hello and welcome to global 3000, your weekly check on how globalisation affects us all. and here's what we have coming up for you in today's programme: empowering the disabled - we meet autistic youths who thrive on complex tasks. an insurance against disaster - farmers in peru and the threat from el nino. and a group of women in benin - are part of a project to make bio-fuel. they find it hard to interact with people and read the emotions of others.

noise can feel like physical pain to them. and yet people with autism can be just what you need in your workforce. the social entrepreneur thorkil sonne discovered that many autistic people are incredibly gifted in ways most of us are not. given the right environment they have high levels of concentration, they are extremely precise and have a great eye for detail. that's why he calls them the "specialists" and has set up a company to use their talents in the working world. >> 17-year-old emil godfredsen from denmark is using lego to work out a crane control system. like the other young people here, he has asperger syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. unfamiliar situations make him nervous. at school, emil didn't fit in and was bored by lessons.

>> at my old school, the teachers didn't believe that i was really good at computer programming. they never set me the right sort of assignments. so i said to them: "i'm going to prove to you that i can access secure data and manipulate it any way i want." they still didn 't believe me, so i just did it. >> lessons were interrupted for 3 weeks. thorkil sonne believes that kids like emil have skills that can be put to more constructive use. eight years ago, he founded the company specialisterne which means "the specialists". his goal is to prepare young people with autism for the working world by exploring their strengths and weaknesses and finding them appropriate positions. >> i think it's amazing to see

the complexity of constructions they made here and we really need to make sure that skilled people like this get a real opportunity in the corporate space. >> young people like 18-year-old daniel hansen. he's training as a computer specialist, paid for by the state and local authorities. once he's a qualified programmer, he'll be able to work for companies such as danish telekom or microsoft. in a way, thorkil sonne's company isn't all that different from any other consulting firm. >> i think he will be fantastic. >> thank you. >> before they can successfully join the world of work, these young people also need to get better at adapting to other people. today, they're off to copenhagen the trip takes them through the i.t. hub of ballerup, denmark's very own silicon valley.

a few rounds of football help the team drop their defences. >> by the book this should be difficult because this is about foreseeing how other will act in different situations. that's great skills and great practice. >> he can't resist taking a shot himself. 52-year-old thorkil sonne has also an appointment in copenhagen with a commercial business partner of specialisterne. he doesn't meet his partners as much as he'd like he's often travelling to drum up support for his fledgling foundation. his company has already been copied in other european countries and in the us. clearidium is an innovative danish anti-doping service provider with an international reputation.

one of sonne's protegées who doesn't want to be filmed - works for the company on data collection and organization. he tracks the lcoations of athletes so that group doping tests an be carried out. his boss is very satisfied with his performance. >> we have a lot of computers trying to communicate but we need a person to merge all the information from the computer in an exact way, high quality, none error style and that's the specialists. >> sonne is delighted to hear his protegé doing well. in the evening, thorkil sonne goes home to the town of ringstedt. he mortgaged his house to set up his company - and here it also becomes clear what's been driving him. his youngest son lars was diagnosed with autism when he was a little boy. even then, he could draw this complex map overview of europe from memory. from the outset, sonne didn't

see autism as a handicap but also as a gift. in his opinion, kids like lars have the potential to do great things. >> a train driver but he is against it. he think i should be something else. >> i think you could be a good train driver, but i also think you could be good at inventing new trains that does not pollute so much. >> highly-gifted, lars will most probably do well in whichever career he chooses. he's an inspiration to his father. >> without lars i will never have gotten the idea, to start this concept. so it's a family thing. >> thorkil sonne has set himself an ambitious goal -- to help create one million jobs for young people with autism worldwide.

>> now we would like to ask you for your comments on how globalisation is affecting us all. you can give us your take online by filling in our global 3000 questionnaire. and today we hear from a massai in tanzania. >> my name is tumaini zakaria matinda. i am 33 years old. i am living in arusha, tansania. >> what do you do for a living? >> my profession is tour guide. i just driving and i arrange some safaris for those who want to go to national park. i bring them close to the animals.

>> what does globalization mean to you? >> maybe people who are coming to visit the other countries or bring some business like chinese. they bring us like this motorbikes and like that. >> what makes you happy? >> i am happy to be with my family. this is my son and this is my wife. for me to (follow?) about the god is make me joy. he give us life, food and everything. >> what's your favourite food? >> my favourite food is meat and milk, because i am a massai.

on safaris we eat rice, chicken, potatos, and african dishes. >> what worries you? >> i worry about some animals, maybe they just will disappear, because some peoples are killing them. they use the horns and just use to sell it, and the lions they kill them they sell the skin. >> which country would you like to visit? >> spain, ibiza. i have some friends there and i like some music too. i like to make party in ibiza >> how do you spend you leisure time? >> in my spare time i go to visit my brothers and sisters

in maasai village. when i just go to my village i must wear like a maasai. i am proud to be a maassai. >> weather experts often blame torrential rains and massive floods in latin america on the el nino. this much feared weather front has been observed for centuries and researchers say climate change could be reinforcing this phenomenon. in autumn, when warm sea-water flows east into the pacific from indonesia and australia towards south america, usually trade winds hold the water masses at bay and push them back towards south-east asia. but every couple of years -- el nino throws this system off balance. put simply, it weakens the trade winds which acted as barriers. now the uncontrolled water mass heads towards the coasts of south america. there, this kind of climate

tsunami leads to massive flooding. the people of the piura region on the coast of peru live in constant fear of the el nino. every time this natural disaster strikes, it causes chaos in their lives. >> today there's no trace of the havoc wrought by el niño. valentin ruiz's banana plantation is thriving. it will soon be time to harvest. but the peruvian farmer will never forget the day he nearly lost everything. >> the water was up to here. here, where my hand is. this whole land was devastated. today it's fine. we banana producers carried away all the dead earth and

planted new banana trees. >> valentín ruiz and many other local banana farmers were facing ruin. they survived by joining forces. today, their association numbers 340 banana producers. they export 2 million bananas a week, mainly to europe. it's partly thanks to them that peru is the world's leading exporter of organic bananas. by working together, they're taking preventative action against the effects of climate change. next time that el niño strikes, they 'll be better prepared. and they know that it will, they just don't know when. >> it would be great if we knew when el niño was going to come! there are some indications. but you can't always rely on them.

sometimes they say it will come and then it doesn't. >> what can farmers like valentín ruiz do to prepare for el niño? to answer that question, the german agency for international cooperation, or giz, organises workshops that help the farmers know what to watch out for as well as conveying to them the damage caused by the climate phenomemon el niño in the past. philine oft wants to establish an insurance system in peru for farmers whose land has been damaged by el niño. what happened in 1983? the insurance scheme would pay out whenever the water temperature rises to over 24 degrees an indication that el nino is on its way. that way, the farmers would have financial aid as soon as they needed it.

but there's a lot of skepticism. these peruvian farmers don't trust insurance schemes. >> if you sign up for life insurance or health insurance, you start thinking you should get sick so that you get your money's worth. so an el nino insurance makes them actually want the weather pattern to occurr or they at least want some kind of saving mechanism, so that they get some return on it. valentín ruiz doesn't have any kind of insurance. he's always invested his money in his land. but now that he's chairman of an association of 340 banana producers, he's reconsidering. >> we banana farmers aren't used to the idea of insurance. we are legally obliged to insure the people who work for us, but not ourselves. el niño is only one of the

threats to their plantations. another is drought. the climate has always been a challenge here in the piura region in the north of peru. a little rainfall is a boon for farmers, but too much and everything gets swept away in floods. climate change has exacerbated the problem. recognising this, the regional government modernized the poechos dam to improve flood control and drainage. >> when we let the water out, it relieves the pressure. the new building project allows us to control the water better so there's no risk to the reservoir. the farmers in the piura and chira river valleys stand to benefit. even so, the dam can't completely prevent damage to the plantations when el niño strikes. that's where the giz comes in. together with local insurance

company la positiva segura, philine oft wants to persuade farmers to sign up for the el niño insurance scheme. until now, there is only one insurance in peru against environmental damage in the agricultural sector. >> agriculture is possibly the riskiest business in the world because it depends on the weather. the farmers can neither predict not control the weather. >> that's why the el niño insurance is relatively expensive. the policy holder has to pay in 7% of the cost of the damage. in the event that the damage amounts to 10,000 euros, the farmers would be paying contributions of 700 euros a year. >> i think it's a process that we will have to involve the state in, at a later date. small farmers can't afford it by themselves. the premiums are still too high and the scheme pobably can't work without state support.

valentín ruiz and the other banana producers won't be taking out insurance against el niño this year. they can't afford it. they've recently invested in 18 new dykes. they're a form of insurance too. >> if it floods here, the water level reaches up to here. the dykes break the force of the water preventing the plantations from getting flooded. up to 19 thousand crates of organic bananas are exported from here every week. the producers spent 1 dollar per crate on dykes, bridges and secure pathways. just in case el nino strikes again. >> and now we'd like to find out what tasty snack you enjoy when you are on the go. so if you have a recipe you want to send us, here is how it

goes -- and there's also something in it for you. >> savory or sweet, heavy or light, what is your choice? send us a photo of your favorite snack and when our global snack apron. send your a photo by post or e- mail to the address on your screen. best of luck. >> and now we head to africa. most people in benin are still not connected to the electricity grid. firewood is still by far the main source of fuel and diesel generators provide much of the electricity - a burden for the people and the environment. north of the capital porto novo a group of women is currently part of a project to make bio- fuel. this reduces their dependence on diesel and at the same time improves the quality of their lives.

>> the boiled palm kernels are ready for processing. the machine can do in a few minutes what it used to take the women hours to do with their hands and feet. the kernels are peeled, cored and pressed. meals are prepared with the oil the machine makes. women in zakpota village love it. juliette ketehoundje is the leader here. she runs the women's coopertive that operates the plant. they still need some support, but soon, they'll be able to do it on their own. >> we produce a third more oil than we did before. the machine is more efficient. we earn more money, too.

everyone who works here earns money and can feed their family. some we also spend on raw materials and maintaining the machine. >> the french organization geres has installed 35 machines in eight villages and is financing 95 percent of their costs. the operator covers the rest. raymond azokpota is the program's director. he grew up here and knows the residents and their needs. he's already achieved his first aim for the project. now he wants to do something for the environment, too. >> we can use these machines to add value. but the women have trouble with the fuel. diesel for the machinesruns low every three or four months or so. so we thought that we'll run them on biodiesel and that will help reduce co2 emissions.

>> it's market day in the neighboring village of bohicon. most people in benin live from farming. but fossil fuels are scarce there, meaning the country is dependent on gasoline and diesel imports from neighboring nigeria. a large portion of the fuel is smuggled over the border and sold in bottles illegally along the road at much lower than market prices. raymond azokpota is concerned that entire families live from selling the smuggled goods. >> it's an enormous problem. there are always serious accidents. houses burn down and people get hurt.

>> these plants could help resolve the country's energy shortage. villagers have planted jatropha bushes on 430 hectares of land, a plant native to tropical countries. many women from the cooperative work in the fields. two times a year, they harvest the seeds. >> up to now, we've made soap out of the seeds and use it to do our laundry. but in the future, we want to produce biofuels, too. >> this project is a real bonanza for our group. >> they're happy about the good harvest.

raymond azokpota explains that jatropha is inedible, but the fruits' seeds yield a great amount of oil. the plant is only being raised for local use, rather than in enormous, industrial quantities. the don't want monocultures to develop here. >> as you see, we've got about three meters between each jatropha bush. that means we can put other, food crops in between. but the important thing is that every farmer may use not more than a tenth of his land to raise jatropha. >> a few kilometers away, the seeds are processed into biodiesel.

a key project strategy is to build up networks, meaning delivery routes are short and fuels are produced locally. corneille kingniha leads the facility and coordinates the whole chain of production. he takes one more look at the jatropha seeds before they're pressed. >> my job is to manage this small company. i've got to see to it that the seeds are delivered on time in order to press oil out of them. then that's filtered and sent to the consumers. >> the machines have been in operation for about a month, but the jatropha seeds still haven't produced much oil. kingniha hopes the facility will be really up and running in three to six months. the aim is to produce enough diesel to cover 30 percent of the demand from participating villages with jatropha by 2015.

that's what the women of zakpota would like as well. today is the first time they've used biodiesel to run their oil press. for juliette ketehoundje and the other women, that's another exciting moment and a further step towards independence. >> and that's all we have time for on this edition of "global 3000." thanks for watching and don't forget to join us again next week. for now from me and the whole global team, bye bye!