species on us. over two hundred million of them for every human. the critical role. pollinating crops decomposing waste and supporting food chain.

the germ study from twenty seventeen has coast worldwide. showing that in some areas flying insect numbers of food and over 75% in the last twenty seven years. and humans are to blame. if development and pesticide use continue we could soon face what me experts according iecto get in the ecological collapse of the insect population. what is to happen it would change life on us as we know it? i mean i would love him in new zealand where an eerprising group of scientists are bringing a dinosaur. insect back from the brink of extinction and i'm gary to robbie in great britain to see how overlooked industrial wastelands are being turned into a bug reserves. new zealand is rich in wildlife and because of its isolation

there are hundreds of plants and animals that involved here but i found no where else. that human introduce pass have threatened and even wiped out many species. one of those in the native when a punk. it's one of the world's heaviest in six and has been around for a hundred and ninety million use even out leaving the dinosaur. they used to be found older than you sealant but now they close to extinction. these amazing ancient creatures play of fine to roll in the system. and without the other native plants and wildlife could also disappear forever. the oakland zoo has launched a set of programs to save the way to punga or better. starting within the new interactive exhibition that aims to excite the next generation about.

six like a month. featuring giant three d. model in six weeks educational games and puzzles. blood lab shows just how fast [inaudible] the these are really cool. these children have never seen a way to punga yet had they lived several generations ago they would have spotted the man the goddess. earnings into guide because to make fun lady explain why we should all care more about on the eighty six and people just dismiss them. i'm not any that they're really really important for the environment. everything works together with that and six with media. wooden is it to teach young people about in. six right for the other ones are going to have to be helping. to

keep in six seconds to come in and find out. if i can really connect with in six of it and i will not. be in that kind of a right. services can be great for raising awareness f causes b it's just on the other side of the zoo that some really significant work is being done. to protect and revive the threatened with a punga. i'm meeting been good with an entomologist at oakland zoo's wait upon the breeding program. hey ben hi a good thanks how you doing. this is where i would appear tips. this is one of the world's only indurializednsect conservation programs providing the optimum lighted temperature conditions who waited hunger for these are the ones that you brett yeah so that's an adult would appear in here [inaudible] credible. massive. they one of the heaviest and six in the world this is an adult fame out so they don't get too much bigger than this which upon the can weigh up to seventy

grants that's the equivalent of three small mice. i think i can hold her hand. search out while [inaudible] incredible. debate jump today why not so they totally flightless they've got really good camera flashes the nocturnal sorry the very very well adapted -- for did producers -- but mammals can just smell them out. so that way i started to die ou. though considered really common in the to the middle part of the eighteen hundreds and in humans extremely diverse france new zealand and went into the same street i would basically. everywhere so i from one on so besides the fact that they incredible why would you say the weapon that. they have a important functions to blame the ecology so exfoliates does mess of theirs and i was the ground. and air spaces which side.

read about in books as a kid. the breeding program started in two thousand and twelve wi only twelve with her. since then over three and a half thousand in six have been released onto a few key islands. which still provide the ideal conditions for them to flourish. today ben's readying a batch for transport. it is amazing as once today. because it a lot. service hoping comes out. i like to hide these little choose. twenty eight and is this a sign that you want to be taking to the island. yeah once they've got a bit of sauce on them and they're a little bit more about us about fuel princes in this life to ground level. yeah yeah. yeah yeah. one right that's the first thing i also just a tally here. what's the success rate of your rating program up to about 90% of all right which is really really good. to the thing that upset that we work in the ma i'm sure that.

that's one to hang on to it. okay right. since everything which will be released and not. getting it. we found three hundred and eighty five which have packed and ready to move it's time to head to the docks. we're off to a private island in the how to keep gulf. when a full still hospitable to west? it's a one year old boat journey from the mainland -- rod and sued norroy to the islands onus avid conservationists who have gin their land over to the protection of native species. yeah yeah i yeah right have you always been involved in the releases. as much as possible. in two thousand d three robbins who finally breed the rats stoats and feral cats.like

making it a safe home for winter pungo. we've never really look to their cells is i mean is that more is- gudians of the sun wonderful place that we've had the privilege of growing up and how is releasing the what upon going to the island actually fit into all of the plans. site they're critical to the health of the island nothing exists in isolation so the weather punga or that of one of the miing links [indible] for assistance as part of the drexel. even though rates are a crucial piece of the landscape here. the young in six still need to be handled carefully. which means selecting the perfect spot for then you hope. for wildlife parade. how do you choos the funds for you release wes is? sites here and so we want tolay look for a place that's got lots of hiding spots. and someone has got lots lots of good food plants as well.

witness is incredible. how how old is history? does this need to be about eight hundred years old. the diseases the fecal pellets from. and is massive good way to and sometimes detect the presence of you can actually find them. and it's obviously really important for the ecosystem. yes and it's impactful nutrients and it's recycling facing. monsoon solo help finding these droppings isn't tony a sign of a healthy environment but also evidence of an already thriving pulation. will surely will continue coming this is kind of the ideal spot. with a base price and alone for them. to be released. to heaps and heaps and heaps of it home school with a from this is one of their preferred phone plans. making guy from the string and dismissed ride across the whole forest [inaudible] graham.

the west will be released at night when they are most active. this pic tape will help us find the spotted the dog later on i can't believe they trusted me with things will. all ghts the start of the relief sought here yeah. you can see a much more active lands when. as she does this. one again relates more on the strong now will move. how important is it for you to re establish what upon the headlights or something -- just giving back something that probably would havbeen here years years ago. hopefully the a. droppings wil

end to the forest [inaudible] emma [inaudible] no. what's that. another. one a skin real soft touch on the back. so how much longer do you think you'll be doing these sorts of releases full. and then -- and after that it's mainly just monitoring the populations. allen's big. one wish upon the now exist on four islands as a base to predators are slowly removed from other locations tt number is expected to rise. the hope is at one d later punga cld return to the mainland. they once thrived. there is certainly the will for change here and you see it. more people and institutions are taking action in support of native species. the government has even committed to rid the country of human introduce pests by. twenty fifty there is still a

long way to go. but at least the future is now looking optimistic for the way to ponga. reproduction sounds i found it is pulling. wh an insect viss flower to feed off its neck? to put in rob self from the ml statement once the insect and sticks to the hands on his body. as the insect moves on to another flour grains of pollen transfer to the female stigma. that's when pollination happens so that seats and free to produce. around5% of cro spees require pollination by an anima. often insects including bees but also other animals such as birds and bought. two out of five insect pollinators a disappearing. and with. our food supply.

in southwest china won't be subpoenaight to kate by intensive farming. so people are doing the work the bees one states. every a and han one county thousands of villages painstakingly pollinate every single aplin pablo some by hand. using a long stay attached to ushes or chicken feathers. the method works with some high five you put cheese. but the simply onsen off people to pollinate the world's crops. much more effective would be to not show pollinating insects populations in orchards. by banning pesticides and planting natural habitat. bees and other insects have been safeguarding our food supply for millennia. the least we can do a ton is to provide them with what they need to survive. with a long history of habitat

loss in industrializedarming he fifteen some othe worst case of sect decli and extinction in the world. i've come to the u. k. to see how old industrial sites are being turned into a bug reserves in an attempt to reverse is wearing trench. professor dave goals and has been studying insects for over twenty years and understands just how damaging their rapid decline could be. undergoes a why are insects hearing. a whole host of challenges that they face more to do with us. modern farming methods to become very reliant on the using lots and lots of pesticides -- which mean the farmer can grow our perfect monoculture without an insect inside the entire botanical diversity surrounding us is just a handful of species instead of the hundreds of species that used to live here. and a lot of people think that this is war the the british countryside should look like but it it's only been like this for

a few decades. it's basically makes the landscape uninhabitable for most insects is there anything we can do to turn this around or have we sort of past the tipping point. for some species is too late some of gone extinct but for the majority they're still here. and we need to make sure we look after. we should be absolutely terrified about this issue should be something that everyone is talking about and everyone is key to fix because if if we dined. we face a really bleak future with that. that's a call to arms if there ever wasne and here in the u. k.. some groups are taking the warnings of entomologist seriously. i'm on my way to camp he went to see the u. k.'s first reserve for insects. i'm due to meet doctor serra henschel an entomologist and buck life an organization dedicated to the protection of insects. but this desolate x. industrial or brownfield site is not

exactly what i was expecting. hello you must be serra hi. welcome to come you it. just states that is one of the merry spite of a wildlife which sites in britain. site you want to take a look i really. this place ud to be. and find me. the remnants of industry around. and for more than fourteen yet and why is an old oil refinery an ideal spot for protecting bugs. hasn't been. ninety the site service providing natural habitat that had been lost in thwhite a landscape wildlife is using this is iraq's future. they're what this it looks like a helicopter should be landing any minute now. is it a large tom i base is about sixty of them across the site they would have how is the

large oil storage tank is but you can say. nature is coring back and how many species of insects are there on the site. every two thousand five hundred different species on the sidelines including some found no al's this is why the site is the u. k.'s face because if. we try to find some. hunting for new things us brownfield site which makes her remains in all these different habitats and with a small place a grounds pass. next flowers fade on square and traced to win twenty five shelton is an amazing may say. everything they need all in one place. so why are these insects so important to the natural landscape so we need healthy ecosystems iest but indicate. for if the books to hoch pay and the megaphone is half pace of the novels in the bad old. bass at least look at the books

and everything else will fall into line. can't be weak it's been described as a little brown field rain forests and i can definitely see why. there bugs everywhere. so many that a team of volunteers carry out surveying work throughout the whole year. moran imagine or do you have their morning's work set out on their table which doubles as a lab. here what's going on in here this guy's really active. all ground beetles there's a predator species that a living this back grounds i can do what we got a few species actually only found here. did you catch these old today or over the past week yeah even less court a cold spring day today still see it as a rich diversity of life. and what will this help you establish movie forward. soive us a go sign off on what hey and then that way we can see how it's improved. on what we see more of what we're seeing lots of you doing that -- regular studies like this in such a bite of us hot spot my county which is really important to see how the rest the country's during. do you release the insects or do you take them back to the laboratory what happens to them most of them we can id on site

so you can released in the nice that day. however some of them we might need to take back to have a better look at the counselor says this is a lucky more caterpillar. living son is protective went on the head joys we used to find an event in the u. k.. but she said martin landscapes holiday bonus cuts and it's a campy what we see them all over the place. i think this is a perfect example it shows what the the the bonding sites that i've actions we refuges spaces at the clientele's wax but a surviving on sites like this. since back life started serving nearly ten years ago three insect species believed to be extinct have been discovered here and can the way. it's exciting and i can't resist trying to find a few myself

[inaudible] all right this. was taken care of them as well. by the bomb. yeah. it all seems like a good fun but this surveying is crucial not only for monitoring insect numbers. also managing the land so that it provides the best possible habitat for these creatures that drive. imagine has offered to show me a declining species that need some special treatment. what we have in here and say that a brown banded collar debate and it's one of the two hundred different scies of bees and wasps that you can find on this site? another what we do here is to remove some vegetation they have some background they can borrow into. and make what we called i'd be cliffs. removing vegetation sounds counter intuitive to a nature lover like myself. but imagine as e experts so i'll wait to see what she has to show me. she's taking me to find an elevated spot to create our be class.

so what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna be cutting back a lot of the cross on the lot of scrap. a lot of people when they want to save invertebrates they think that they have to policies what format is we is incredibly important but also ty do you really need these nice. it live it and how do they occupy the space to this sort of burrow into the stands yeah so what they'll do is -- for me finds. a new home like this one here. and i'll take a little nice into that. we've made a good [inaudible] yeah definitely. it's so amazing to be so close to it. especially when it's such a wry species. we often think of conservation and saving species we just think of these meadows in these perfectly manicured landscapes. all of the wasteland.

away signed to them it's the house and is in fact the last place they can be in this area. so it's really important that we take that into consideration when we make decisions about lines. today can be week has been a resounding success. but to save the prisons in sacks more land must be given over to their protection. serra wants me to see another site that bug life is looking to reclaim twenty kilometers down the road and west eric marshes. if successful it could a an additional seven hectares of protected habitat to the cause. it's been a quiet book they've been fabulous -- within sight and i've been here a few times i'm really excites shows. before the site was abandoned it was a coal fired powerstation. blacks of straight is the fly ash which is the by products. it's running so math please let me check poor quality soils

really phase tt looks a wallflower is that bumble bees wasps hoverflies bee flies will really love and take advantage of with the untrained eye it looks like wasteland so we've had two huge amount of wet campaigning and raising. awareness and we had this is going to be one of our next book with a cat. do you have a lot of resistance when you approach developers and local governments when you want to talk about conservation on sites that could earn a lot of money for them. of course because this is prime development land. unfortunately in just ten years i hall for the brown field person to show lands in the ten k. white or you been developed. to demonstrate the need for sites such as county way and hopefully this new feature. that present themselves because we're losing this resource quicker than we even finding out how important it is. i prize an amazing opportunity to challenge perceptions on thirteen drive size of expenses

books that are important. and i think we should have more of these no i mean you cape elsewhere in the world. after hanging out with sarah and her amazing team a bug's life i don't think i can never go by any piece of land no matter how derelict in forgotten. and not see its full potential we really need to have the shift in perspective because as our own species rapidly grows in industrialized as land. every square inch counts and by protecting our insect neighbors will ultimately safeguarding our own future. six numbers are in steep decline. but across the globe people are endeavoring to invest this alarming trend. in the us conservationists oregon soon a saving to local butterfly species. by breeding a releasing as many as two thousand along the

coast each yea. and an engineering student at simon fraser university in canada has designed a real time bee hive monitoring system to track be health through crophones and heat sensors. by helping to pinpoint the courses of colony collapse disorder. her invention has the potential to save millions of bees. the race is on to prevent the collapse of the planet's insect populations. if life on earth is to continue as we know it. then we need to move fastñtñf?oñ

hothousands of volunteers in0”" india are helping to save local lakes and rivers. dwindling diversity -- how the seed industry is booming at the cost of crop variety. and finding hope -- how guatemala is trying to turn the tide on its migration crisis.