>> welcome to global 3000. under water -- bangladesh's farmers are having to adapto clime change. sustainable livestock farming -- can new methods save mexico's cloud forests? but first, we find out how faith can conquer violence - the former gansters finding god in brazil. the average number of people to be murdered worldwide every year is 6 per 100,000 people. that figure is five times higher in brazil.

last year, an average of 114 people were murdered there every day. that's 41,635 over the year. of all countries not at war, brazil is one of the most dangerous. the country's favelas are particular hotspots when it comes to violent crime, much of it gang-led. the military and police regularly move in on the areas and shootings are commonplace. yet many young men see joining a ng as theionly chancof a future. and leaving is notoriously difficult. >> this evangelical preacher was once boss of a drugs gang. he seeks to make amends for his sins and wants to give others hope. when he speaks, gangsters lien. >> i can't forget the sound of the kalashnikovs.

>> he lives in rio de janeiro, but nowhere near the beach. his wife always prays for his safe return whenever he sets off to preach in a dangerous neighborhood. he himself grew up in the slums and ended up making lots of money through crime. >> unfortunately, i did bad things. we killed people. that's why today, my mission is to convert drug addicts and criminals. >> he is on his way to a prayer meeting. it'll be the first time he attends one since the pandemic hit. while gangsters patrol the streets with automatic weapons, demétrio martins prepares to

deliver a sermon. evangelical christianity is booming among the poor in rio. this is one of many churches in the favelas. >> if you go astray, you usually have three options -- get killed, go to jail or end up in a wheelchair. that's my message to you. >> the church's pastors get the service going. ecstatic practices are typical of this brand of christianity. there are a lot of young people in the congregation. demétrio asks anyone to come forward who has a friend or relative in a drug gang. soon, half the gathering is standing in front of him. that's when he starts talking about his time as a gangster.

>> what kind of life did i lead? i had money and power, but i had to hide every night because i couldn't trust anybody, not even my friends. >> later, back at his home, he told us he never got a good night's sleep as a gangster. but he had had high expectations when he joined up. as a poor boy from the slums, he saw it as a chance to become somebody. >> i started to take drugs and got in with a bunch of criminals. and we would attack other gangs. i rose up through the ranks to become boss in the complexo alemão favela. >> he reached his criminal zenith in the late 1980s and early 90s. he and his people partied hard and took lots of drugs. demétrio martins oversaw 25

drug-dealing venues as the righthand man of a major drugs boss. fights with rivals were bad enough, but attacks by the military police were even worse. a hit team caught him by surprise one morning. >> i was walking down a steep alley when i noticed i had walked into a trap. they started to shoot. i fell. i was in shock. my bodyguards ran off. >> since then demétrio has been paralysed from the waist down. nowadays he spends his days going around the favelas preaching and trying to get gangsters to reform. his own story is well known -- a bad man who found god and the path of virtue. many people here find it moving.

he often talks to the dealers hanging out on street corners here. they seem to accept him, and grenade with them, just in case. >> the government needs tod create opportunities for the kids here, so they don't just make the obvious choice and become dealers. they'll lose their freedom, or even their lives. >> those who choose to go clean and renounce crime are relatively few in number. wagner de oliveira is one of them. he got his first revolver when he was just 15. >> my career went well. i was soon one of the bosses and had loads of cash. and then in a shootout i was

grazed by a bullet. >> nowadays, he's deputy head of the local residents' association. he helps them fill out forms and deal with the authorities. >> all i have left from my former life are bad memories and scars. i sleep much more peacefully than i did back then. >> he has devoted himself to improving conditions in the neighbourhood -- digging drainage ditches and clearing roads. they plan to tarmac this one. when demétrio martins, the preacher, does manage to sway a gangster, it is usually during a prayer meeting. it's quite standard around here for dealers to attend and engage with the pastors. towards the end of the meeting, a young man is moved to get up and tell his story of

redemption. >> i was sentenced to 14 years in prison. then i found god and then i was released. now i shall always walk with god. >> other congregants find such declarations inspiring and gives them hope. then another dealer comes forward, to receive a blessing. to outside it might seem very odd that drug dealers can be god-fearing. >> everybody must know in his heart what he is doing. >> he declares his intention to live a cleaner life. >> i want to give up drugs. >> demétrio martin's good example seems to be a healing influence, helping others like himself to escape a life of drugs and crime.

>> in may 2020, a tropical cyclone hit the coast of bangladesh. millions of people had to flee for their lives. storms in the bay of bengal often drive sea water far inland, damming two of the country's main rivers, the ganges and the bramaphuttra. this can cause them to burst their banks, floodg large ars of land. experts believe that climate change will inevitably make exeme weathemore common. the country's annual monsoon rains are already becoming increasingly heavy. they also fear that by the end of the century, sea levels around bangladesh could rise by one to 1.5 meters. large areas of the low-lying country would then be submerged under water. >> in southern bangladesh, the monsoon rains are getting heavier year by year. and that means ever more extensive flooding. nowadays, obaidal molla's fiel are not jt underwaterduri

full eight months of the year. so he has tued to growing vegetables on floating beds. the water here is fresh, not salty. molla has become a farming pioneer by reviving a technique that dates back many centuries. >> i learned it from my father. he grew a few plants on the water, but he didn't do it systematically. we have developed the technique further. we don't really have any other option if we don't want to starve. >> molla has got used to spending much of his life in and on water. the venture is proving very successful. the gourds are growing fast. they are almost ready to harvest. >> vegetables grown on water taste better and contain more vitamins. we don't need any chemical fertilisers or pesticides. so these vegetables are better

than the ones grown on land, much better. >> seedlings have already been planted on the adjacent bed. the roots draw nutrients out of the water. the beds are made up of water hyacinths, decayed organic material, compost that fertilises the plants. they're held together by nets d hardly me. there's almost no current here. obaidal molla has become sothing of a star in his village. his income is now three times the local average. the whole family works on the farm. his daughter lamia is embedding gourd seeds in balls of compost. they will then be planted on a floating bed. farmers in bangladesh are innovating their methods in response to climate change. >> what's a bit scary that my father is out on the water all

the time. it's getting hotter and hotter here. and mosquitos breed on the water and cause diseases. my father is often ill. it's terrible. he is the only one in the family who earns any money. so we get very worried whenever he is sick. >> in the neighbouring village, a breadfruit tree has just been felled. the timber is for mohanando samadder. he has given up farming and now only builds boats. it takes him six hours to build a boat by hand. business is great. he could sell a lot more than he can build. >> we are very busy right now. it's that time of year. the farmers have to take to the water. for us, it's doubly good,

because we have to use up the wood. otherwise it will rot in the rainy season. but we still offer the farmers a good price. >> mohanando samadder goes to the boat market every friday. he may be 70 but he paddles the five kilometers there comfortably. hundreds of rivers flow through bangladesh, and they have tens of thousands of tributaries. in low-lying coastal regions, like here in barisal division, water is a growing threat. the sea level is rising in the bay of bengal, so rivers flow more sluggishly towards the sea and spread out across the land. salty sea wateis intrudi deeper into the interior. >> for boatbuilders it means more work. the boat market stretches for more than two kilometers along the sandhya river. these boats sell for the equivalent of 40 euros. they are robust and can carry

loads of up to 450 kilograms. mohanando samadder has a number of loyal customers. >> it all depends on the skill of the boatbuilder and his experience. i have both. so people like me. but i have had to work very hard to get to where i am now. >> back at obaidal molla's farm, dolon roy has come to visit. he is an agricultural engineer with the district authorities and stops by regularly. the government is keen to promote floating farms. all kis of crops can be grown on them -- spinach, okra, tomatoes, cauliflowers, as well as gourds. climate change could mean that a third of the country will end up under water. the question is if floating farms, like here in barisal, could be developed across the country. >> right now, bangladesh produces enough food to be self-sufficient. what we don't have enough of is

safe food, food free of toxins and contaminants. the floating gardens make a valuable contribution because the famers use a lot less pesticides because there are fewer pests on the water. >> at the local wholesale market, obaidal molla sells his produce and also seedlings to other farmers. he says he used to grow just rice and that that involved much less work, but switching to farming on water has proved to be much more profitable. >> seedlings grown on land are weaker. ours are more robust and look fresher. so we sell more than land farmers. our water seedlings are in greater demand and command higher prices.

>> more and more farmers in barisal are planning to switch to floating cultivatio there'certof water.ortage >> on their travels, our reporters often meet interesting young people like this week's global teen from thailand. >> hi, my name is pleng, i'm 16 years old and i go to the international school of bangkok. i'm currently a junior and i there's no other experienc. i lilike being in the water. it's jusyou and the water and you feel a sense of connection.

that'sothing youan ever experience on land wn you're connecd to nate on that level. f dippears andou just reize w amazinand connecd nature is to you. i like to learn, but i don't necessary like howchools are organized. i feel like it puts too much pressure on getting good grades, et cetera, instead of just the aspect of wanting to learn. my mom owns a parentinseminar company caed 360 degrees, and my dad, he just makes business deals. as of now, i currently hope to work in the u.n. i think it'd be really cool to just be in the middle of it all

atheir decisions that they make is what it feels like, and when those in power have their own political agendas, tt's when athethings get really scary.ake isn i think out this f and when second? i hope that in the future people become more sympathetic towards others and realize how similar we are instead of focusing on our own self-interest, because at the end, nothing can work without each other. and i hope that in the future we can all just co to terms with how everyone is different. yet we all strive for the same things. evenf we hold different

beliefs, we all want the same things. >> this ek in glob ideas, we look athe toll faing takes on nature. millions of hectares of woodland have already been destroyed worldwide to make way for agriculture. in a nature reserve in southern mexico, more sustainable methods are protecting both farmer livelihds and t forest >> it's daybreak, and hektor carillo is on his way to milk his cows he follo a path the nambiyuguaa motain in e laepultura biosphere reserve in southn mexico. legend h it o trieto take something away from the mountain will never returnome. e slopesre shroud in an almo primamist. the'sng away en widesead defostationnever returnome. onany of t other mntain e slslopesn the reon.an

farmerkeep the cattle the fosts thatemain. hektorarillo'sows grazon landhat's feed off to protect the woodland. >> the cattle wreak havoc in e forest. ey destroy everhing, contaminatthe stres and causgroundnd. erosion. so if they run around the forest and it rains, there'll be landslides. >>ector keeps 20 cows. he used to have many more but he got rid of half of them because he knows that traditnal livestock farming is bad for the environment. decades ago, his grandfather switched from growing corn and beans to livestock farming, because it was more profitable. three years ago, hector joined the project biopasos, which promotesattle farmg that's sustainae and don't destro diversity. his income is starting to

increase, and the enronment gradually recovering. but it's been a difficult few years. >> i argued withy father. thati had tovercome. hasn't be easy. but i asked him to give me a chance. when i took the risk with my small farm, i went through some hard times. very hard times. i milked my cows conantly, but the yields were low. >> indigenous farmers traditionally let their livestk graze inorest stures, analso grew >>vegetables. farmers their methods were sustainable. descendants are looking toeen lr revive it, and save the cloud forest. josé antonio jimenez coordinates the biopasos

project inhe state ochiapas. meticulous planning facilitates the farmers' switch to the climate-smart ivestock concept. ménez knowthe regi well and can provide practical support when neccessary. the biggest challange he faces is convincing the farmers to change t way they've always done thing >> we need to work with the rmers identifproblems together we alsneed to work with them to find solutions. th process, taking into count the expertise and exrience of the farmers and their families, helps them to learn new things. weust always factor what the farmers know. >"protecti through production -- that's the motto of biopasos. farming practices don'have to enta forest deadation. some 1200 farmerin the regn

have joined the inititiative. most of them are cattle farmers. ejuan pimtel still s a herd some 1200 fa cows. the regn but he also cultating bananas and soursop trees on a section ofis land. even though it will beive years before the fruit provides him with a solid income, he signed up with biopasos. >> people think we're crazy. they don't know why we're planting smagrow.ees when we but my wife and i hope that even if we never get to harvest e fruit, o day o children and ougrandchildn will befit. anthey'll also benefit from improved air quali. >> a year ago, juan pimentel's wife julieta was one of several local won in theillage los geles to found theirwn

chee dairy, ich theyun as a cooperive. ey all ud to make eese at home bthemselvesnow they'v joined fces. the uipment isll brand n and waprovided bbiopasos the womeproduce fi varitiesof . it's good at we're making different kinds of cheese. everyone knows different varieties, so we're experimenting. we women support one another. >> the farming families used to sell their milk via a middleman at a very low price. now they're earning better.

that was one of the main incentives for joining the projecand switchg to it means they can sell theirl. produce at higher prices. our aim was not only to teach themew technic skills bu to suprt them inhe whole production cha, from the farm our aito the consumer.o teach >> hector d rosa carllo ha also inveed in a cheese press. it's helped speed up the production process and they hope tt in the lg run, itwilly inco. >> tt's all from us at gbal 30 this week. what did you think of the programme? write and let us know. we're at global3000@dw.com.

and we're on facebook -- dw global ideas and dw women.

narrator: from deep inside a volcano to the density of a forest, people around the world are preserving natural wonders in their home cities. a docent at mt. vesuvius shares why he has devoted his life to the volcano that destroyed the area generations before. a man in hong kong leads neighbs in a fight to preserve the historic forest that has become polluted.