>> hello would welcome to "global 3000." over the next 27 minutes, we bring you the latest global developments that affect the way we all live. here is what is coming up -- beneath the surface. why colombia's drug cartels own a whole fleet of submarines. russian charity. we meet a young woman determined to promote charity shops in russia. and gorillas in the mist. we follow a global idea into rwanda's virunga mountains.

the increasingly free flow of goods, services, and communications is a hallmark of globalization. there are still a few obstacles, but getting products to market is getting easier almost everywhere on the planet. this also applies to illegal drugs. the latest united nations world drug report states that many narcotics originate in south america's pacific region. from there, the drug cartels smuggle large quantities of cocaine to europe and the united states. according to recent estimates, the u.s. consumes some 157 tons of cocaine per year. that is around 36% of all cocaine trafficked worldwide. europe receives some 124 tons annually. while cocaine consumption is declining in north america, europe has experienced an upward trend over the past few years. following recent clamp downs by police and military in colombia,

the drug cartels are being forced to find ever more ingenious ways to traffic cocaine. in a bid to outrun the authorities, they are becoming ever more inventive as well, and this is where the submarines >> colombia's coast guard is patrolling a mangrove forests. these inspection runs are a key part of the government's crackdown on drug smuggling by paramilitaries and farc guerillas. the patrol unit is looking for the submarines these groups use to transport drugs underwater. >> there are hundreds of estuaries in this area on the pacific coast of colombia. they are ideal for secretly building submarines. these subs can transport between five and 10 tons of cocaine. >> in colombia, the frontlines of the drug war are moving

underwater, and the coast guard is on to it. this footage shows a raid by the authorities. the submarines move along just under the surface of the water, and they cannot be tracked by radar. the drug cartels have invested huge sums in these new ways of smuggling. at the colombian naval base in malaga, we were shown confiscated subs. the craft are a testament to homegrown engineering. they are made of molded fiberglass and polyester. each submersible costs about $1 million to build. two navy officers give us a tour of the inside. the hold can carry four tons of cocaine, worth more than $100 million. there is room for a crew of four, but no beds or toilets.

the pipes in the engine room shunt exhaust gas into the ocean so infrared cameras cannot track the sub. >> it is a real kamikaze operation. if there is an emergency in a craft like this, you are a goner. the crew had to breathe in the vapors that were coming from the cocaine stored there. the air on board must have been unbearable. >> it is a dangerous job for the smugglers and for the coast guard. tracking down where the subs are built is no easy task. it could be anywhere along colombia's coastline. this army video has captured a site on tape. the subs are hidden under tarps in the thick of a forest. it takes just two weeks to build a sub, and the market is booming. they now ferry 1/3 of the drugs smuggled out of colombia.

once they have reached open waters, drug officers are hard- pressed to stop them from reaching their destination. there might be a high-speed chase, but sometimes, the crew intentionally sink the submarines and with them, any incriminating evidence. the authorities then have to rescue the crew, according to the law of the sea. on other occasions, they have been lucky enough to stop one of the submarines. a helicopter spotted this craft off the gulf of mexico. the crew surrendered, and the coast guard seized a stash of cocaine worth over $200 million and brought it ashore. the men on board are fishermen from colombia. they introduced themselves as enrique and rodrigo and say they all come theybuenaventura.

-- come from buenaventura. the port city has seen better days. the conflict between guerillas and paramilitary forces has taken its toll. the strain is plain to see at the local market. colombia's fishermen's association says the seas are not as safe as they used to be. that means many fishermen can no longer earn a living on the open water. unemployment among them is a 70%. >> making quick money from the drug trade is a big temptation for loss of fishermen, but it is also a big risk. they often find themselves in the crossfire of rival gangs and they end up getting killed. >> this fishermen worked on board one of the drug submarines. his face has been obscured and his voice modulated to protect his identity.

>> the journeys are gruesome. you cannot sleep for four or five days, and you are working standing up. you do your business in a bag and then throw it in the back. it stinks horribly. we go far out to sea to avoid being discovered, but sometimes they catch us anyway. the minimum wage in colombia is $300 a month, but with a trip like this, the crew can earn more than $100,000 in just eight days. of course, it is risky. if they lose the cargo, the bosses will try to kill the entire crew. >> back at the naval station, the authorities show us another huge catch -- a proper submarine that can operate 10 meters underwater. a russian engineer helped build the craft. he was arrested in bogota.

this huge submarine could carry up to 10 tons of cocaine, a load worth $700 million. it was outfitted with modern technology, including a night- vision camera and satellite positioning. the authorities were tipped off by an informant who infiltrated the drug operation, and they were able to trace the craft along the colombian coast. >> a proper submarine like this one is much harder to detect in the open ocean. and we are seeing things reach a new level in this drug war. >> the coast guard is still patrolling the waters around buenaventura. they are inspecting fishing votes, checking documents, and looking for smuggled goods.

for the authorities, looking for drug submarines is like looking for a needle in a haystack. it is a never-ending search in the alice waters of the pacific. >> giving to others can be very rewarding, and it does not only have to be about money. around the world, people display a number of different attitudes when it comes to charity work. the british charities aid foundation has taken a closer look at how much time and money people give for others around the globe. in our global count, we explore the world giving index. >> heading the list of the world's top donors to charity are australia and new zealand. in both countries, 57% of the population support charitable projects, mainly by giving money. in australia, that amount to 7 billion euros a year, and helping others has a long

tradition here. this year, a less wealthy island nation has made it to the list of top 10 donors -- sri lanka. here, people mainly invest their time to help others. 52% of sri lanka's 20 million inhabitants do volunteer work and nearly that many again take time to help strangers. one of the poorest showings in the world giving index is china. here only about 11% of the people give money to charity. even though the communist land has more billionaires than any country in the world besides the u.s. in proportion to the huge population, there are few charities. many people just do not trust state-run or non-governmental organizations. >> run was a woman has set out to develop this trust in a charity she herself founded. according to julia titova,

there's a lack of compassion among russia's nouveau riche toward those who've been less successful in the country's relatively new market economy. so she took the idea of charity shops from london to her native st. petersburg. back in the days of czarist russia, st. petersburg was also the home to a group of patrons who shared some of their wealth with those less fortunate. julia has set out to revive this tradition of giving, and two years ago, she opened a charity shop, which she called spaciba, which is russian for "thank you ." that was the beginning of her small success story. >> let the show began. the upsala service in st. petersburg gives kids who live on the streets the chance to perform to a crowd. julia titova runs a charity shop, which is raising money for the project. she is hoping to sell suitcases

there, which are being decorated by local artists, many working for free. >> when the artists are finished painting " -- painting them, these suitcases will be works of art, one-of-a-kind. in europe, they did things like this. we are taking these used suitcases and turning them into works of art we can sell in our charity shop. we'll donate the profits to the upsala circus. >> each suitcase will get a price tag of 120 years. julia is hoping they will be a hit with customers. julia has a degree in social management. two years ago, she did volunteer work for the circus, where she met larissa afanasyeva. >> julia is full of energy and dreams. i remember how enthusiastic she was when she came back from her holiday in london. she loved the charity shops there and wanted to open one

here in russia. then the next morning, the suitcases arrive in julia's charity shop. spasibo is the first one of its kind in russia. the shop is just 50 square meters big. it sells second-hand clothing and used household goods. all the profits are donated to worthy causes. but getting the shop off the ground here in russia was not easy. even though it is a charitable organization, julia still has to pay taxes on the proceeds. >> in russia, there is little public support for charitable work. starting a new project is not easy. people are very suspicious at first after all the cheating they have witnessed. winning people over and getting them to join in is hard work. >> over 60% of russians say they do not trust charitable organizations. in the 1990's, russia had a

problem with fake charitable organizations that stole the money they raised. julia titova and her coworkers are trying to undo this negative image. they make sure their customers know that all the money that is raised goes to help the needy. julia earns a living as a freelance photographer. to launch her shop, she even gave up her dream of moving to western europe. >> i have applied to university in france, and i had hoped that someone else would take over my work here, but the university took ages to respond, so i took that as a sign that i should not leave. i have a responsibility here. >> there are more than 30,000 homeless in st. petersburg. many of them come to nochlezhka,

russian for night shelter. in the winter, 100 people a day come here for help. they come for shelter and to get warmer clothes. >> every month, our shop gets several tons of used clothing as donations. we sort the clothing and bring it here. otherwise, it would be thrown away. that as a student, julia did volunteer work at the homeless shelter. much of the money needed to run the charity comes from abroad. the russian government contributes only 5% of its budget. >> you could say that russians care less about the homeless in our country than people who live in germany, france, or other european states do. >> but julia's idea has already caught on in other cities in

russia. to charitable causes in its first year. >> julia herself has just opened her second store in the center of st. petersburg, a sure sign that a good business idea can be about much more than just making money. to africa now, the virunga mountains along the northern borders of rwanda, the democratic republic of congo, and uganda, are home to the critically endangered mountain gorilla. it is also where american zoologist dian fossey was murdered in 1985. she had spent most of her life studying and protecting the gorillas. the last entry in her diary reads, "when you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future." back then, poachers posed the greatest threat to the guerrillas. today, there ecosystem is suffering from the effects of climate change, but some attempts are being made to marry

the interest of nature with the people who live here. >> rwanda's volcanoes national park is an island of forest surrounded by farms. biologist ian redmond first came here in 1976. together with famous zoologist dian fossey, he studied the region's rare mountain gorillas. he advised the united nations on how humans and nature can share this habitat. >> were walking along through potato fields and the white flowers of pyrethrum grown as an insecticide, and right there is the national park. you can sit sometimes and watch the gorillas on the slope. they sit and watch humans dig in the ground, and you wonder what each side thinks of the other. >> an hour's hike away, they enter the realm of the gorillas, an exciting moment, even for redmond, who has worked with these apes for years.

>> what's happening is that we are within a very short distance of the family of gorillas who have been just recently feeding here. this is all where gorillas have been beating, and it is salary. they peel it and eat the inside. >> it is not easy to find the mountain gorillas in the undergrowth. the humans first notice the pungent odor. once discovered, the gorillas do not seem to object to a visit by their fellow primates. in fact, tourism has helped to preserve their habitat. as did the film "gorillas in the mist," shot here in the late 1980's when illegal poaching in the mountains threatened the gorillas with extinction. the hollywood blockbuster attracted attention to their plight. and these peaceful primates spend most of their day eating. the rest of their time they engage in grooming and other

social activities and midday naps. only the young males are on the lookout for some fun. soon their symbolic wrestling matches will become more serious. then a fight will decide who deposes the leading silverback from his throne. 30 years ago, there were just 280 mountain gorillas. today, there are nearly 800. a success story, but the biggest challenge is yet to come. the mountain gorillas are the only kind of ape that is known to be increasing in numbers because of the effects of conservation. that, of course, is funded by tourism. but you can have the best protected park in the world -- and this is one of the best protected parks in the world -- but the weather changes because of global warming, then the

vegetation goes and the gorillas will die. it is a critical situation and the lives of thousands of people depend on the success of this tourism. the agriculture in the surrounding area depends on the rainfall continuing to water the forest and flowing out to water the fields. >> protecting the gorillas habitat benefits the people of the region. rwanda has realized that preserving the ecosystem is decisive for the future of the country, and it has many problems. in this most densely populated country in africa, fertile land is a precious resource. but erosion in the land of a thousand hills, as rwanda is known, is destroying livelihoods. as the population continues to grow, there is less and less land to feed more people. nonetheless, there is a commitment to protecting the national parks, the guerrillas have attacked -- the gorillas' habitat. matthew minyarazi is a member of

the bought what that group of hunter gatherers who used to live in the cloud forests where he used to hunt and collect honey. today there is no longer room for humans and gorillas. a project is offering people alternatives. instead of collecting wild honey in the fourth, they have received beehives to produce their own honey. they sell their honey at a profit to a cooperative. >> no, i am not really sad that i do not live in the forest anymore. of course, i had resources there that i do not have here, but now, i have my own hut and can get involved in various projects to ensure our livelihood. i would not want to go back to the forest. then and now, they can also use a small piece of forest that they have planted themselves. some of the wood can be used for building or basket weaving, and it leaves enough forest to a store co2 from the air.

rwanda has experienced how destruction of the ecosystem can affect the entire economy. at present, there is enough water. and often not only for agriculture but for hydroelectric plants. but in 2003, the water cycle came to an abrupt halt. >> the problem was very simple. almost everywhere n the world where humans find wetland, they think, "we need to drain this and grow crops." unfortunately, that meant that the amount of water in this system decreased as it was drained, and the amount of water going into the hydroelectric scheme decreased, and the country's power decreased. >> the turbines at the ntaruka power station stood still. rwanda had to import diesel fuel in tanker trucks to ensure electricity supplies. that cost 50,000 euros a day.

the government swiftly realized that restoring the rugezi wetland area was the sustainable solution. >> the restoration of the wetland was a very straightforward affair. persuading farmers who were illegally cultivating in the wetland and draining the swamp to desist and move elsewhere, persuading the people in the surrounding area, the water catchment area, to use anti- erosion measures, planting the bamboo and grasses and trees in contour strips around their land so that less soil is washed away and more water is retained -- and that has greatly helped the annual production of electricity. >> the restored wetlands are also a sink for the potent greenhouse gas methane. although farmers would prefer to plant on this land, rwanda has realized that it needs long-term climate protection, even when it goes against the short-term >> i think the two lessons here is that concerted government

the people in the area can deal with conservation threats. and even in the face of climate change, sound environmental policies quickly implemented -- not discussed for years and watching things get worse and worse, but quickly implemented -- can turn around what looks like a catastrophic situation into a much more sustainable future. >> the future as ian redmond would like to see it -- and habitat serving the needs of both gorillas and humans. its forest, water, and soil are part of a sensitive ecosystem intimately linked to the climate of the entire region. >> now, africa has also been the scene of much social upheaval in recent times. as a result, hundreds of thousands of africans go to europe each year in search of a better life. our new multimedia series "destination europe" follows the journey of some of these

immigrants. we hear what they have to say about where they are from and where they hope to be in the future. >> destination europe. this is razak from donna. he is struggling to survive in spain, his new home. destination europe -- stories of africans hopes and how they fare here, looking at the lives of people who come to europe from africa. house sue from kenya successfully made her fortune in europe -- how sue from kenya successfully made her fortune in europe. destination europe -- a multilingual media project by deutsche welle. >> more on that in a few weeks from now, but if you want to get a taste of this new series, please go online. at www.dw-world.de /destinationeurope, you can tap into a broad variety of multimedia resources in many languages. plenty to look forward to, but that is all we have time for

today. thanks for watching and please tune in again the same time next week. for now from me and the entire global team here in berlin, bye bye.