sooner separate bomb attacks leave several dad and many more in church.