>> welcome to global 3000! this week, we find out how young people in uganda are turning their dreams into reality . >> we learn about a potential solution for global food waste and we meet a photographer documenting the effects of global warming in the sahel. >> more than a third of our planet is made up of deserts and dry lands and that percentage is rising.

every year, an additional 70,0 square kimeters of rtile la turns tdesert: thmain caus are derestatio overgrang, and the ovuse ofater resrces , a of whicdeplete e il of essential nerals. with tempetures seto rise over the coming decades the rate of desertification is likely to speed up csiderably. water scarcity is already a problem for one billion people, most of them in rica. the 2020 world risk index says the situation particularly precarious in the sahel region. lake chad in west-central africa, people here have lived from farming and catching fish for thousands of years. it appears idyllic at first glance but one of the world's biggest environmental catastrophes is unfolding here. twenty years ago, the lake's surface shrunk by 90%, and now climate change has brought extreme weather that's destroying the local farmers'

livelihoods. photographer andy spyra is working on a photo project that documents the effects of climate change on the entire sahel region. spyra was the last reporter in the region before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. back home in germany, africa's problems seem far away. nevertheless, they have a direct impact on europe. >> 80 million people live in the sahel region. their livelihoods will be taken away in the coming years and decades. the people here have to go somewhere, and go they will. it's just a matter of where. >> on lake chad, spyra experienced first-hand how the clime catastroe led to conflis, wars, trorism a anarchy. extreme weather is getting worse, harvests are failing, and large parts of lake chad can no longer be traversed.

because nature can no longer provide for the people here, there are intense fights over the remaining reurces. entire villages have been burned down. >> we were in two villages that ended up at war with each other, and it was clearly about resources. it was about access to water access to food, and fishing rights. the weapons they used were as archaic as the spears, bows and arrows. thousands of people die on lak chad each year due to the regional conflicts that have embroiled the region. >> andy spyra has photographed in syria, afghanistan and in the balkans. he shoots with a wide angle lens, which means he has to get close up to people. spyra's work isn't limited to farmers. helso photographs warlords, islamic extremists, women who have been raped. he understands the interplay between hunger, war, and religious extremism from seeing them first-hand, including on

lake chad. >> boko haram drives around the lake at night and recruits young men. the offer of 500 dollars and an ak-47 is very enticing to someone whose livelihood is disappearing. >> spyra also went to nigeria, where the conflict between the nomads and the farmers has been escalatingor years. it's now one of the bloodiest civil wars in the world. for a week, spyra accompanied muslim fulani nomads as they drove their cattle herds southward during the dry season. but dwindling pastures caused the situation to explode. when fulani herds grazed on farming land, the farmers shot the cattle. the nomads burned down the farmers' villages in retaliation. both believe they're in the right, and the government is unable to resolve the conflict. >> later, we heard the other side of the story.

we went to the christian farmers and listened to their version of what happened. this one village called bare was completely destroyed by the fulani people. dozens of people were massacred, people were decapitated, and they took the heads with them. it was very brutal. in mali, internal conflicts led to a military coup. troops marched through the streets of the capital bamako and forced president keita and pre minister cié to resign. not evedeploying the german milita, which habeen in th untry fo7 years,ouldn't prevent e totacollapse of the government. in march, andy spyra was in mopti, an area that was once popular among tourists. today, the region is isolated, and millions of civilians suffer violence.

there are caliphates and ethnic militias, but no government. mali hasn't been safe for quite some time. >> we went to visit with the prime minister, and there was an armed unit a kilometer long. at least a hundred vehicles drove there, just to visit the village. that says a lot about security there. >> more than 2 million people from the lake chad region have fled due to hunger, war and extremism. andy spyras' provocative pictures show the impact this has on people, and how violence leads to trauma and devastation. they have no choice but to flee, and they won't be the last. hunger is on the rise all over the world it now affects around 82million people and yet, some 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year. in developing countries this is often downo a lack o inastructureor

freshly-harvested food. as a result, on average 6 to 11 kilos of food are wasted this way, per person per year there. in industrial nations, that figure is 10 times greater. retailers and consumers often toss out food just because it no longer appears fresh. extended the shelf-life of produce could improve the situation for all. >> fruit and vegetables rotting in fields, or during transportation to consumers. according to the un food and riculturalrganizatn or fao, som14 perce of food is lost after harvesting and before it reaches the market or retailer. >> so if you go to a particular country or particular village, you are likely to see varying levels of food losses.

and these, depending on the situation, could go up even to 50 pernt if you're talking about fruits and vetables; for example if the farmer does not find a markefor that product in a timely manner. now, this is a huge ount of food and if you convert it into monetary quantit it's a lot. and if you convert it monetarily, the loss to the environment or the environmental impact, that's also huge. when that happens, water, pestices and resrces used for transptation arell wast. some 7 pcent of global greenhouse gas essions can be traced back to food loss and waste. the main causes include problems with transportation d refrigerion. thpath from rvest to kitchen ble is a race against time. a california-based company, apeel sciences might be able to help. founder james rogers and his team have developed a liquid that could extend the

shelf-life ofruits and vegebles. >> apeel is a little exactly like it sounds peeand we apply to the suace of fsh produce. you can'see it. you can't taste it. you can't feel it. but it slows down the factors that cause the fruit to age. >>t helps ev without refrigation. apeeis a liquicoating that dries into a kind edible skin. the coating helps the produce last up to four times as long. that buys timetime to transport the produce, to store it, and to eat it before it spoils. eel is based on lipids and other natural compounds found in fruits and vegetables. they're tracted and blended into aailor-made solution.

>> and by combing them in the right ratios, en they dry, they dry into an aangement that allows us to control the factors that cause fruit to age, whicare basically water gog out and oxygen going in. so same materials. we'rjust teaing them a new trick by finng the right formula to apply to different kinds of produce in order to give tm the sameind of protecti that you ve on a lemon,n a cucumb or on an avocado. >> dutch wholesaler nature's pride lls some 120,000 tons of fruits and vegetables a year. they import from 59 countries pecially lin america rotterd, the impoed prode continueto ripen beforet's sortedpacked and ipped to t retailer. spoilage a waste is a common problem in the indusy, but the company hopes to minimize these losses in the future. if a consumer thro food away,

they actually bought it an they don't use it and that costs money. so in the chain, if we don't throw it away, you don't spend that money wrongly. with apeel we can reduce food wastwith 50 percent at the retail level. food that used to land in the trash can now be sold. every day, nate's pride trea six tons avocados with apeel before sending them to superrket shelv across europe. the main customers are in scandanaa, germanynd the netherlas. nature's pride is the first company in eure to use ael. they're planning to start treating other kinds of fruits and vegetables sn. paragus isoming by air. using ape, it may ge em the posbility to by boat. and that is, of course, sustainably fantastic. so there's lots of opportunities. >> so far, the new technology is mainly being used by larg coanies.

smaller ones can't afford it but apeel says it's planning to change that with a new business model in which retail chains and supermarkets pay smaller producers and farmers to install the neceary set-up in return, thell receive longer-lasting produce. farmers in places that haven't had access to national and international markets could also benefit. so the opportunity is to be able to use eel to ruce the transportation costs and increase the quality. it's not d. it's a way for a smallroducer who grs somethinthat's trinsicallvaluable t collect me of th value. >> extending the shelf-life of produce will help but it won't end the problem of food loss and waste. for that, tranortation and refrigeration systems willlso need to be improved and expanded. and nsumers will have to stop throwing food away and start on buyg what they'll actually eat.

>> this week in global ideas we look at employment opportunities. how can jobs be createfor young people while at the same time protecting our planet and its resources? just outside the ugandan capital kampala, our reporter julius mugambwa visited a learning hub which encourages young people to turn eir creative visions into reality. >> our house collapsed. my only beloved grandmother died because from the injuries she suffered . so i turned my painful past into a motivation. i never knew that what i am doing would turn this big, to me and to the environment. >> i felt unloved, i felt discrimited againsbecause of my often falling sick from malaria. i am now part of the solution in my country. >> two people, each with a vision. joan nalubega produces soap with a scent that repels mosquis. according to the un, ery two

minutes a ild under e age of 5 di of malaria. >> even if i'm notaving all the kids that are suffering right now, at least i'm saving the ones that i can. >> johnmary kavuma is founder and rector of e green business upcycle africa, which buildsouses out recycled plastic bottles. >> we are transferring the waste crisis in africa into ployment opportunities for marginalised groups of people, so we are cotructing affordableomes. >> kavuma and nalubega are graduates of the social innovaon academyr sina for shor it located ithe town of mpigi, about 30 kilometers south ofganda's capital kampalhere young people, including orphans and street kids, learn how to develop their ideas into successful businesses. due to the covid-19 pandemic, only a few students are currentlable to atnd asses on cpus.

>> it's not giving them information like a teacher, this is what youeed to d thiss the righanswer, t helping them to discover tir own swers. to understand what the next steps are, what the goals are, how can they achieve them, what they want to achieve. >> german social entrepreneur etienne salborn founded sina in 2014 for people who want to build their own career paths. the academy is financed by donations. it's been over ten years since salborn met joan and johnmary while volunteering in an orphanage. they've known each other a long time. salborn quickly realized that a lot of young people in uganda have no rmal work. the cotry has e of the yogest andastest-gwing polations in africa. especially in uganda, people arnot alwaysrepared toork together to present emselves, to ask critical questions to

find their own sutions, eir own answers. and we are learning th at sina and that's why often not everybody will become an entrepneur, but many of our scholars who have been at sina have found jobs. >> one of the solutions led to kampala, where plastic waste is a huge problem. 350,000 tons of trash accumulates in the ugandan capital every year and only half of it is disposed of. much of the plastic lands on this trash dum recycling isn't common here. johnmary kavuma pays young trash collectors to gather bottles that he can then use to build houses. >> every time that i come here i give some money to other people to recycle and keeping our environment clean. it gives me a lot of hope that the future generation will inherit a healthy planet that we have protected from plastic

waste. >> earth is pressed into the plastic bottles to make bricks. many women work for kavuma's business, giving them the chance to earn their own money. >> our wages were raised recently. now i can pay my dauter's university tuition, and give her the opporunity to graduate. >> kavuma sa the houses are cool inside even on hot days his buness has aeady cotructed mo than 100 buildings, ung over 3 million plastic bottles in the process. due to theoronavirus pandemic, commissions have slowed, but there is funding coming in from abroad. >> we are revising our different solutions we can survive as a company. however, we also have some peop who came along to support .

for example we got some funding from ikea and acumen, that decided to suppo us, especially in the era of covid 19. >> this won suppliesoan nalubega with lemon grass, a key ingredient in her soap. so she brings bars by these days for free. before the covid-19 crisis, she sold her soap to tourists and hotels for a higher price, so she could keep the price down for locals. now that there are hardly any tourists, she's expanded her online business. it helps that the soap's effectiveness has been scientifically verified. >> in the past, often got sick with malaria, especially children. since we've been using the soap, it's been a while since anyone here has had malaria. >> the refugee settlement nakivale in western ugandait provides shelter for more than 100,000 people who fled the

violence in neighboring countries such as south sudan. many people have lived her for years, including victor mafigi . together with etienne salborn, he brought the sina model to nakivale. finding work tends to be even harder forefugees than for young ugandans. a few of victor's trainees have already been awarded prize money at music fesvals. >> iyoung people with dormant settlement, skills. a t of pele who do t have chaes to go to school and also no opportunities. >> we come to realize that refugee artist can not only depe on aid. but they can also be doing mething el, to earn a living.

>> but tre have alsoeen tbacks. becausof covid9, a sin bran in south africa had to be put on hold. nevertheless, etienne salborn remains convinced that sina will play a rt in more succs stories,ike those johnmary kavuma and joan nalubega. >> i have a vision to make my country a better place. i have a vision to make africa, instead of running away from it, to make a better place. >> if my grandmother happened to see me now, i know she would be proud of me. >> stick to your own agreements! the words are simple: the concern is deep. the agreements are of course those set on climate change in paris in 2015. the fridays for future protests have turned into a worldwide movement of people, young and old, calling for governments and individuals to get a handle on global warming. it is, they say, our shared responsibility to act.

something one community in northern finland has taken to heart. >> this is northern finland, near the baltic coast.fter hitting the sauna, nothing beats a quick dip the cold river. >> very refreshing. whenou're heren the wate you ally feel ke a part nare. >> we ve right ithe middle of nure. wean enjoy the water, pick berries and go hunting. it's important for us that we can grow our own food here, and that whave the fest, and access to nature in general.

>> this town's name is ii, spelled ii. it's just as simple and straightforward as the town itself. a few roads, two supermarkets, and just under ten thousand inhabitants. ii is considered one of europe's greenest communities. the town has managed to reduce its co2 emissions by 80 percent. >> in ii, it's become clear to us, at climatehange isn' on the way it's already here. and we've understood that it's not st the big players that have to make the change. we have to be part of the change as well. >> the key to their success has been creatinincentives, so that erybodyoes theipart. finland's daycares and schools, children are taught how to protect the climate. >> it all began with the project.

we tried it ouin three schools. the chdren mitor the wer d electricy use and t paid halof what they'vsaved the scho on thosutilities. then they can buy something with the money. the project was so successful, it wasxpanded toll the schools and daycare centers in ii. >>n the pasten years, residents in ii have reduced their energy consumption by ha. the chilen have us the money ved to b toys, pnts even a pool ble. >> thehave to me out. the are thcarrots. >> no, ty have tgo. >> the town of ii is surrounded by unspoiled nature, as well a some of europe's largest peat bogs. for centuries, peat was burned here as a source of energy, but they're also vasreservoirs of co2. protecting them keeps that co2

out of the atmosphere. businessman yuha hulkko is from ii. he bought large tracts of the nearby peat bogs and made them protected areas. >> we can only change if every person and every family does their part, whatever they can. doing large and small things is what we need to lp fight climatchange. >> some of scandinavia's tallest wind turbines are located in ii. non-renewable energy, heating oil that pollutes the air for example, has been banned. ii relies on its own wind and water, and produces ten times more green energy than the town needs. and ii ear four milln euros a yearelling i leftover electricity. >> we've had many discussions about wind energy, about the noise. for example, the blight on the countryside and how wind turbines disrupt community life. >> 60 new wind tbines are being planned for construction ound the outer edge of a primeval forest. not one tree

has been felled here in the last hundr years. >> you won't be able to conceal the wind turbines. they're 300 meters high and set up only a few hundred meters from this spot. >> it's our common goal to protect nature in li. we need the wind power, but we also need to protect the surroundings. it's like a puzzle. in the end, we have to put all of the pieces together, to find the best compromise. >> protecting the climate is indeed a massive puzzle. what impact can a little town have on such a global problem? a big one, according to the people of . for e thing, they caset a good example. what works for a remote corner of finland just might work for the rest of the world too. >> that's all from us at global 3000 this week! we'd love to have your thoughts on the programme. do drop us a line to hyperlink mailto:global3000@dw.comglobal30

and don't forget we're on facebook too dw women and dw global ideas see you soon! take care!

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