>> welcome to global 3000! sty and arid: how people in spain are dealing with the extreme drought hot and stuffy what can we do to cool down our overheated cities? and: covered up but courageous: in mexico, one daring collective is fighting for women's rights. the abortion debate is dividing

societies across the globe. the un says there are 121 million unwanted pregnancies worldwide each year. more than 60 percent of them are terminated. but nearly half of those abortions are not carried out in a safe way. according to the who, each year 39,000 women die as a result of improperly-conducted abortion procedures. most countries allow abortion although the legal requirements vary. in egypt and the philippines terminating a pregnancy is generally prohibited. in other nations, abortion is only allowed when the mother's life is at risk. in the us and mexico, the law varies from state to state. the right to abortion is a tough fight as our next report from mexico shows. >> they disguise themselves to protect themselves.

what these young women do is break taboos: the 'michis aborteros, the abortion cats, collective want to advocate for open discourse on abortion. >> hello, i'm support person at michis aborteros. >> i accompany women because i lost a friend to abortion in 2015. i'm a mother, daughter, sister. i'm a feminist from the suburbs. i accompany women because this company saved my life. the michis accompany and care for women who want to have medical abortions or who have experienced violence. their mission is to empower women. disseminating information on social media platforms on tiktok, and instagram. your body, your choice, they post. for us, being on social

media means that we can share information freely. and we reach a lot of people that way. calls for help come all over mexico. here, a young woman writes that she took an abortion pill incorrectly. she took misoprostol alone at home without knowing exactly how to take it. now she's calling us for help because she's very upset. we'll check how the young woman is doing and then decide if we need to send an ambulance. >> the michis provide much-needed support to women in mexico, which has a high rate of femicide. according to statistics, ten women are murdered every day. male domineering, possessiveness, jealousy, and sexual violence are cited as factors in a third of these killings. many of the michis have experienced violence themselves or in their close circle. they're motivated by their anger and their pain.

sometimes monuments are defaced, like today, because they're the ideal place to protest. >> these monuments are not alive, ten of them don't perish every day. monuments are made of stone. we are flesh and blood; we're fighting here and we're much more important than these monuments. >> ni una mas, ni una mas, ni una assesinada mas! >> no more murders, they shout. their black uniforms are also a statement. >> the masks mean this is not our personal struggle, but that we stand for all women. >> and they have achieved a lot: almost a third of mexico's states have now legalized abortion. progress for women's rights advocates, but in practice, the implementation continues to run up against hurdles, especially outside of

the big cities - and prejudices persist. and there are also women who are opposed to abortion and who demonstrate against it. pro-lifers protest in front of clinics offering abortions. those who come here seeking help are given a flyer with their views on abortion, views shaped by their religious faith and morals. >> about 50 million babies die in their mothers' wombs every year. this is the worst genocide in history. not even all wars put together have killed so many people. >> being called a murderer really hurts, the michis say. but above all, they find it hypocritical: >> murderer!

>> we've cared for women who were on the verge of killing themselves because of what they were called. we've gotten used to it by now. no matter how many times they call us murderers, we'll keep going. they were also able to help monica. she's is grateful to them and is the only one willing to talk to us. she became pregnant unintentionally and had a medical abortion at home. but she wasn't alone, the michis were there with her: >> it didn't hurt, i didn't suffer. i felt calm, we talked and breathed together. i felt comfortable - it was a good experience. the reason the collective felt they had to take of her was that at the clinic doctors had simply handed over the abortion pills - as if it was for a headache. >> they tell you, 'you have to swallow so and so many pills

after x hours.' everything is super-fast. and afterwards you ask yourself: what did they say, how many hours? >> that's typical. they say, 'here are the pills, take care of it at home.' and that's why a lot of women don't go through with the procedure because they don't know exactly what to do. and there is a lot of misinformation about the medications. >> the michis say inadequate medical instruction is often a subtle form of resistance from doctors. that's another reason why they want to continue their work. they're looking to break down prejudices. many michis are also mothers. they say all women deserve to have freedom of choice. they post messages with their children who are, of course, also concealed. >> remember that women who are already mothers also have abortions. that doesn't make them bad mothers. with a few clicks, the next tiktok video is created - with

a message to the world: freedom for every woman to choose for herself without social taboos. >> dry, hot weather with no sign of rain for weeks on end. large parts of europe are suffering the worst drought in 500 years. southern spain has been particularly hard hit. trees have withered, crops have dried up, forests have burned and local reservoirs are starting to resemble deserts making water scarcity a huge problem. >> the lakefront has receded, and the sun has sucked the moisture out of the ground. deep cracks run through the dry soil. we're in the hinterlands of malaga. the reservoir la viñuela is the most important source of water in the southern spanish province, but it's only at 11 percent capacity. it was meant to bring prosperity to the region.

now, there's almost no water left. the reservoir is losing so much water. it's not being replenished, because it just won't rain. the docks, where once a bustling tourist trade took place, are now on dry land. elena sanchis hasn't even put her boats in the water this year. the tour guide used to offer kayak tours, stand up paddling and much more. she opens the boat house for us. >> it's very sad. they're all dry but they should be wet and washed every day. it's the first time in my eight years here that we can't offer these activities. >> last summer, they sat here in the afternoons, as the children played. the lake reached to the first row of trees; she says. the view, the quiet now, is depressing. she's hoping desperately for rain but has also changed her strategy. she now offers day trip tours to other places.

>> the region is rich. we have beaches, cliffs, caves, parks and mountains. there's plenty here to discover, history and great food. the tourists are still coming. >> the villages around the lake are favorite destinations for british, belgian, and german tourists, staying on the nearby coast. four years ago, christoph barth moved from germany to andalusia. it's never been as dry as it is now. >> last year, there was no rain in the fall. that's decisive. it's normal for it to rain in the fall and in the spring. then everything is replenished. that's why it's so bad. >> paula llamas helps out in her fiancé's restaurant. she grew up in the village and is worried about the future, if the drought continues. next to tourism, agriculture is the main economy in the region.

her father grows avocados. >> if the reservoir runs dry, then we can't water our fields. everything would dry out. many families live off of the plantations. they would have to find some other kind of work. >> more and more plants are already dying. some farmers are resorting to drastic measures, sacrificing some old trees so others have enough water. one kilo of avocados, a tropical fruit, requires between 800 and a thousand liters of water. this region is one of europe's largest avocado providers but monoculture is driving the region to the brink of collapse, according to ecologist, rafael yus. plans to save water have just been implemented. too late to save the reservoir. >> that didn't happen from one year to the next. it's the result of several years, where too much water was used for

agriculture. that, and the fact that it hasn't rained enough, means the water levels are sinking to the point that there isn't any left. >> josé fenández has decided to go another way. he's working with the start-up businessman ernesto rico. he developed a system for efficient watering. it doesn't just bring the water directly to the roots. the flow can be checked with these capsules. not a drop is wasted. >> i walk my rounds and check that the water is really flowing everywhere. that's the system's advantage. underground irrigation is nothing new, but i was never sure how much water was reaching the plants. >> josé fernández was able to cut his water consumption in

half. still, he's going to lose part of his harvest due to the ongoing heat wave this year. >> it's unbelievable that some people still deny climate change. >> the drought is a problem, but because of the drought many are developing a new awareness about water management. >> in the spring he only had twenty customers. this summer, he had 300 more. christoph barth is trying something new. he's showing us his garden and his inventions. he's using the extremely dry weather to dry fruit in his new device. >> this is where the suns comes in. the heat goes up and the things inside dry out. >> figs, tomatoes, pomegranates. the family wants to enjoy mediterranean variety and to live in harmony with nature.

>> we are living during a once in a century event, a milestone. it sounds dramatic, but if human beings want to exist on this planet, we have to re-imagine how we live. >> it's a summer that has made many reflect. the lack of water in la viñuela reservoir is critical. rain is nowhere in sight. meteorologists are warning that droughts in spain will be happening more often. >> bans on car-washing and lawn sprinklers, limits on running water - these are just some of the ways authorities have been responding to the heat-waves in many cities. but is that enough? the climate crisis is making life insufferable for many

urban dwellers. concrete and tarmac store heat and there's often too little shade and too few cooling, green areas. but some cities are developing strategies to cope. >> they're the most dangerous extreme weather phenomena. heat waves basically affect our bodies and the ecosystems around us, and they send us to the hospital or they kill us. this is europe's first chief heat officer. her task is to find ways to protect citizens from the dangerous effects of extreme heat. as the climate warms and the frequency of heat waves dramatically increases, cities are appointing people like her to limit the dangers. we talked to three of them to find out how we can best deal with this new normal. what's coming our way and what can we do to protect ourselves? >> i started thinking of what i have to do in three pillars. the first pillar has to do with raising awareness.

>> how do we communicate and get people to take this seriously? >> many of us aren't aware of just how dangerous heat can be because heat is a silent killer we don't see the effects of extreme heat as visibly as the physical destruction brought by huicanes, floods and other natural disasters. but extreme heat now kills up to half a million people worldwide each year - that's more than all other natural disasters that aren't due to the temperature. and the problem is getting worse, especially in cities, which are heating up at twice the global average rate because they trap heat more than non-urban areas. >> this is going to be one of the coolest summers that we're going to have for the rest of our lives. and that's not something that we shod take lightly. we really have to understand that cities are really hotspots. they're not going to be able to be viable in a few decades. >> by 2100, cities across the

world could warm as much as 4.4°c on average. so how do officials best sound the alarm and make sure people understand the gravity of the situation? >> one of the things that was done for raising awareness, which i think is really a game changer, we have been categorizing heat waves for the first time in atns this ye. it's a pit project at was started in seville, spain and athens, greece and will be adopted by other cities soon. it categorizes heat waves based on their effect on human health much like earthquakes get categorized based on their intensity. the idea is to help people prepare and respond better. and that's not all. heat waves will also be named in the future. just like hurricane katrina immediately evokes these images in your head and makes it easier to remember the disaster, so may heat wave zoe the world's first-ever heat event to officially be named in seville at the end of july.

once it's clear that a heat wave is especially dangerous, information on how to stay safe can be spread to those who are most endangered. >> messaging around heat waves is really critical because there's a lopeople can do with their own behavior to keep them safer. the city of athens even developed an extreme heat app that's now also being used in milan, paris and rotterdam. we have an application called extrema global that shows you your personalized risk, depending where you are in the city and your age and your gender and whether you have preexisting conditions. and it also tells you on the map where to go to take cover, where the cool spots are around you. >> in a similar effort, africa's first heat officer is currently creating a heat map for the city of freetown. >> what we're trying to do is to understand where the hotspots are, where are the urban heat islands to better plan and priitize resources.

>> resources in sierra leone are limited, so eugenia kargbo wants to focus on helping the most vulnerable people first. that includes female vendors who are exposed to the sun all day when selling their produce in uncovered markets without any shade. >> so what we've done is to work together with those women and design a project which we call the market shade cover project. basically it's a simple design. we use material that is heat reflective, that doesn't absorb the heat to provide a shade cover for the women. >> the project will be implemented and launched within the next few months. >> just even seeing the joy on their face when i was talking to them about the project gave me hope that definitely there's something that can be done to help save lives and help improve the living condition of people who are the most vulnerable.

>> on a larger scale, the design of entire cities can evolve to beat the heat. >> one of the solutions that athens has been trying to implement, which a l of cities have tried to implement around the world, is creating green corridors. and we have finalized the designs of three green corridors in athens. >> meanwhile, freetown is currently cleaning up garbage sites and converting them into public gardens that are clean, safe and cool. >> they are also planting a million trees across the city so that freetown eventually becomes tree-town. santiago de chile is taking a similar approach. we just funded a $2 million urban forest program. it's a really ambitious initiative that aims to provide at least 30,000 trees for the city. we never had that in the past before. trees don't just provide shade and reflect the sun's rays back up. they also help lower the air temperature around them by essentially sweating. they take up water from the

ground, which then gets put back into the air through a process called evapotranspiration. but they aren't the only form of vegetation that can help cool down the air. in places where there might not be enough space for new trees, streets and roofs can also be greened. cities across the world, from paris to london, bangkok to singapore, have started incorporating green roofs or living walls in their urban architecture. and santiago de chile is looking to do the same. they are about to start building a cool roof on a public building. >> we know that green roofs can provide many benefits like coolg down the buildings, saving energy, but also helping people to look at some green. it can help with their mental health and also provide a little biodiversity within the city. so we are doing the first one in september and the idea is to measure everything in order to scale that project to the rest the city in the near future.

>> experts believe cities also have to change the way they construct new buildings to adapt to the heat in the future. >> our cities are built primary with materials that absorb solar energy, that are impermeable to water, so we don't get the sort of evaporative benefits, and so we've basically designed our cities to tr heat, and that's whathey're doing. >> using nature-based materials with high solar reflectance is one idea. another is going back to using light-colored materials for the outside of buildings from walls to roofs something that southern europe has been doing for a long time. and now other cities across the globe can adapt that idea. > we have a lot of informal communities, people o live in houses built from zinc. so maybe that's a starting point. seeing how we can provide white paint. it's kind of a basic solution, but the impact is immense. >> of course climate change causedy carbon essions is

thegreenhouse gas emissions in, order to prevent a catastrophic level of global warming. but experts say that even then, so much damage has already been done that we'll also have to learn to adapt. projections show that things are only getting worse from here. that's why we are dressing the problem now in order to prepare us for the future. we know that preparedness takes time and we don't need to wait until a disaster or a heat wave hits us in the face in order to prepare for that. the good news is, there's a lot we can do and we have it at our fingertips. this is less an innovation problem and more of an adoption problem, and tt means we can do something quickly about it if we put our minds to it.

>> accra is the lively capital of ghana. you can enjoy specialty dishes from any region of the country there. in almost all those recipes, the favorite side dish is the plantain. deep fried and topped with lots of spices. it's a staple food of ghanan cuisine. grilled, it makes a perfect snack. setsofia georgina has had this stand for 12 years and grills plantains over a charcoal fire. a real street food. >> this is great spot because lots people and cars pass by and see my food, and then buy it. >> setsofia georgina has both green and yellow plantains. the yellow ones are riper and sell better because they're sweeter. starting at 10 am, you can find the mother of three on the side of the road, peeling and cooking the plantains.

most of her customers come in the afternoon. when the weather is really hot - that's when business starts booming. and with grilled plantains, setsofia georgina says nothing goes better than roasted peanuts. >> i'd like to add another snack to the menu, but i'd never give up grilling plantain because i make a lot from it. >> a grilled banana costs the equivalent of 20 euro cents. like in a drive through, the customers can pull up and place their order. they love it. >> i just love it. its so healthy, very healty. >> sweet plantains, piping hot, the perfect snack for that special craving. >> and that's all from us at global 3000 this week! thanks for joining us. and don't forget to tell us

what you particularly liked about the show! write to global3000@dw.com. and visit us on facebook too dw global ideas see you next week! take care!

♪ >> leiva from berlin eu leaders call on russia to stop making threats to use nuclear weapons. the demand was issued following a summit in prague formalizing a fresh round of sanctions against russia for its war in the ukraine. coming up, the nobel peace prize goes to three champions of human rights. the belarusian activist ales bialiatski is honored alongside the organization