gcccgggggcggggcccccccccccccccccc host: welcome to global 3000. this wk, w we lo at ththe challenges facing german women married to islamic state terrorists in syria. in south africa, bees are helping to save elephants' lives and protott local foforests. and we discover what london's cab drivers are doing to improre theieir city's air quality. for years, the northern syrian city of raqqa was considered the stronghold of the so-called islamic state. the extremists took control of the city in 2013.

then in octobeber last year,r, r momonths of bloooody fighting,ga was liberated by a coalionon of syrian and kururdish forces.s. islamic ate mighbe out, t many wives and children of foreign is fighters are stilinin raqqqqa. iludingng se from germany. and th're despere to retn. >> all sandra wants to do is leave, and take her children back home after months of boredom, living in cramped conditions. they have sufficient food and drink. there are even cartoons for the chilildren to watch. there areo bombs, no terrorism. but the 33-year old mother misses her old life in germany. she grew up in munich, went to university there and had a job. in 2015 she decided to join the so-called islamic state in syria. she's not allowed to speak german to us. the kurdish secret service wants to be able to monitor everything

she's saying. she hahas one urgt request.t. > what i wantnt to say m my government, eaease bri u us baback. ease t takus back. just bring us back germany. >> sandrdra says it wawas thrh muslim schoolfriendsds that se converted to islam. but when she began wearing the full face veil, she often encountered prejudice from other germans. her morroccan husband also started to feel uncomfortable in germany. then a friend of theirs advisesed them to jojoin i.s.d sent them a propaganda video. >> we e saw a video o in germ, you can go and live your islam, bodydy puts pressusure on you, d becacause of this wewe said we'. and d we'd go fromom tury to r q and the first two, threeee, for months we were thinkining, yeh

it's true,e, you can live your islam, we e don't see anything bad. >> it was 1414 when the isislamt terror group took control of the syrian city y of raqqa. ththeye it the c capital of ththeir self-declared caliphat s setting up a reign o of terror. frfrome they planned attacks in other parts of the world. they enforced their extreme interpretation of islam with public beatings and executions. sandra says her husband soon started to have doubts. >> me, i didn't know anything because i i was at home e allh titime. and likeke i say befory husband came sometimes homome d said, there are a lot of bad things in the islamic ststate,e have t to go. but dididn't tel ththe he say it't's better you t know what's happened. he just told m me, we have t to go. >> but getting out of raqqa was a lot more difficult than

getting in. especially as a u.s.-led coalition was now waging war on i.s. while trying to leave syria, sandra and her husband were caught by kurdish militia. since then, her husband has been in prison along with hundreds of other non-syrian i-s supporters. 35 from germany alone. the kurdish administration here is keen to be rid of them as soon as possible. >> it's a great burden for us. we can't manage this on our own. together with the international community, we managed to defeat the terror militia. but now everyone has to pull together to solve this problem. the women and children need psychological help. they have no papers. all countries should take responsibility for their own citizens, take back these terrorists and put them on trial. >> the german women being held at the kurdish camp all know

each other and have similar stories. sabila and her three children have been waiting seven months for permission to return to germany. her family originates from kosovo. she converted to islam and married a turkish man. at the age of just 19 and without informing her family, she left germany to join i.s., also known as daesh. she says it was very simple. like many others, she travelled to syria via turkey. >> i was listening to the people and they said to me you cannott live your rereligion here, so there'anotother way. so o they showed me how to get in ucuch wiwith daesh. wiwith my people. so i g i in cocontacwith d dae, with m my husband of c course, and y yes ththat's it. >> she spent four and a half years living i in i.s.-occupid

raqqa. during that time, she gave birth to three children. sabila s says she was s not awef any atrorocities or acacts f terrorism. but she certainlyid expeperien the w wra of thee religious s police. >> i could not hold the hand of my husband, i could not go next to him, it's not good, it's forbidden. i could not go out. or if i go out and i have a problem with my eyes and i have to open my burka, the men, they shout at me, they say if you do this again we will put you into prison. >> these women left germany luntarily livive amgst ththe so-called islamic state. they spent years living in i.s. territory. so were they extremists or just incredibly naiive? >> marwan abou taam is an analyst and advisor for the german police. he believes the women knew exactly what they

wewere doing. they played a ay role forhe t terrogrououp and swore an oath of allegiance to them. >> they speak about i.s. as a conqueueroring armrmy. and thes methods of conqueroring g were extremely brbrutal, and ththats documented on film. the propagananda videos s were fid there. people wewere publiclyy whipipped and executed. those liliving in raqqa must havave n aware of t these things, especiallyly as it's n e evena very large city. >> in october 2017, i.s. was defeated, and raqqa liberated. it's not clear if the families of these foreign i.s. members still support the ideology. but what lessons have they learned? >> life in germany is good, you can practice islam betetter thn in the islamic state, in the daesh. h having been t there, e seen it. >> back inin germany, they'll likely face trial. but it could

be difficult to prove they have committed a crime. so their dream of living free back in germany could soon come true. ♪ >> >> m my name is munkh-ujin, ad i'm 19 years old. i i live in ulaanbaatatar, which is the capital city of mongolia. so, my mom works as a communications officer in the environmental sector. and my father owns his own business. he sells flowers.

usually, i like to hang out with my friends. but sometimes, when i'm alone, i like to walk around the city and see what new things are being bubuilt. i just t lio see my city. there are a lot of things that make me happy. the best part is being with my loved ones, such as my family and my friends. in my opinion, a big global proboblem is every type of pollution, such as air pollution, water pollution, and every kind of pollution. i think that that's so bad for everyry living thing.

i think i hahave it better thany grandparents did because there is freedom and also better technology, better everything, i think. >> this week on global ideas, we take a look at elephants and bebees. in kger nationonal parkn south africa, elephant populations are on the rise - playing havoc with local vegetation. that's where bees come in, t the industrioious ins have n now been appopointed the papark's chi t tree protectot. our r reporter stetefan mohl weo find out m more. and mananageo come bacack without a a singlee sting. >> in the middle of the south african bush, zoologists robin cook andnd ronnie makukukule e set up 50 0 beehives. ththe cols are positiononed right nexext te kruger n national parkrk. for e than a year now, the two consvatitionists have e be testing whetether honeybeeeesn protect seselected treeses ine

the park. believe it not, these bees can ward off the park's largest residents,s, elephants. . juste people, elelephants don't like getting stung. they also o have an acutute senf smell l anhearing,g, so one hit of a beehive and they're off. >> and the reason we are doing that is because in our protected areas s here in soututh africae haveve got a buildld up of elet dedensities and concern over te impacthahat theyayaybe havg onon our lalarge tree specicies. ano we're e trying to find ways tht we can mitigigate the effefectst elephantnts have on trtrees and therereby placing g honeybeein the trtrees 're hohoping that we can find a newew method toto actually protectct the trees fm elephant impact. >> while eewhere in rica, the elepnt populatn is in decline,e, in south afafrica, r numbmbers are growowing. here, natuture reserves s are fencen d eqequipp with manmade watering h holes. protected ad we-prorovidefor, t the elephant

populationon has flourisishedo much so o that they'veve becoa problem. the elephants str ees s and rubs n nak, oftenn uprooting g em in the e proces, and destroyiying the habititat r animals s and plants i in the k rely on. elephants are particularly partl toto onef the park largest t trees, the m marula. >> mararula trees arare highly sought after trees by elephants and thatat's because they havea lot of foragage for the elephas anand we are seeeeing a lot ofof impapact on these e trees andr examample on this s study sitee we've seen a a decline of f 35f the e marula treeses since eleps have been inin the system.m. so marulala trees are a a very important t species. thehey pre foodod for the sysystem, thy providide habitat anand so we w them as a keystone species. t the elephantsts often flattn the e marula treeses just so y can get to the leave b but so fa the m maras with h bees living in them remain largely untouched. out of 50 trees, only one has been damageded over te past y year.

cook's b bee project is a new apoachch in rk mananagent. inn the past, a large number o ephahants re simimply lled.. nearly 17,7,000 were shohot den kruger natationapark t to ep the popupulation stable and protet the vegetationon. >> so when it cocomes to managg the effects s that elephants he on large trees, there's been a miseset shiffromom conollingng elepepnt numbers themsves as was prpriously thought t mitigating t e effec that t ey actual havave the trees. so you cocod approach this a large scale whe yoyou uld try anmanage ephant diribution do to a smler scsce of tually maging the large trtreethemselves, prottingng t large treeees themselveses. >> with the bebeehives, the zoologiststs are hoping g to col the elephants' movements, by keeping ththem ming. i if the animals stay in one acace too lolong, they canan inflict extee damagege. but above e all, the conservavationists sayay bs ae

the perfecect way of keeeeping elephants awaway from indidivil objects of particular poportance, likeke trees that he birds nestining in them. >> w we have got b bark stripg hehere by elephahants and whate barkrk stripping doeoes is that leaves t the trees slilighty vulnererable to otheher ininfestations. . so we have t wood barrow activityhihich hav me ovever re, but t can also allow termitites to get inin at can allow ththe ee to bebe vulnerable to fires. so thes sort of trtrees art toto g eaten up frorom the insidede and it's becaususe they have e got somek reved. >> the bees will likely ward o the elelhants. b it's noyet ear how the vultures - which arare an eangered spies s - ll react to the insects. in t the villages arouound the , pepeople have lilittle experie withth bees. manare afraid of them, , an attude e ronnie makukule is working c change. he plans t to start keepining s

in his v village, and d to trn some of f the local reresints s beekeepers. the firshihives shou be seset soon ononhis piece ofof land just o outsidee village. h he wants to h hep residents overcome their fears and teach h young peoplele hoo keep bees. >> starting a a bee projt t in ththis communityty will help e community y to make incocome of bees b by al startrting their n projects t through bees s and o oducining honey thatat they cn sell in ththe supermarkets. >> back k inside the p park, e nservavationists havave found another way of reducing g elepht numbers in p problemreasas. they've laid dry a number of teringngoles. that m means the elelephants haveve to keep movoo findreshsh wat, relilievg the pressure on the local ecostetem. bubut smaller parkrks don't he that option. so there'grgrowing inintere in ththresults of robin cocook's experimimen with bees.e believes i it's a groundndbreag

method with huge potentitial. >> we wowould love to o see it applied toto new specieses, paparticularly s species whichch elephants are after such as the baobab s species and t then toe ifif it can be a applied to our other projects such as the vulture nest project to see if we can protect trees wit vulture nestinin them usingg afrirican honeybees and whethr that relationship willr r won't wo. >> t they should s soon find . ththe first hiveves are alreadn place. i if it all wororks oute beeses could in fufuture not y protect t trees but also the bis and d anims thatat depend on te trees for their survival. ♪ >> this week on global snack we check out something very tasty y from brazil. >> the central market in sao paulo, the mercado municipal,

offers a huge range of products, including typical brazilian fare. the market has existed since 1933 and the mortadella sandwich has been around almost as long. the sandwich consists of bread, a whopping 400 grams of mortadella sausage, and cheese. the padaria paulista is said to do the best mortadella sandwich in town. locals will tell you there's a story behind the snack. >> the sandwich is a longstanding tradition in brazil and especially in sao paulo. people have been coming to this

market for a long time to sell their gogoods, and they never d much time, they wawanted everything fast. one time a man came and asked for a sandwich. he was given one, but he said, that's too small. the chef was upset. he put more and m more mortadella in the sandwich and then said, right, here you go. and the man said, that's just the size i wanted. >> the sandwich costs the equivalent of 4 euros and is one of brazil's most famous snacks. >> i love the bread, the hot crust is phenomenal, and the mix of the meat with the sundried tomatoes.

>> we come from a town 120 kilometers away, just to have lunch here. i'd recommend this sandwich to anyone. >> but you'd better have an appetite, you won't find a mortadella sandwich packed so full of meat anywhere elelse. which is why the customers keep coming back. >> toxic fog sweeps through the ststreets of beieijing, ththe s literally y suffococating in a blanket of car and factory fumes. asia's mega cities are among the most smog-addled on the planet. according to the wororld healh organinisation, last y year me than 4 million people died there from the effects of air pollution. in africa, that figure was 1 million. in the middle east, around half a million, and in europe too more than 500,000 people died last year as a result of poor air

quality. in the u.s., 300,000. many cities are now tackling the problem head on by banning vehicles with particularly dirty engines. electro-mobility is the way forward. but making the switch is a hard, and expensive, process. >> steve kenton is proud to be a london taxi driver. he's been behind the wheel of one of the city's iconic black cabs for 27 years now and he loves his job. >> when you look at pictures of london, whether it be on film... what you see are red buses, you see the old red telephone boxes, and black taxis. they identify london. you know, when you see one of these vehicles you automatically know that you're in london. >> but a change is coming. to combat air pollution, london is phasing out diesel-powered cabs. as of 2018, only e-cabs arare

issued new operating licenses. not to everyone's liking. >> if you lose the licensed london taxi, you lose part of london's identity. it is so iconic and recognizable. >> london's black cabs have cult status. but they're also major polluters. unlike these new cabs. they're quiet, and much cleaner than diesel-powered taxis. besides other advantages. >> we've got the door opening the completely opposite direction. passengers come from this way so they can get fit in between gaps a bit better, in traffic. usb port, here. wifi as well. it's all connected over here. controlled by the driver. you have the panoramic roof. on a good day seeing the sights of london. it's just been a revolution. a customer actually thought they were getting in a

bentley because the badge, it looks a little bit like. he was like is this a taxi or are we in a bentley? his experience was completely diffeferent. yeah, is been different.. >> steve kenton's older diesel taxi can't compete with these kinds of fancy features. all he can do is keeps his cab spotless. he's all for cleaner air, too. but thinks the new e-cabs are too luxurious for london. and, at about 25 percent more than regular diesel cabs, too expensive. >> a 62,000 pound vehicle, which is what the new taxi is, to put that into perspective, it puts it into the same price bracket as a maserati or a mid-range porsche. >> a hefty price tag. but london has the ambitious goal of becoming a zero emission city by 2050. the government gives a grant amounting to 8,500 euros toward buying a new e-cab. and paul chrisostomou says he saves on fuel. >> okay, so there's a car in there at the moment. but you can

see there's a charging point there. >> finding a charging station can be difficult. as a backup, his e-cab also runs on gasoline. but soon enough, he's found a spot to recharge his battery. he saves an additional 100 euros each week because recharging the battery is cheaper than filling up on gasoline. but it ruires patience. how long does he usually have to wait? >> between 20 and 45 minutes, depending on how much you need. how much you want to charge. to fully charge it, to be safe, i would say 35 to 45 minutes. >> and how much does he save? >> between 3 pound 80 and 6 pounds, depending on the provider you are using. >> jemima hartshorn wants dirty diesel cabs to disappear from london's streets sooner rather than later. she's concerned about the health of london's children, which is why she

founded the mums for lungs initiative. >> traditional black cabs are among the biggest contributors to nitrogen oxides and fine particle emissions in central london. they're all diesel-powered, so it's s gret they'll gradually disappear from our streets. but every one of those old taxis has a 15 year operating license, so it will be 2033 before they're all replaced by e-taxis. >> but steve kenton thinks the change is happening too fast. he feels overwhelmed, and he's not alone. one colleague owns 80 diesel-powered cabs, and a garage to service them. he's worried he would have to start from scratch when they're banned from london's streets. >> i personally haven't got 150,000 pounds. if the government wanted to come in and give me a grant, or i could see

the state of the trade being able to sustain me spending that money and earning it back, potentially, but at this moment in time, no. >> it may have divided opinion within the capital, but london's taxi transformation is in full gear, gradually making the city's air cleaner. >> who cares ababout lgbt rigighn australia?a? who cacares about fefemale empoweent t in segal?? >> i do. >> and that's all from global 3000 this time. we're back next week, make sure to join us. in the meantime send us your ideas

and your feedback, we love hearing from you. write to global3000@dw.com and visit us on facebook, dwglobalsociety.

narrator: on this episode of "earth focus"...los angeles is known foror its urbrban sprawl d traffific-clgeged system off freewaways rather than its diverse array of living species. the second-most-populated city in america is actually a biodiversese hotspot--one of just a few in the entire world. within t the confines ofof this coconcrete jungle, spececies are adapting and, in some cases, even thriving. welcome to the los angeles urban wild.