♪ hoof mongolia, where intensive livestock farming is destroying land and livelihoods. what can be done about it? we head to chicago, a city with a sky-high m murder rate, , aa west side blighted by drugs, gangs and despair. but first, to eastern kenya. the al shabaab t terror groupp recruits there heavily, sowing the seeds of mistrust among locals.. al shabaab arose in 2006, in the midst of a bloody civil war in

somalia. its aim, to establish an islamic emirate stretching beyond the country's own borders. but now the group has been pushed back to somalia's southern areas, and driven out of key urban centers like the capital mogadishu. al shabaab is allied with al qaeda, a terror network notorious for suicide bombings, guerilla warfare, and a rigid interpretation of sharia law. while exact figures are hard to come by, experts believe al shabaab has between 7000 and 9000 members. many of them come from neighboring kenya. that's led to increased prejudice against muslims there. but now a group of women is doing some pushing back of their own. reporter: making soap to make money, and as a healing exercise. these women are victims of al shabab. some were kidnapped and abused,

while others have family members who joined the group. time: people consider us the enemy because of things other people have done. they call me al shabaab just because two of my brothers joined the group. reporter: the pain of loss, stigmatization by neighbors, and no support from the government or from police. fatuma: if the police suspect that there are terrorists around then they react very harshly and immediately start killing people. especially if they think a young man is an al shabaab member. that's why a lot of people don't turn them in, even if they are guilty. reporter: fatuma shafi speaks from experience. her husband was a policeman, but he was shot dead by colleagues after he began searching for their son, who had disappeared. the 14-year-old was suspected of traveling to somalia to join al shabb. ththe group has s carried ot

gruesome attacks in somalia and in kenya, killing and wounding hundreds. the islamists are angry at the kenyan government for supporting somalia's crackdown on al shabaab. the grgroup recruitsts along e kekenyan coast, an area pupulr withouriststs om aroununthe world. radidicalization is a huge probm here. and police respondnd wh violence. many kenyans are afraid to even enter a police station, for fear of seeming suspicious themselves. it wasn't easy to get permission to film here. officer bibiberone ganguma finay agreed. she says she became a police officer to serve society, not to work against it. her office in mombasa is a safe place for many people, especially women.

shshe promises to help them wih their problems. this should be a given, but it's not always the case in kenya. the police often have a reputation as thugs or the enemy, not as friends and helpers. or they take bribes for favors. officer ganguma tries to relate to people as equals. biberone: there is a big gap between us and the community. i always put it t this way -- tt woman n is the bridge betwtweee commmmunity and us police. reporter: she tells us further, most of the time when women come and have informatition, they'e afraid to reveal it. the women are afraid of being branded as a traitor, or of colluding with the police. fatuma shafi didn't get any help

from the police after her husband was shot to death. she supports her family by selling baked goods. and she volunteers in her community as a kind of peace ambassador. fatuma: if the police want something, then they should do it in a gentle way, the way you calm down a baby. prison and violence only breed hatred. we want to get rid of this hate. we want to be friendly. reporter: those are the words of a woman who watched her husband killed by his colleagues, and who has lost a son to a terror group. fatuma: at one point they told me my son was dead. i have made peace with this. if he had returned, he might have been a bad influence on others.

reporter: despite, or perhaps because of this horrifying story, fatuma shafi spends her life fighting hatred. that's taken her on an unusual path. she's joined up with biberone ganguma and other peace ambassadors. today they venture into a neighborhood with a heavy al shabaab presence. at first, people are skeptical of the police uniform. a woman complains that she is always being harassed by police officers. but she's also mistreated by gangs making trouble. biberone tells her that women should always report such things toto the police. they'r're people like you, she says. ththey'll understand yo. >> it's good that she came. many of us were scared at first. it makes it easier for us to share our concerns. it's very different from going to the police station.

reporter: the kenyan police are ramping up their presence on the coast. the goal is to approach the people and lisisten to them, ratherer than driving g them a. but officer ganguma is an exceptional police officer. she's always on duty, even while making breakfast for her children. despite all the difficulties, she refuses to give up. biberone: you can cook whatever you cook, but without salt you willll not be able to eat it. it will be tasteless. a police officer is salt, a woman is salt. we are indispensable. they cannot do without us. reporter: fatuma shafi also believes in the power of women. she and her friends from the therapy group are celebrating the birth of a baby girl. but it will still take a while

before these victims of terrorism and injustice can have their faith in police restored. perhaps in the next generation. host: violence is an issue everywhere, including in the u.s. there, gang fighting in cities can be an acute problem, especially in poor suburbs. there are an estimated 33,000 gangs in the u.s., from street gangs to motorcycle syndicates. even some in prisons, where many members end up. the fbi estimates the u.s. has 1.4 million active gang members. chicago's suburbs are notorious for high rates of violent crime. in 2017, 650 people were murdered there, the majority killed by gang violence. donald trump swore to address the issue. president trump: american carnage stops right here, and

stops right now. host: but since that inauguration s speech, little s changed. reporter: booney is a very dedicated granddad. he never saw his own children grow up, as he was in prison. he served 27 years for crimes committed while he was the leader of a gang. on chicago's west side, he still has authority today. but now he's working to take care of the young people here. in the midst of gagang violene and drug dealing, booney's house is ideally placed. his veranda is basically his office. the daily party on his street can quickly turn into a deadly shooting if a rival gang turns up and there's a dispute over a drug deal involving big money. the turf war is never-ending. booney: it's a hard job for me

to convince them to stop selling drugs and to go get a legitimate job. the only thing that i can tell them i is the long-term, i tryo get themem to see the long-tem picture, not the instant picture. because instant, i can't beat them. reporter: a short life, lived in the fast lane, is the only thing most people here know. they grow up without fathers, as they're in prison, while their mothers struggle to scrape together a living even with three jobs. those who grow up here can easily fall in with the wrong crowd. we meet george, a 44-year-old father to seven children. he always carries a weapon for fear of his rivals. george: if you want to be a part of this, you've seen what we're doing out here. we're hustling, we're doing all this and that. it's your choice if you want to be a part of that. so, you see the risk that we're taking out here. every risk that we're taking is

two ways -- jail or dead. you got your choice, if you're messing around out here. reporter: you're choosing to take the risk? george: i'm choosing to take the risk because i like the fast pay. reporter: and that's why many start so young, getting into drug dealing while they're still at school. jonathan was just 13 when he started. he has tattoos in memory of friends who didn't make itit, le one who o was gunned down outse his school at the age of 16. jonathan is 23 and has just got out of prison. he says his gang is like the family he never had, and he needs their protection, both in and outside of jail. jonathan: gang banging ain't cool, this is a lifestyle ththt we chose because we had no choice. we had no choice in the matter, you feel me? no matter who it is or where they from, everybody has a

choice in their life but we got pushed to the point where we ain't had no choice, so we had to get out here and do what we had to do. reporter: it's a pattern that's repeated again and again here. booney is one of the few who's there to help. he says there's just not enough money to tackle the huge problems he sees. but lack of funding isn't the only challenge. booney: it's worse here than syria and afghghanistan. every day there's shootings and killings in this community. and it's not an outside force anymore, it's inside. and it's because weapons a areo accessible now. in m my community, you canan gt a gun quicker than you can buy a bottle of juice. reporter: little more thanan eit miles away we come to the ultramodern center of chicago. this is the postcard side of the city that many of the children from west side have never been to. nothing hints at the problem areas that have existed for decades.

the well-heeled citizens who live here are for the most part happy to leave the problems to the police. back on the other side of town, two teenagers have just been shot from a passing car. violence and gang warfare are a part of daily life here. the two were gunned down in broad daylight just as they got home from school. >> i was upstairs in my house and i heard gunshots. and me and my kids, we dropped to the floor. it was very scary, a sad situation. it was a boy and a girl, got shot in the neck. but besides that, the kids gotta stay in the house, they can't even come outside and play, it's a very bad situation. we stay in the neighborhood because we don't have no money, we would like to go somewhere else but we don't have no money. reporter: makeshift memorials for the lives lost.

last year 650 people were shot and killed in chicago. police say that's actually a drop in numbers compared to the year before. relations between police and the black community y here are ten. chicago has a long history of police brutality and racism. those who live here tend to feel marginalized, cut off from wealthier society and not wanted. booney says the american dream has rarely worked for people of color. but davion has a dream of his own. he is 18 and wants to become a nurse. he's working a night job to earn momoney and goes to school durg the day. he used to deal drugs to put food on the table for his siblings. but booney persuaded him to leave his gang. booney: i was him. i looked in his eyes and i saw me at that age. at that age when i met him, i was already in the streets, in prison, i had been to o jail. the majority of my life i've

spent in jail. and i didn't want him to have to go through what i went through. davion: he's actually lilike a fafather to me, ththat i never. because i never had a person. i always had uncles and relatives that tell me, well, don't do this or don't do that, but they would never show me a different way, how to do it. they would tell me what not to do, but how can i not do it if you don't give me a different route? reporter: booney encouraged davion to believe that there could be more to life, even though it's tough to make it here. but booney doesn't give up on anyone easily. he wants to provide a way out for young people. and yet he knows, it's likely to take many generations before there are equal opportunities for the children growing up here on chicago's west side.

>> i a am -- >> -- a global teen. host: this week's global teen comes from vietnam. le huynh: my name is winnener. thatat's my nickname. my f full name is s le huynh h duy. i i'm 1years s oland i'm in gradade six. i'm from vietnam and i l live n ho-chi-minh-city. when i w was born, my y moand y dad wanted m me to win eveveryg and be better than everyone, so they gave me a nickname. it's winner. i like to play football, read comic bookoks, play withth le, and somemetimes listenen to mu. i like bththoven. i like tayaylor swift. i lilike adam levine. and i like bruno mars.

i am afraid d of havining a bad score on a t test at schooool,d mymy momnd my y dad will thehenl at me. i have my sister. her r name is mia,a, a naughty,, naughthty sister. she's 4.5 years old. i think they live better than us. they donon't have to l learn ash ase dodo herin schchoo i thinink it is the internet, because there's both good and

bad. thbad is, it can make people azy, have problems w with thei minds s if they use ththe intet too much, , and then thehey dt nt to o talk with ananybody el. i go to school at 00 a.m. and i come back home at half past 4:00 p.m. i thk we havavlearned momore than teenage from otherr countrtries. host: today in g global ideas,e head to mongolia, a country known for its vast expanses of open, rolling grassland. but t this extraraordinary lande is under teat t from overgrazing, a potential ecological disaster. our reporter dan hirschfeld travelled to hustai national park, close to the country's capital, to find out what's being done to protect the asian steppes.

reporter: the mongolian steppe can seem infinite. the grasslands here offer a perfect habitat for rare plants and animals. the steppe is home to mongolia's wild horses. almost extinct only a few years ago, this is the only place they can be found in the wild. it is also a paradise for deer, along with hundreds of bird and insect species. but these idyllic scenes are deceptive. outside the 2000 hectares of the hustai national park and other protected areas, this is what the mongngolian steppe looks li. dry sand, only sparse vegetation.

whatever grass remains is shrunken and dried out. increasingly, the steppe is turning into desert. for years, chimed-ochir bazarsad has been researching this development for the united nations. he has no doubts about the cause. he says there are simply too many sheep and goats eating the grass, exposing the soil and giving it no chance to recover. almost 50 million animals graze on mongolia's grassland. chimed-ochir: the carrying capacity is over. in certain places, especially in central mongolia, it's five times or more, is over. reporter: to get the number of grazing animals down to a sustainable level, u.n. staff have proposed a grazing tax. the more animals a herder owns and the worse the pastureland, the higher the tax levy. the idea is to encourage smaller herds.

some livestock farmers own over 10,000 cows or goats. but not narantuya orchibat. she and her family keep some 800 sheep and goats, as well as 100 horses and 80 head of cattle. she likes the idea of a grazing tax. she says the grass is deteriorating from year to year. narantuya: when we come in the autumn and winter, the grass should be this high. the grass is nowhere near as good as it used to be, and that's mainly because there are more families and more livestock, so the pasture is degenerating. reporter: orchibat is the spokesperson for 100 other herder families. she's done a lot to spread the

idea of a pasture management tax. she says most of the herders are in favor of it as long as it leads toto better feed and healthier animals. narantuya: the tax that's collected should be spent on the herders and to improve the livestock sector, and not go to the national budget. that's the only way we'll support it. reporter: orchibat would likikeo see the tax venues usesed to improve veterinary services for the animals. and if the herds were to shrink in size and more feed were available, then there would be fewer scenes like this. during a harsh winter, millions of animals might die becauause they h haven't been able to accumulate the fat reserves necessary to survive. narantuya orchibat has already

had that experience. in one regioion, the u.n. has successfully piloted an emergency fund financed by tax revenues. the money is given to herders to help them recover when their animals have been hit by drought, severe frost or epidemics. but some herders are against a grazing tax. chimed-ochir: there is a confnflict of interests. if a tax is introduced, of course whoever has more livestock will pay more. and that means the wealthier herders, they don't like to pay the taxes. anand of course they are influential l on the political level. the politicians understand the problem. but again, it's a very sensitive issue. the most of the wealthier herders is speaking. and ordinary herders doesn't speak loud.

reporter: a grazing tax wouldn't help buuveidorj sanjjav anyway. he lost all his animals during a particularly bad winter a few years ago. since then, he has lived on the outskirts of the mongolian capital ulan bator. buuveidorj: in the countryside, everything was nice. i was free and i was happy. it was great to follow my animals in the freshsh air of e wide steppe. but in the city, as we say, we're all living between four walls. i'm trying to come to terms with it, because i'm getting older now. reporter: buuveidorj says in the past, families almost always lived together. now he only sees his son and grandchildren once a week when they come to visit. his son earns a reasonable living in the city, but he'll never drive a herd of animals across the open steppe like his

father and grandfather did. batbold: between work and home, i'm nearly always on the go. m under soso much stress, especially with the traffic. if it's possible i leave town at least once a week. i like being in nature and i really miss it. reporter: stress and traffic jams. that could easily be the future for an increasing number of herder families. the grass on over 70% of mongolia's steppe is depleted. if nothing is done, experts say that in eight to 10 years, the country's s sheep and gogoat hes will no lolonger be ablele to ma living. and wildld horses mighght never again venture beyond the boundaries of the national park. host: that's it for this week. do drop us a line, though. global3000@dw.com, and check out

our facebook page, dw global society. see you next time. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content t and accurac.