>> hello and welcome to "global 3000." now, let's imagine for one moment a world without plastic. if you, too, are struggling to do that, that's because within only a few decades plastic has replaced many other materials, making our lives easier and more convenient, but also creating new problems. and that's what we're focusing on today. here's what's coming up. back to paper -- we meet a ugandan who is building his future on the comeback of the paper bag.

we hear from the singaporean mp who wants to share her country's fortunes with its neighbors. and, saving the source of the blue nile -- efforts to preserve ethiopia's lake tana. hand on your heart -- how many plastic bags do you use every week? the fact that most of us can hardly remember highlights the problem we're facing. of course they are cheap and incredibly convenient. but our thoughtlessness in using plastic has already swollen into a big rubbish problem -- one that gets worse every day. here's a look some facts that will likely make us think twice next time a shop assistant asks us whether we would like a bag. >> every day people the world over use plastic shopping bags. they are lightweight, hardwearing and often come for

free. but how harmful are plastic bags to the climate? every year more than 600 billion plastic bags are manufactured worldwide. 4% of the crude oil consumed globally every year ends up in plastic bags. but oil is a fossil fuel and supplies of this precious resource are coming to an end. manufacturing and shipping plastic bags requires large amounts of energy and also causes 60 million tons of co2 emissions every year. on average, plastic bags are in use for just 25 minutes. they are then thrown away. few of them are recycled. most plastic bags end up in

rivers, on the streets, or in the ocean. some countries have banned plastic bags entirely, while in others it is illegal to give them away for free. >> of course consumers are sensitive when it gets to their hard-earned cash. and that was proved once again when ireland became the first country to introduce a levy on plastic bags more than a decade ago. sure enough, this tax saw a 90% reduction in plastic bags. uganda has gone even further and banned those thin bags we all know from the grocery store. and that's what a young entrepreneur sees as his chance to set up a big business. >> plastic bags have long been banned in uganda, but in the suburbs of kampala, they're still littering the ground. andrew mupuya wants to change

that. he's 21 years old. five years ago he founded his own company. with 15 co-workers, he makes paper bags. the young entrepreneur comes from humble circumstances. he earned his start-up capital all by himself. >> i collected used plastic bottles. then i mobilized my fellow students in school and we collected over 70 kilograms, and i sold them to the recycling plant. when people saw me collecting those plastic bottles, they thought i might have gone mad. but i knew what i was doing. >> that start-up capital amounted to $12. now he sells yeli paper bags all over uganda. his customers are small shops and pharmacies. the market developed rapidly. andrew mupuya now produces 20,000 paper bags a week by hand. the simplest bags are folded in 9 steps. the most complicated take 32.

mupuya can't afford machines. he buys his paper in kenya. the young men are entirely self-taught. >> so, i had to watch youtube videos of people making bags by hand in india. then that's how i learned to make it. and then i made a sample. i took it to the supermarkets and shops, and then they were interested in it and then they gave me orders. >> when he's not at the company, andrew mupuya studies economics at kampala university, where he also recruits new co-workers. he says the country offers great potential for young entrepreneurs like him. >> the entrepreneurial character is quite new in uganda. and a few are adopting it, because it sounds not easy for someone to be studying while enterprising at the same time.

>> no risk, no gain, and he's won plenty of awards with his venture. his plans are quite ambitious. >> i want to be the biggest paper bag producer worldwide. so, i still have a long way to go. and to build up a bigger plant that is able to supply paper bags all over the world. but i started small, i'll go step by step, and i think i'll make it. >> there's certainly a market in uganda. many supermarkets and shops have yet to introduce paper bags. yeli paper bags can scarcely keep up with demand. and andrew mupuya is already negotiating. he wants to buy paper bag-making machines abroad when he gets the loan he's hoping for. >> after all, that's what banking is supposedly all about -- providing capital for businesses to develop. we wish andrew luck, but our planet will need a lot more than

that to stomach the amounts of plastic waste that are already circulating, quite literally, in our oceans. and from there what used to be our grocery bag can eventually even land on our dinner table. >> the seas are a giant garbage dump. estimates say there are more than 140 million tons of plastic waste floating around in the world's oceans. through the action of ocean currents, five huge plastic islands have formed around the globe. they're not always visible on the surface, because most of the plastic sinks into the lower layers of water. and it doesn't biodegrade. >> it's estimated that it'll take several hundred years for plastic bags to decompose. that means that all the plastic that has ended up in the oceans so far is still there.

>> plastic only weathers or breaks into increasingly smaller particles. these microparticles are especially troublesome for ocean fauna and, as a result, for humans. that's why scientists are researching the effects of plastic waste on a wide variety of organisms. in the process, lars gutow discovered that these isopods have fewer problems than many. this has to do with their specialized digestive systems. but a look at other creatures shows dramatic consequences. take gulls, for instance. scientists have examined the stomachs of dead gulls and found large pieces of plastic waste in them. some gulls simply starved to death. >> this waste accumulates in their stomachs and induces a feeling of fullness in the birds, so that they no longer feel hungry and they stop eating. >> there are projects in which scientists, activists, and even

fishermen collect ocean waste. but debris left from fishing, such as nets that have been thrown overboard or lost in the water, is just part of the problem. most of the waste isn't thrown into the ocean. it drifts there from the land. 80%, according to one estimate, is carried into the oceans by rivers and the wind. there are initiatives worldwide to collect waste on the beaches before it gets into the ocean. >> we can't remove the waste that's already in the oceans. of course we can collect trash on the beach. but in view of the size of the oceans and the amount of waste that's in them, it's mission impossible. >> instead, lars gutow is pinning his hopes on the future. plastic has to be avoided or

become so expensive that collecting and recycling it become profitable. >> i always compare it with scrap metal. if you leave it outside your door in the evening, the next morning it's guaranteed to be gone, because it fetches good money. so, if we got similar prices for plastic, i'm convinced many people would go out and collect it. >> in addition, we all have to be more aware that plastic is a problem. educating children and teenagers, as here in namibia, is a good place to start. >> so, about time to give our kids that pep talk on what to do with plastic waste. and as we saw in that report, plenty of bits of plastic chairs are also floating in our oceans. like no other plastic product, except the plastic bags maybe, the so-called monobloc chairs epitomize the plastic revolution

of our society. at less than three euros production cost they are cheap, convenient, and some say even chic. judge for yourself. >> this is henning wötzel-herber. he lives in hamburg and he's partial to chairs -- more precisely, the monobloc chair. >> plastic chairs are basically like people. all people are alike but different. and all plastic chairs are alike but different. they have different shapes, colors and sizes, but in the end, they're all somehow the same. >> a chair has to have specific characteristics to be considered a monobloc. it has to be injection-molded and made of polypropylene. these plastic chairs have been produced the world over since the 1970's. their exact origin is vague. a patent was never applied for.

some people presume they originated in france, others in italy or the u.s. two reasons explain their success -- they're light and they're stackable. >> the plastic chair is definitely a global object. whether it's an object of globalization is probably not seriously disputed. that alone isn't why it's so fascinating. still, it provides an excellent opportunity to collect pictures of plastic chairs from all over the world. >> whether in norway, cuba, or at a workplace in rwanda, plastic chairs are everywhere, in all sorts of colors. henning wötzel-herber now runs two websites, both of which are devoted only to the monobloc.

he's collected photographs, stories, videos, and music. >> on plasticchair.org, any photo by anyone is welcome. there are still enough blank spots on the map where i don't yet have a plastic chair picture. i'd like to change that. >> with more than a billion monoblocs out there, the plastic chair is now the most commonly-found piece of furniture in the world, whether you like it or not. >> undeniably value for money, but maybe the wrong values there. now asean, the association of south east asian nations, is the fastest-growing economic region in the world. but there is a lot of disparity among its members. we caught up with the singaporean parliamentarian penny low, who has also been named a young global leader by the world economic forum. she says it's about time that her country starts sharing its wealth with its neighbors.

>> we can't say that you could just turn out a good leader by sending them to a good business school or a good governance school and, voilà, the leader would appear. i think it has got to go back to re-enforcing a value system in the society. where is the world heading? and of course, a few strong, good, ethical leaders to also become the role model. >> i've been a hitchhiker before. so, having been on the roads for one and a half, two years being helped by so many people. when i came back, the first thing on my mind was how can i be a useful citizen? how can i contribute back to people?

my name is penny low. i am a member of parliament from singapore and also the founder of the social innovation park. >> so the idea really is to get people into conversation and action. so, it's not just a think-tank: it's a do-tank. asia is the growing part of the world. so, some people call it the engine of growth of the world today. so, obviously any country that is within asia will have the great opportunity to grow along with it.

singapore, for example, as a small little country in the context of the world that is devoid of any resources under ground. it has to rely on what's above ground, which is our human capital. we also have to make ourselves relevant, at least economically, to the rest of the world, so that we can continue to bring investments into the country. >> at this stage of singapore, where we have reached a certain level of wealth, then we've got to think about how can we now enrich our neighbors.

how can we now empower all those around us? many years ago, when myanmar suffered from the cyclone nargis, singapore was one of the first to extend a helping hand. it's not just about helping. it's about understanding each other and moving together. don't try to parachute some solutions from 10,000 miles away. look at what is it that the community already has existing. but perhaps they are not doing

that as efficiently. or they're lacking in the resources, whether it is a lack of access to finance, a lack of access to demand, a lack of access to market. i think we have to think in terms of prospering the neighbors and prospering together. and as a political leader, my role is to continue this sort of value system and to ensure again that next generation doesn't just become a me-me-me-generation. but one that understand that there is small me but there is a big we. >> thousands of birds flying south during the european winter head for lake tana in ethiopia. it is the source of the blue nile and has a unique eco-system. more than two thirds of its fish can only be found there. several of the lake's islands also host ancient orthodox monasteries. but the region's resources are under threat. a german conservation group is trying to help.

>> the fishermen on lake tana start at 6:00 in the morning. it's the best time of day for them. >> i love my work. i'm happiest when i start to fish in the morning. i'm alone on the lake, i'm out in the fresh air, and it's just beautiful. >> others have formed collectives and have already finished catching fish by 10:00 in the morning. entire families can live from fishing, but the stocks are threatened.

>> we've noticed that the fish stocks are dwindling. there's no one structuring who's allowed to fish when. nobody observes the season. until now, people have fished whenever they wanted to and as much as they could. that's why the stocks are diminishing. >> and the fish can't spawn in peace anymore. the shores of the lake are in danger. the fishermen still cut papyrus to build their boats, as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago. the german nature and biodiversity conservation union wants to preserve the area. it doesn't want to destroy traditions, but it does want people to change their ways. >> more than three million people are dependent on the

lake. our government is also investing too much money, trusting lake tana exists. we have hydropower, hydropower investments in this part of lake tana. we have more than 70,000 hectares of land is being considered for investment, for agriculture. all this is planned assuming lake tana is there. so, it is very important. it's millions of people's livelihood at stake. so, protecting lake tana is crucial. >> but the people need the land to survive. farmers cultivate fields right up to the water's edge, under the simplest of conditions, to the displeasure of conservationists, because birds from europe, like these cranes, spend part of the year here. >> it's one of the most important bird areas, i said, because most, more than 50% of the migratory birds, especially common cranes, they come and they stay here during the winter season in europe. >> the first photographers are

already on hand to watch the spectacle. the nature and biodiversity union wants to encourage farmers to develop eco-tourism. for the locals, that's new territory. >> what do they say whenever they see some europeans coming to their field and trying to observe the birds? and they say it's a bit strange for them because they do not know what is so special about the birds at the moment. and i was trying to explain to them how we can link it to eco-tourism, how we can benefit, the youth especially, the young ones who are landless. >> there aren't any paved roads in the villages. there's just no infrastructure yet. the only place nature protection is doing well so far is in what's known as the "church forests" on more than 30 islands.

many animal species live in the trees. the forests are well-protected, because they mean everything to the faithful. the last surviving 14th-century ethiopian orthodox monasteries can be found here. there are hardly any tourists, but plenty of pristine nature, which the coptic monks care for personally. >> the forest is sacred to us. we have here all sorts of different species of monkeys, wild boar, birds. they all live with us in the forest. >> the monk shows us his pride and joy. >> this tree is very important to us. it's very old and highly resistant to ants. it's my favorite tree. >> the centuries-old trees aren't the only reason the islands are important for nature

protection. the banks and the rivers that flow into the lake provide an important place for fish to spawn. >> the fish in lake tana are a bit different. they do spawning or they breed in the tributaries of lake tana, and during this breeding time they go to the river mouths of lake tana. there are around 66 rivers that are feeding lake tana, but four of them are major rivers. and in these river mouths, we are trying to have core zones where fishes can easily breed and they can return to the lake. >> only when the fish stocks recover will the people near the lake have a livelihood. gebeye tegenge feels it first-hand. >> we have to protect our lake. if things go on like this it

will be disastrous. five years ago, i could earn 500 birr a day. now it's just 150, because there are fewer and fewer fish. >> everyone can profit from nature protection. >> we have to learn to work with the authorities to protect biodiversity here, because only the fish stocks can only recover if we have regulated fishing seasons. and only then can we secure our work in the long term, and then export more to international markets. >> until now, people have done too little to protect lake tana. that could change, if the region becomes an official nature protection area. >> that look at lake tana brings us to the end of this week's edition. don't forget, you can always find us online.

thanks for watching and bye-bye. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--v1d1utgg99ññç