announcer: opportunity. prosperity. optimism. nation suffering increasingly from the effects of extreme weather. what are local people doing to cope? bolivia is estimated to own hope to the desperately poor nation? but first we go to italy, where human traffickers are forcing more and more women into prostitution. human trafficking is a highly lucrative business, and it's often linked to forced labor. it affects women, men, and

children. the international labor organization estimates that human trafficking is worth at least $150 billion per year. the majority -- two thirds -- is made from forced sexual exploitation. the remainder, through illegal work -- for example, in households or on farms. in 2016, more than 40 million people were believed to be living in slavery -- and women and girls make up 70% of them. nigerian women have a decades-long history of being smuggled over to europe, many via italy. the u.n. says there's been an almost 600% increase over the past three years of potential sex trafficking victims arriving in italy by sea. the majority of them, from nigeria. reporter: the italian city of

turin is the people traffickers' gateway to europe. from here, criminals distribute their sex slaves to the continent's brothels and curbsides -- women lured here with lies about the good jobs supposedly waiting for them. more than 9000 were smuggled into italy in 2016 alone. princess okokon has made it her life's mission to free as many of them as she can. princess: the first contact is not easy for the girls to speak their problems. so i normally give them my contacts and the phone of the office and address, so that in case if they have a mind to speak with me. because most of the time they are in groups, so they will be afraid of one or maybe two might let their secret out. reporter: her first approach of the evening. princess has to be careful the pimps don't notice her.

this woman says she's been working here every day for two years. when her children are older she says, she'll finally be able to get away. princess warns her to always use condoms, and she says she does. princess: you use a condom always, though? >> yes. princess: ok, bye-bye. reporter: princess and her husband alberto run the ngo piam, which tries to help those forced into the sex trade. like this desperate nigerian woman who tells princess about her pimp -- a woman. princess: what happened, where did she take you to? >> she said i should follow a friend. and she gave me some condoms. so i'm so shocked because i hadn't known it was that kind of job. so from there, i didn't have any choice, apart from to do it. reporter: it's not immediately clear if this woman will risk

fleeing her pimp's clutches. those who do take the plunge can find protection in one of the secret refuges the piam runs. princess visits the women constantly. princess: the best part is when a woman takes the final decision -- not to go back to the work, as a prostitute. when i see a woman having the desire. reporter: eze and naomi live in one of the refuges. the two friends are safe there, but isolated, and they miss their freedom. still, it's worlds away from prostitution, or the horrors they suffered making their way here through libya. naomi: i was arrested and somehow, raped once.

so the people i was with, every time they beat me with a rod. sometimes they take their guns and put it in my anus. in the night, they wake everybody up at the time of 11:00, 12:00, 1:00. they wake you, they take their gun and put it in your anus. thank god i left there, crossed, and i came to italy. when i came at first it was still not better. still trying to get over the pains. i found out that it was even worse because i have to use my body to make the money. reporter: princess has first-hand experience of that -- having been trafficked to turin herself. fortunately she met her husband alberto, and now they lead a happy, family life. she left nigeria when she was 23. she had hoped to work as a cook in italy. instead, she was sold to an unknown woman. princess: the first day they took me to the streets i started crying.

i closed my eyes, i open again. i thought it was a dream. then i saw that it wasn't a dream. it was reality. return my money. so she broke my head with the heel of the shoe. and when i came back from the hospital, that was when i know that it is very serious. yeah, it was about six to eight months. i was lucky to meet alberto, who came to listen to me and also find a solution to my liberty. reporter: it's no coincidence that turin became a human trafficking hub.

in the 1980's, nigeria opened a consulate here. the people traffickers were quick to take advantage of it to organize visas for their victims. it was the beginning of a brutal business. sometimes, princess and alberto take young women who haven't yet fallen prey to traffickers on a special tour of the city -- showing them the realities of street prostitution. princess: i told you people that we are going to turin to see where our girls are working. you remember i said one day we will go? >> yes. princess: a-ha. this night is the day. reporter: this evening's two passengers can barely grasp the idea that women -- just like themselves -- are being openly

marketed here on the streets like meat. this is a fate princess wants to save as many women from as possible. and although human trafficking is still on the rise, she says she'll never give up. host: smart phones, laptops, tablets, electric-powered vehicles like hybrid and electric cars and electric scooters -- all of them depend on rechargeable batteries. demand for battery-powered vehicles is rising rapidly. and that's where lithium comes in. in 2015, the price of lithium was almost $7000 per ton. since then it's almost tripled. it's found in abundance in chile, argentina, and bolivia. but bolivia has been slow to

exploit it. its extensive reserves lie 3500 meters above sea-level in salar de uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. reporter: the uyuni salt flat is the world's largest. beneath the crust is a pool of brine containing the world's largest known deposit of lithium -- an estimated nine million tons of it. the metal is a resource of immense value, and could have a huge impact on the economy of bolivia, currently the poorest country in south america. big trucks and other heavy equipment are now crisscrossing the otherwise pristine white surface. new extraction facilities are under construction in this fragile ecosystem. at the moment, evaporation pools

cover just 0.5% of the salt flat. this is still a pilot project, but the bolivian government has approved plans to open a larger area of the salt flat for lithium extraction. marco: the brine is pumped into the pools. in the first one, heavier metals are left behind as the water evaporates. the remaining water is then pumped into the second pool, and so on. the eighth pool contains the lithium, which is very light, but not yet pure. reporter: ten years ago, the bolivian government declared lithium extraction a national priority. at this small plant at the edge of the salt flat, the state lithium company produces marketable lithium -- freed from magnesium and other impurities in a complex process. the purer the lithium, the better -- for use in lithium

batteries and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. lithium has become a hot commodity. the entire world lusts after it. marco: our industrial plant will go into operation soon. we have the technology. we're just going to scale up a lot, so we can sell lithium around the world. reporter: the current facility produced 12 tons of pure lithium carbonate over two months -- six for china, and six for russia. it sells for the equivalent of 10,000 euros a ton -- made in bolivia. for bolivia, this valuable natural resource could prove a stroke of luck. electric-powered cars and smart phones currently rely on lithium-ion batteries. the socialist government of president evo morales has

pledged to develop the country's lithium industry, with bolivia calling the shots. foreign investors and companies should play as small a role as possible. everybody here at the plant, from the boss to the drivers, is proud to be involved. >> it's an honor to be part of something that might one day bring enduring prosperity to our country. world will talk about us not because of our silver mines, but because of lithium. he said we would make batteries here one day. to be honest, we all thought he was a bit crazy. but now that i'm working here, i understand the process of industrialization depends on our commitment and on our hard work. reporter: maria belen andreada is responsible for safety at the

plant. lithium has created 1000 jobs here. staff at the plant work for two weeks and then have a week off. she's taking the bus home to potosi. it's a four-hour ride. we visit her there. there's a lot to see. at an elevation of over 4000 meters, the city is one of the highest in the world. since colonial times, its silver and tin mines have made its foreign owners rich and its workers sick. it's been reported that hundreds of children still work in the mines. many bolivians fear that foreign companies will again try to take control of their country's natural resources. maria: my city is poor despite its natural resources. now we have a second chance -- this time with lithium, which we call white gold.

we hope not just to extract it, but to develop an entire production chain and process it ourselves. as a nation, we want to do it on our own terms. reporter: outside of town, there is a factory for rechargeable lithium batteries. it's is a major step forward for the country. now it's looking for international partners to help develop the industry -- without them trying to take control. bolivia has passed a law that says foreign firms may retain no more than a 49% stake in any joint venture. juan: we are looking for a partner with experience who is also able to keep up with the rapid innovation in energy storage technology. that's our strategic goal. we want to be involved not only in supplying batteries for electric cars, but also renewable energies.

reporter: of course, there's a lot of foreign interest in the huge deposit of lithium in the salt flat of uyuni. china is particularly keen. a state-owned chinese engineering company is already here. it's building a plant to make potassium chloride fertilizer. and the plant happens to be close to the lithium pools. ji: i just heard from newspapers and also information from my friends and also from clients. yeah, it's true, because lithium resource here is more than 60% of total in the world. reporter: but it has nothing to do with your job here? ji: i didn't get information until now from our head office. sorry. reporter: what oil was to the

20th century, lithium might be to the 21st. if electric cars continue to take off, the metal could be a source of great wealth. for now, bolivia is trying to ride the lithium wave, and hoping to tap its stores. >> i am -- >> -- a global teen. host: today, we meet a global teen from burkina faso. the 17-year-old lives in the capital of the west african nation. beatrice: my name's beatrice kabore and i live in ouagadougou. i have a big brother, three big sisters, and a little sister.

my parents were farmers, but major road construction work meant they lost their land. now they don't do anything any more. i like going to school because we learn lots there, and because all my friends are there. we never get bored. i want to be a lawyer because there's so much injustice, and there aren't enough people defending the rule of law.

i'm happy when everyone around me is happy. because when they're happy, they also do everything to make you happy. a lot of politicians in some countries only care about their own personal interests. then they don't care about the rest of the people.

well, i don't travel very much, but from what i read about other children, i think that in other parts of the world they really suffer, especially street kids. some of them get really badly exploited. host: this week in our global ideas series, we're off to vietnam -- a nation suffering from ever more frequent bouts of extreme weather -- flooding, storms, heat-waves, and cold snaps. rural regions are particularly hard hit, leaving local farmers struggling to protect their crops. the coastal province of quang binh is regularly hit by storms. what can it do to adapt to extreme weather? the challenges are many,

especially given the country's high population density. our reporter, kerstin schweizer, headed there to find out more. anh: vietnam is one of the countries that has the most impact from climate change. we are especially affected by the storms. for example, for 2017 in vietnam, we had 17 storms come through the country. i come from the local area. that's why i understand the hard-working, hard life that people are facing, especially the poor people, that disadvantaged group. i think that that group, they need the support.

the people in the village, their income mainly depends a lot on patty rice cultivation and some fishing. and they have a small garden, but the women, they also lack thuyen: thanks to the project, i have learned a lot about taking care of fish -- like what kind of food they need, what to feed the babies, and what to feed the adults. i've also learned how to keep them healthy and how to treat illnesses. this project helps create jobs. i'll sell my fish at the market, and that means income for my family.

quang: i was born and grew up in the village. for me, the most important thing here is the people. i am really committed to them. we're farmers. we're friendly and open. we stick together, and we help each other. our village is hit by natural disasters every year. we reckon with one or two typhoons every season, as well as one or two major floods. all the storms and heavy winds cause even more problems -- the coastline is receding -- the sea is swallowing up our land. at the same time, sand invades

our homes and the fields where we grow our food. we are planting lots more trees. we're restoring the forest to try to mitigate the impact of climate change. the forest creates shade and a kind of climatic buffer zone. it serves as a wind-break and stops the soil from drying out. the trees help clean the air of pollution and reduce greenhouse gases. what's more, during the typhoon season, the forest helps prevent the sand from drifting in from the coast to the villa fury of the storms.

anh: this village can be a model for other villages in vietnam. because in this, you see the role of the communities in the protecting of the forests and in the climate change response. and they understood about the ecosystem services that they will get from this model. a perfect vietnam in my dream, that will be a beautiful country, economically developed, of course, with lots of well-developed infrastructure. and also there could be more

nature, more forests will be protected, rehabilitated. and people can also live very friendly with the environment. and for the local people, they would have a better life, have a good income, and enjoy their life. host: that's all for today. but we love hearing from you, so do drop us a line with your comments. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: opportunity. prosperity. optimism.

steves: gibraltar stands like a fortress, a gateway to the mediterranean. a stubborn little piece of old england, it's one of the last bits of a british empire

that at one time controlled a quarter of the planet. the rock itself seems to represent stability and power. and as if to remind visitors that they've left spain and entered the united kingdom, international flights land on this airstrip, which runs along the border. car traffic has to stop for each plane. still, entering gibraltar is far easier today than back when franco blockaded this border. from the late 1960s until the '80s, the only way in was by sea or air. now you just have to wait for the plane to taxi by, and bob's your uncle. the sea once reached these ramparts. a modern development grows into the harbor, and today half the city is built upon reclaimed land. gibraltar's old town is long and skinny, with one main street. gibraltarians are a proud bunch, remaining steadfastly loyal to britain. its 30,000 residents vote overwhelmingly

to continue as a self-governing british dependency. within a generation, the economy has gone from one dominated by the military to one based on tourism. but it's much more than sunburned brits on holiday. gibraltar is a crossroads community with a jumble of muslims, jews, hindus, and italians joining the english, and all crowded together at the base of this mighty rock. with its strategic setting, gibraltar has an illustrious military history, and remnants of its martial past are everywhere. the rock is honeycombed with tunnels. many were blasted out by the brits in napoleonic times. during world war ii, britain drilled 30 more miles of tunnels. the 100-ton gun is one of many cannon that both protected gibraltar and controlled shipping in the strait. a cable car whisks visitors from downtown to the rock's 14,000-foot summit. from the top of the rock,

spain's costa del sol arcs eastward, and 15 miles across the hazy strait of gibraltar, the shores of morocco beckon. these cliffs and those over in africa created what ancient societies in the mediterranean world called the pillars of hercules. for centuries, they were the foreboding gateway to the unknown. descending the rock, whether you like it or not, you'll meet the famous apes of gibraltar. 200 of these mischief-makers entertain tourists. and with all the visitors, they're bold, and they get their way. yeah? you can have it. you can -- you can -- you can -- here on the rock of gibraltar, the locals are very friendly, but give them your apples. legend has it that as long as these apes are here, the british will stay in gibraltar.

- [female voice over]: this program is made possible in part by the town of marion, home of the wayne henderson school of appalachian arts, celebrating 21 years as a certified virginia main street community. the historic general francis marion hotel and the speak easy restaurant and lounge, providing accommodations and casual fine dining. in downtown marion, virginia. the bank of marion. technology powered, service driven. wbrf 98.1 fm. bryant label, a proud supporter of our region's musical heritage. ("cherokee shuffle" by gerald anderson) ♪