>> hello, and welcome to global 3000, your weekly take on the issues that affect us all. today we begin with the food we all put on our table. there is what is coming up. >> fishy business, how salmon farms are at risk to wild stocks in canada. why it is so tricky to ensure clean drinking water in parts of europe, and downward spiral, how serious debt is driving indian farmers to suicide.

here in germany, salmon is popular to the point that it always seems to be the first thing any decent buffet runs out of. many consumers to limit the effect on while stocks by consciously reaching for salmon from aquaculture. but this, too, has an impact on the environment. in canada, the number of fish farms has mushroomed over the past decade. when while salmon swim past their domestic relatives in vancouver island, they can pick up all sorts of side effects of aquatic forming. fish lice, diseases and the drugs used to treat them all flowed into the path of wild salmon on their way to respond -- on their way to spawn. most of the salmon on the market comes from such farms, but environmentalist warned that this cannot be the answer, either, if we want

sustainability. >> a pacific white striped dolphin is accompanying marine biologist alexandra morton on her way up the coast of vancouver island. morton has lived for more than 30 years amid the amazing biological diversity on the west coast of canada. morton is best known for her work studying killer whales. at the environmental activist has also gotten involved researching salmon. that's led her to criticize foreign-owned salmon farms. more than 100 salmon racing facilities are located within this natural paradise. they belong to norwegian companies. the clear canadian water allows them to -- to produce 75,000 tons of fish per year, 75,000 tons of atlantic salmon which aren't even native to the

pacific pb >> the danger of putting the farm right in the prime wild salmon habitat is that all of the pathogens, the mucus coming out of the gills, the waist coming out of the fish, will pore over the wild fish, they're taking it in their mouths and passing it over their gills. it's very dangerous to allow feedlot viruses into the wild animals. >> it's autumn, and morton is traveling up the rivers on vancouver island. it's time for the salmon's annual migration to their spawning grounds. it's a unique natural spectacle. millions of salmon leave the ocean to swim upstream in the rivers. the salmon stare back to their birthplace is an arduous one. when they reached their

destination, they'll spawn and die. there remains provide important nutrients for trees and insects. and they are also an object of research for morton. >> 1.17. >> the biologist takes tissue samples for later laboratory analysis. the ideas to test whether the fish had any european piscine diseases. morton suspects the viruses from the salmon farms may have infected the wild salmon population. >> without these fish, it will be like somebody turns the lights off for the coast. people, whales, animals, trees, everything will be depleted. so the risk for british columbia from norwegian viruses is incalculable. it is irrevocable. you will not be able to roll these things back, you will not be able to put them back into the barn.

>> a sea plane flies over the remote part of vancouver island's west coast. stewart hawthorne is in georgia pointed the norwegian company's canadian operations. their turnover is some 250 million euros annually. the aquaculture industry is growing by leaps and bounds. april around the world are consuming more and more fish and seafood. three workers here take care of around 700,000 salmon. open sea factory farming is a new economic branch in comparison to mass agriculture on land. hawthorne says that salmon farming is much more environmentally friendly than the mass production of beef and hope -- and poultry >> the salmon industry uses far less feed than 10 years ago. and the controversy old use of fish meal has been reduced by up

to 50%. >> we completely changed our practices over the years. we have site fallowing. we only have one age of fish in any one form at any one time. will grow those fish out to harvest, then we'll have no fish at this location for a time. >> they say they are using best practices. i look at the while fish. i see european norwegian viruses in the wild hearing and wild salmon. whatever the best practices are, they are not working for wild fish. >> this pilot roger act on vancouver island will provide a way forward. with the help of donations and state subsidies, a salmon racing facility, the biggest of its

kind in north america, is being built. it is located on the mainland, not in the open ocean. the water is circulated in a closed system, so bacteria, virus, and waste cannot make it into the environment. the environmental activist behind the project wants to show that organic salmon forming can be profitable. >> we can grow the fish in half the time, and we can also do so using about 30% less feed, because we create optimal conditions for the fish to grow in, so the fish are happy. >> alexandra morton is skeptical. she doesn't believe most salmon farmers will invest in expensive

technology or forgo the use of chemicals. >> the only thing they could stop this possibly is the consumer. these companies are all about what the consumer wants. the consumer want something different. they don't want this messy, sloppy, dirty thing, then they will change. >> alexandra morton says she's driven by her worries that the unique biosphere of vancouver island might be damaged by industry that's governed by the laws of the marketplace rather than the laws of nature. >> depending on where you live, there is a range of certifications that at least help us choose what type of farming we want to support. let's talk basics now. safe drinking water is essential for all of us. while europe is hardly seen as a crisis region when it comes to freshwater supplies, securing

clean drinking water, even here in germany, can be a struggle. the state of lower saxony is known for its industrial livestock farming. its residues, along with fertilizers, leave more than traces of chemicals in the groundwater. this problem isn't new to the countries around lake constance. the authorities there have long been a testing ground for effective solutions. from this mountain in southern germany, the view stretches all the way to austria and switzerland. as water comes from lake constance. maria and her colleagues have brought it up here from 60 meters below. it provides more than 4 million people with drinking water. the water is good quality, not much needs to be done to make it potable. germany, austria, and switzerland have built a series of purification facilities around lake constance. it's a cooperative effort between three nations.

>> water doesn't stop at national boundaries. if flows across borders, so it's important to work together internationally where rivers and water basins are concerned. water providers all face the same problems and worries. >> employees of germany's lakes research institute monitor water quality for all three countries. researchers remember all too well how extreme concentrations of phosphates almost poisoned lake constance in the 1980s. today, researchers find only seven milligrams of phosphate per cubic meter of water.

30 years ago, that figure was 10 times higher. scientists and politicians agree that water quality should never be allowed to decline again, and have anchored that idea in eu law. >> the european water framework directive stipulates that european waters have to be restored to good ecological condition, and if they are in that condition, they have to be maintained. >> the directive has applied since 2005 throughout the. here, 800 kilometers to the north of eight -- of lake constance, too. here in lower saxony, water monitors have identified a different problem, nitrates. there are increasing levels of salt in the groundwater. there are some 1300 measurement points in lower saxony.

dorothea's employees take samples for each one of them at least once a year, so the trained chemist is alerted immediately if something is wrong. >> it might be that we have to retrace what substances are entering the groundwater due to man-made influences, for example, as a result of agriculture and the like. it's good if we know what's going on. >> crops like corn now dominate germany's feels. farmers use it to produce ethanol. digest dates -- digestates in depth in the fields, as does a lot of liquid manure. these are organic we raise pigs. the most pigs in germany are kept in extremely cramped conditions in mass farms. they produce more dong than needed to fertilize fields. -- they produce more dung than needed.

harms says farmers need to be monitored more closely, and he is calling for a moratorium on new biogas facilities. >> after many years and with help from farmers we succeeded in reducing nitrate levels in the groundwater. now they are rising again. they gone up significantly in the past four or five years. that violates the european water framework directive. >> and indeed, the measurements are alarming. nitrate levels at half of the measuring points in lower saxony exceed those recommended by the eu. germany's western neighbor, the netherlands, has similar problems, so she is working together closely with touch colleagues. she has even learned dutch.

water quality protectors on both sides of the border have been cooperating for decades. support from the eu has made it easier to collaborate. back to lake constance. some see germany, austria, and switzerland's cooperative efforts to protect water quality as a model for other european nations. but fishermen aren't so happy. if the water is too clean, it lacks nutrients for fish, and that reduces the size of catches. roland stohr and his father are barely able to make ends meet. they can only catch 15 kilos of fish a day. they actually need twice that. in their village alone, five of 12 fishermen have quit in frustration. >> it's sad to see how the future of fishing is threatened and how it will probably

disappear. there won't be any more professional fishermen if things continue this way. >> the fishermen among purification facilities to leave a bit more phosphate in the water so that there will be more fish in the lake erie it but they are alone in this. the eu has decided that the quality of these waters must enjoy priority over their commercial usage. >> in india, it is estimated that some 200,000 farmers have taken their own lives since the late 1990's, caught in a vicious cycle of debt, hard labor, and even more debt, every year thousands see death as the only way out of this tough existence. for many, the downward spiral begins when they start buying into genetically modified crops. sold as a blessing of modern technology, few find a way out

when things go wrong, just like the husband of sasi kala. quick she is devastated, suffering. the mother of three has no money, no husband, no way of earning a living. she hardly has anything to you. just a little wheat and rice. that's all. her husband gajanand was a cotton farmer. he committed suicide three weeks ago. he was heavily indebted and saw no way out.

>> horror -- how are we supposed to survive? no one is helping me. what will become of my children? i have nothing, only debts. >> vanjari is a village in central india. a few hundred cotton farmers live here in bitter poverty. the center of the indian subcontinent has a tragic nickname, the suicide belt. house and the people here take their own lives every year. >> we meet up with anil prasad, a tv journalist who is working on a documentary for indian television about the suicide epidemic among poor farmers. he documented the suicide of sasi kala's husband as well. he hung himself from a tree. >> the farmers see no way out.

planning cotton is an economical. seeds and fertilizer are expensive, and yields are too low. >> sasi kala is trying to make it somehow without her husband. the cotton farmers are some of the losers in the global economy and the rash of suicides is an expression of any quality of opportunity afforded by global capitalism. the indian farmers who toil with wooden plows are no match for agriculturalists with giant tractors and artificial your geisha and facilities. and state subsidies for farmers in europe and the u.s. make inks all the harder for people like sasi kala. to make matters worse, there is no natural cotton anymore in va njari. the cotton produced there is genetically modified, which means farmers pay more for seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides.

>> we used to plant natural cotton, and we made a profit. when we introduced the genetically modified product, our cost went through the roof, but our yields didn't. that puts us under enormous pressure. >> who visit an agricultural store. most of the seeds it sells are genetically modified. the shelves are full of products made by giant companies like monsanto, bayer, and dupont. >> when things are good, genetically modified cotton is better than the natural variety. but when harvests are bad, farmers have to borrow money, and get deeper and deeper in debt erie it they become more and more desperate. >> we drive to the neighboring village. months is -- monsoon season has arrived. that's bad news for farmers who use genetically modified cotton, which reacts better to artificial irrigation. we meet an activist and longer

who is the only person in the region who has taken up the cause of the impoverished farmers. he shows us charts illustrating the rise in suicide rates and describes how farmers are forced to grow expensive, genetically modified carton. i have no alternatives, he says. that's the way the indian government wants it. he says the government gets money from the big, multinational companies. >> the ground situation is very bad. more and more farmers will commit suicide. >> he keeps statistics on this tragic trance. one of his employees shows us three books full of names. all farmers who killed themselves. >> the technology has brought them to the depth of despair.

facing starvation, they have ended their lives. this is a tragedy. >> tragedy is what sasi kala is enduring right now. she is one of thousands of widows of cotton farmers who have become what tiwari calls slaves in their own country. they work round-the-clock, while big international companies make all the profit. such neo-feudal structures of hand-in-hand with political corruption. as no obvious way out for the farmers, and little hope. sasi kala is little chance of ever repaying the mountain of debt her husband left behind. and what's worse, she has no idea how she's going to provide for her family.

>> the number of organizations that try to offer help to farmers and their relatives is growing. we have more information on what they do and how you can find them at our website. and now we head to ukraine. there, blinis are the no fuss snack you can get pretty much on every street corner every weather salty or sweet, everyone likes them. they can be fashioned to appeal to pretty much everybody's taste. so go on and pick your favorite blini. >> this time around, wherein the ukrainian capital kiev. the snack we are checking out is

a true eastern european specialty. in hungary, it's called pa lachinta. in the ukraine these pancakes are called blini. >> it's an old russian dish, not a soviet one. it was around in the days of the czars. they ate theirs with caviar. our favorite blini joint in kiev is blinclinton, a play on the name of the former u.s. president. it's located on a busy street full of office buildings. a lot of office workers. by during their lunch breaks for a snack. originally they are made with whey and buckwheat flour. that gives them a nutty taste. the kiosk owner has her hands full making the light, airy

pancakes. her repertoire has long since gone beyond the classic variety with egg, pancetta, and sour cream. >> we make different sorts with different fillings. some are sweet, some are salty. people eat both breakfast and lunch here. >> customers are spoiled for choice. >> we have 20 times, and we're always coming up with new combinations. here we have chicken, ham, mushrooms, cheese, and mayonnaise. >> regulars can order customized blini. >> i like a mix of meat and veggies. >> one more reason to visit ukraine.

>> savory, sweet, or pricey on the what do you like most when you are out? send us a photo of your favorite snack and win our global snack apron. send us your photo by e-mail, or better yet, via facebook. good luck! crexendo us your suggestions. while they sell like proverbial hotcakes because they meet pre- match everyone's taste, we also always want to know where people think differently. so we asked youngsters across the globe about their hopes and dreams. what is important to young people in the philippines, europe, or columbia? what do they worry about? will have some of the answers in next week's program. join us for that if you like. until then, from me and the whole global team here in our

berlin studios, thanks for watching, and goodbye. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--