♪ >> hello and welcome to global 3000. today we look at reasons why some 780 million people still don't have access to clean drinking water -- and why we all need to think about how we use this precious resource. here's what we have coming up. fighting hunger in niger -- without rain current aid may not be enough to avert humanitarian disaster. lesotho's water -- how careful management is turning this resource into a major export. and saving sumatra's orangutans -- critically endangered as they lose their natural habitat. access to water is increasingly becoming one of the greatest challenges of our time.

successive droughts in parts of the world are currently threatening global food supplies. bad harvests are sending the prices of grain soaring. and this also makes it more expensive to help those hardest hit by the droughts. in the sahel, where water has always been scarce, aid agencies warn that soon one million people may be on the brink of starvation. this region is seeing its third severe drought in a decade. one hundred kilometers north of niger's capital niamey more and more communities depend on assistance. here many families are already struggling to make it through to the next harvest. >> they wave their ids in the air because only those who are registered are entitled to something. a few west african cfa francs buys them five bowls of millet, barely 12 kilos per family. the government subsidizes food. if it didn't, everyone would

have fled the drought by now and headed for the city. we're in the village of tondi kiwindi, in western niger. the people here don't just suffer from the drought, but also from the extremely high food prices. >> we've heard reports that at the regional market, a sack of millet costs 25.000 francs, about 50 euros. that's more than people can afford. people are poor. here the sacks cost about half the market price. >> hopefully, the rains will come soon, and then the mayor plans to give millet away. that will free up people to till their fields. they'll need to farm enough to last four months. and time is running out. >> we promised the people that they wouldn't have to worry about what they're going to eat during the rainy season. but when the rains come the streets are flooded and impassable.

so we need to top up the supply as soon as possible. our warehouses need to be full before the rains come. >> even though, today's millet will provide many here with their first proper meal in days. karimu, is planning to save some of it. he's a farmer. >> i'm going to use some of it as seed. the seed you can buy at the market is too expensive for me. i'll sow some of this and work hard to make sure the harvest is good and i can feed my family. >> two years ago, the previous drought had only just passed when the next one arrive. about 10 kilometers from the market, just off the main road, lies the village of tukfini. karimu's millet field is on the outskirts of the village. the last rainy season in the summer of 2011 brought little relief, and the harvest was meager. it's long since been used up.

>> look at this, these are my two granaries. i can fit 15 sacks of millet into each one. that's enough to last the nine months between the rainy seasons. but this year my granaries are empty. there's nothing to eat and nothing to plant. >> it is time to make the holes where i can sow the seed, but the rains need to have already started when i do that. otherwise the insects come and take all the seeds. >> before he received his millet ration, his family had been living for days off boiled leaves. they're normally used as cattle feed. the family had no choice. >> the water needs to be boiling. i have to cook the leaves three times over before we can eat them.

the children still get a stomach ache. then they can't go to school. >> this clinic in niger's capital niamey is overrun with women from rural villages, where there are little or no healthcare services. they're bringing in sick children. often it's too late. >> he's running a temperature and he has a bit of a cough, and he's struggling for breath. >> mariamu's son is called djibril. he's about 2 years old, but weighs just six and a half kilos and is only 70 centimeters tall. he can barely walk by himself. >> the reason is severe malnutrition. children aren't getting the food they need. so they are quite susceptible to infectious diseases.

often they're very underdeveloped. >> djibril is given a special foodstuff with added nutrients to boost his immune system. niger's government, the un, and various aid organizations are keen to prevent the food crisis in the drought-ridden sahel region from spiraling into a famine. >> there's been an early reaction and donations are coming in. but this phase before the next harvest is a decisive and difficult one. we have to scale up again. >> in the afternoon, tukfini is engulfed by a sandstorm. that suggests the rains are coming. hopefully it will bring enough water to prevent an all-out disaster. >> we stay on the african continent but go some six thousand kilometres further south to lesotho, which unlike niger, has an abundance of water. the size of belgium, the small kingdom is landlocked and surrounded entirely by south africa.

lesotho has two significant natural resources -- diamonds -- and equally sparkling but even more precious for our planet -- water. most of lesotho's water comes from more than a dozen rivers that traverse through the country. so cross-border co-operation is key to making the most of the region's resources. a major hydroelectric power plant in the highlands covers almost all of the country's electricity needs. lesotho is now already selling water and power to south africa. and it keeps improving its water management to keep up with the growing needs of its large neighbor. >> the village of mapeleng is tucked away in the lesotho highlands. it's home to some 600 people, who live from their cattle and harvests. despite the high altitude and frequent rains, the region is fairly barren.

there are few proper roads here. villagers get around by horse or donkey. nearby is one of the biggest lakes in lesotho. it wasn't always so. there used to be just a small river running through the valley. since the mid-1990s, a 185- meter-high wall was erected in the valley below mapeleng as part of the katse dam project. at 50 kilometers long, the artificial lake supplies neighboring south africa with clean water, and delivers clean electricity to lesotho. the dam is a success because it rains a lot in lesotho. water seeps through every rock face. countless brooks and rivers flow into the valley and the orange river, the biggest river in southern africa.

the main region supplied by the reservoir is gauteng province, more than 600 kilometers away. it doesn't rain much in johannesburg, so south africa buys water from the lesotho highlands. inflow and outflow are regulated in the control centre according to stringent water management principles. >> you don't have to dry the rivers because of the ecosystem downstream of the dam. there a communities downstream of the dam, they have projects. they use the water for construction of bricks and so you actually don't have to close completely the water. >> lieketseng mothibi also works for the company that operates the katse dam. water is one of lesotho's most important exports and a lucrative one too. >> the main benefits could be those ones that we are

generating electricity for the whole nation before this water being transferred to south africa. and again there are some royalties that come to lesotho as a result of water transferred water to gauteng province south africa. lesotho would get an average of 13 million maluti on a monthly basis. >> we've headed a few kilometers upstream with engineer thabiso kolane. at the entrance to a one- kilometer-long tunnel system, he tells us about one of the project's most impressive features. >> this is the intake tower. this is actually the place where the water transfer starts from. the intake tower is about 100 meters tall. below us there is a tunnel which connects the lake with muela hydro power. that is where we generate electricity 72 megawatts for the country.

>> the water flows 60 kilometers through the tunnel that sluices through the mountains. the system follows the area's natural slope and therefore saves energy. to follow the water's path, a car has to cover twice the distance above ground. this is where tjabane tjabane works. he's a shift foreman at the muela hydropower plant. the plant operates 24 hours a day to keep lesotho supplied with electricity. tjabane does rounds every day, checking the huge turbine halls where the generators are powered. it's warm and damp down here. lesotho relies almost exclusively on clean hydropower - completely free of environmentally damaging co2 emissions. and that's not set to change any time soon.

>> the station is designed for 72 megawatt which means we need something like another 50 or 60 megawatts. but if we build the second tunnel and that mean the same power output -- that means lesotho will have more than it needs. >> 30,000 liters of water per second flow from the lesotho highlands to south africa, where it's needed by households and industry. among the beneficiaries is the municipality of emfuleni, home to roughly one million. emfuleni has been selected to set an example for municipal water conservation in south africa. every day scores of plumbers set out because nearly two thirds of the water from lesotho is lost due to dripping taps and damaged pipes.

the project is financed to the tune of one million euros by a public private partnership. the team includes german experts who advise and help implement technology. >> there are quite a lot of leakages. that is the biggest challenge. we have to work almost 24 hours in a day to repair the small leakages, because in terms of the council's policy, one drop is too much, so any drop we have to make sure that we stop it immediately. >> once south africa gets used to conserving water it could save millions because further costly dam projects will no longer be needed. making the most of the existing water supply will also protect the environment. because the lesotho highlands water project provides a nearly inexhaustible supply of clean energy. >> now usually we travel to distant and exotic locations to bring you unique insights into

how people live and think around the world. but this week's global living room came to us here in berlin -- on a houseboat. for most of the year the scheubner family lives on the boat. the interior of their living room may stay the same but the view changes every time they hoist their anchor. so let us take you on a trip aboard the jenny. >> my name is karin scheubner, i live in germany and my home is

this barge. let me show you around our living room. on a boat like this you need to keep your head down a lot because it's quite cramped. and, of course, we always take off our shoes. this is the living room. it's a bit small, but it's very cozy and it's also practical, because there's not much room on a boat but we want to have everything we need. when we dock i always have to straighten the pictures that have slipped because of the

boat's vibrations. there we go. our living room is where we relax. whenever my husband isn't sitting in his favorite armchair then i sit in it, put my feet up, and watch tv. this is our daughter jenny. we named the boat after her. she's 27 now and has a daughter of her own. we miss our children and grandchildren. but we're used to that as seafarers. so, that was our small but perfect living room. many thanks for dropping by and goodbye, auf wiedersehen. >> and yes, that was the car

you saw parked on the roof there. to indonesia now where we visit some of the last remaining orangutans. these asian primates spend most of their time in the lush tree- tops of the tropical jungle; ideally they need primary, meaning untouched, rainforest. as this habitat is becoming ever scarcer, these shy creatures are being pushed to the brink. the indonesian island of sumatra is home to an estimated five to seven thousand remaining orangutans. here more and more forests are being turned into palm oil plantations. despite international protection on paper, most adult animals die when the big companies move in and take over their natural habitat. every animal lost has a great impact on overall survival, as orangutans are the slowest breeding of all mammal species. and the cubs are often sold as pets -- a big business in itself. >> rahul the orangutan is still

getting used to his new environment. now 2 years old, rahul was kept as an illegal pet house for a year. his plight was brought to the attention of staff at the orangutan station near meda who joined forces with local police to rescue him. >> his condition is not really good. he has several wounds on his leg as well as skin infections. you can tell that his owners didn't know how to treat an orangutan. >> ian singleton is the director of the sumatran orangutan conservation programme. he and his team want to be certain, that apart from his surface injuries, rahul is basically healthy. the veterinarian tells us they see similar cases all the time. when rainforest is felled, the native animal population is left homeless. many female orangutans are killed and their young sold on the black market. rahul was sold for 20,000 rupiah about as much as 2 packets of cigarettes in

indonesia. >> in indonesia it's all about status. if you have an endangered species as a pet then you're showing that you're above the law. that's crazy. it's such arrogance. >> rahul's original habitat was tripa, one of the last remaining peat swamp forests on the west coast of sumatra. its ecosystem is in jeopardy after it was ravaged by more than 100 fires that have raged here since march. they may well have been started deliberately. many are resorting to illegal slash and burn forestry to make room for lucrative palm oil plantations. we're on our way to tripa. it's not easy. we have to traverse several palm oil plantations, where reporters are unwelcome. we're accompanied by anto, an environmental activist. he knows the local workers and

manages to get us through. for the past three years, he's been documenting the devastation. >> everything burnt down here in march. there was smoke everywhere. the trees had been felled just before it happened. >> the method is always the same, he explains. once they've been felled, the trees are stacked up, dried and then set alight. anto shows us evidence left behind by the arsonists a few cans of fuel and a makeshift hut. >> they remove all their machinery before they start the fires. i don't know exactly who it was but they did what they set out to do and left their tent. >> slash and burn forestry is an environmental disaster. the peat swamp forests contain huge amounts of stored carbon, so when they burn they release vast quantities of carbon dioxide. their soil isn't even suitable

for palm oil plantations, so canals have been laid to drain the ground. a practice that accelerates the greenhouse effect. more than three quarters of tripa's 60,000 hectares of rainforest have been destroyed, the landscape determined by the monoculture of palm oil plantations. palm oil is cheap to produce, and the industry is booming, especially in indonesia. taking 44 percent of the market, it's the world leader in palm oil production. palm oil has become an ingredient in more than 50 percent of all supermarket products, from cooking oil to baked goods, candy, and laundry detergent. it's also used for biofuel. but it's bad news for orangutans. ian singleton has come tripa. the ecologist estimates that one hundred orangutans have died here in the last year alone. 20 years ago, the region was home to more than 2000 of them.

today, perhaps 200 are left. >> orangutans are very sensitive to change. if you take out a few big trees the population drops drastically. when their habitat changes and the forest disappears they can't survive. they have to go somewhere else or they die. in fact, the area is supposed to be protected. not only is it part of a national park, it's also a unesco world heritage site. moreover, indonesia has signed a 2-year moratorium on deforestation, banning logging in intact rainforests. conservationists are horrorstruck by the fact that a further 1600 hectares have just been cleared for another palm oil plantation. ian singleton is especially outraged that trees were logged and canals dug before a permit was even issued. >> there's a saying -- the law of fait accompli.

after you've built or destroyed something, then you get permission. it's a question of price, and knowing who you have to pay. >> the company responsible is kallista alam - a name that combines the greek word for beautiful with the indonesian word for nature. even though they're a member of the indonesia palm oil association, they refused our request for an interview and a representative shrugged off concerns about association members' alleged practices. >> there might be one or two companies that aren't completely clean in the way they go about transforming land into palm oil plantations. but they're the exception. you cannot make the whole industry responsible. most companies follow the law. >> one thing that's never been tried seriously is just enforcing the law. the best education, the best way to improve people's behavior, is to just let them know that if they break the law, they will be prosecuted.

>> back at the orangutan station. the animals are kept together in large cages so the can get used to being with their own species again. they need to relearn what it means to be a wild orangutan, to survive in the absence of a human keeper. rahul has to wait another few days before he can join the others. he's given a tattoo so that the conservationists can identify him once he's released. >> these are the lucky ones. they're also effectively refugees from a jungle that no longer exists. >> in a year's time, rahul will be released back into the wild -- his destination still undetermined. his forest is gone. he can never go back home. >> next time on global 3000 -- visiting an indonesian refuge once myself, i was surprised to see orangutans destined to return to the wild, sitting

there and watching every move of their guards all day. orangutans are said to be one of the most intelligent primates -- and also very social and curious as i could see. >> well, next week we will continue to look at the challenge of managing natural resources and protecting our climate. in and around beijing we discover how professional waste management expertise is helping to reduce co2 emissions. here german know-how may soon make a difference in wider parts of china. >> that's it from me and the entire global team here in our berlin studios, thanks for watching and have a good week! captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--