>> welcome to "global 3000." this week we head to south africa, where an innovative medical clinic runs on train tracks. australia, can the country ditch its dependence on fossil fuels? and in paraguay, one orchestra is breathing new life into discarded waste. many people lack access to decent medical care. the w.h.o. says that in more than 80 countries, there is

fewer than one doctor to every 1000 people. and specialists such as ophthalmologists, dentists, gynaecologists and surgeons are even rarer, particularly in rural areas. although overall, health care has greatly improved in recent years, there is still a shortage of around 15 million specialists globally, especially in africa and southeast asia. so what do you do when you need medical assistance, but the nearest hospital is many kilometres away? our next report from south africa shows there are creative solutions. >> cicilia mpanza got up in the middle of the night to be here on time. the journey by bus took one and a half hours. the transnet-phelophepa train is a free, mobile healthcare clinic that travels around south africa. cicilia mpanza has had problems with her eyesight for a few months now.

>> i'm not in a hurry. i'm here to get help. that's the main thing. and i'll only leave once i've seen someone. >> she can't even read the bible anymore, she says. she used to have glasses, but they don't help now and she can't afford new ones. the nearest doctors and hospitals are far away and expensive. >> when someone comes towards me, i can make out that it's a person but i can't see their face, i can't see who it is. >> now she's seen a doctor, she'll get a new pair of glasses which will make her life much, much easier. the phelophepa healthcare train has 18 coaches and facilities to conduct general health checks and supply patients with medicine. there are even psychologists on board. launched in 1994, the

phelophepa trains run 36 weeks a year and travel to up to 70 remote communities annually. for the next two weeks, the train is in hluhluwe, a small town in the province of kwazulu-natal. manager thelma satekge is in charge. >> we also have to put into consideration that the resources that we have at some point, we have to retain them for the next day because there are a lot of patients that come to the train. >> there's a huge demand for the service, she explains. every day, hundreds of people come seeking treatment. sathekge is a qualified ophthalmologist but has spent her entire working life here on the train helping people without access to state healthcare.

>> two weeks are never enough. it can never be enough, so we do what we can, we do the most that we can. >> she spends nine months a year traveling the country. she speaks to her four children every day, but has never been able to take part in their daily lives. that's how it's always been, but it's not easy. >> there's no way you can't miss your family. but also i love what i do, helping the vulnerable people that might not have gotten help if the train didn't get to their place. >> the phelophepa train is a huge logistical operation, funded by south africa's state-owned rail company. for many in rural south africa, it's the only way to get comprehensive medical treatment. as part of its outreach efforts, the doctors also visit local communities. we accompany a team to an elementary school about 30

minutes away. they're showing the children how to brush their teeth. a toothbrush for each child, the first for many. the doctors give them all a quick check up. if there's a problem that needs treatment, they have to go to the train. >> if people have access to shops and you know some kind of places where they can buy sweets and things like that, you'll find that people are more prone to dental caries. but in rural areas where kids only eat what their parents grow on the ground. >> treatment doesn't cost much. a tooth extraction, for example, costs the equivalent of less than one euro. back to cicilia mpansa. in the optician's coach, she's given a pair of glasses for everyday use, and also a pair

of reading glasses. she pays just under two euros for each pair. >> it makes such a difference. i can even see that man over there, from where i'm sitting. i can see much more clearly. >> it's a good feeling to be helping somebody. it's amazing what two lenses can do to a person's life. >> cicilia mpanza lives in a remote corner of the country and gets about 2000 rand, that's approximately 100 euros a month from the state. that's all she, her daughters, and her grandchildren have to live on. they often don't even have enough to eat. >> if one of my grandchildren fell ill, i'd have nothing.

if i could, i would take him to hospital, but i've got no money. we'd just have to wait for his cough to go away by itself. >> her failing eyesight had been making it increasingly hard to for her to look after her grandchildren. she could barely see. >> i couldn't even read the bible. i never picked it up. when my grandchildren needed medicine, they had to wait for their mothers to come home because i couldn't read the instructions. but now i can see clearly again. cicilia mpanza hopes her eyesight won't continue to worsen. it could be some time before the phelophepa train comes back. the last time it stopped in hluhluwe was in 2001, more than 20 years ago.

>> the australian outback, nature at its wildest, and for many, a place of longing. but when temperatures on the east coast rise to 50 degrees celsius, the idyll is over. it's climate change up close and perilous. australia's reliance on its coal industry means it has one of the highest co2 emission rates in the world. can it turn this around and become climate neutral? >> this country doesn't make sense. it has pristine nature. horrific wildfires. and is one of the richest countries with some of the best renewable resources in the world. >> we don't say hello, we say g'day, because here, every day is a good day. >> but despite having an easier job stopping climate change than most, and way more reason to do so, australians are among the world's worst polluters. their lobbying worse than most.

and their ambitions weaker. so how did australia become a climate villain, and can it clean up its act? to understand australia's climate policy, you have to understand its economy, which was built on mining its resources and shipping them to east asia and the u.s. a big part of that was coal. just two decades ago, australia made 80% of its electricity from coal. today, that share is still around 50%. that's twice as much as the u.s. burns and 25 times more than the uk. but the fuel it burns at home isn't the only problem. australia also exports more coal than any country except indonesia. and all that shows in its politics. for the last decade, a coalition of conservative parties pushed coal-friendly policies and pushed back on basic climate science. they were kicked out in 2022, giving australia a chance to

pfinally clean up its act.n but it was the actions of the old lot that gave australia the reputation as a climate villain. when we turn up to international -- >> when we turn up to international meetings, we always get the wooden spoon. we're always called out as a laggard. >> this is kate crowley. she's studied australia's climate policy over the last decades. -- decade. >> our policy positions, if you read between the lines, they're always, well, we'll do anything but actually cut emissions. we'll do anything but actually reduce the amount of coal we're exporting. we'll do anything but make a proper transition. >> the most obvious reason for australia's slow progress is its coal, oil and gas industries, and the power its lobbyists wield over politicians and media. and to make matters worse, australia has some of the weakest political finance laws among rich countries. in the last election, unidentified political donors

gave the big parties more than 90 million australian dollars. this money comes from donors with all sorts of interests. but what's outrageous is that australians have no idea which industries are buying influence. >> it's very difficult to disentangle that level of influence. you'd have to do something about strengthening political lobbying laws and political donation laws for a start. >> for a country burned so badly by extreme weather, it seems strange that people haven't demanded these governments stand up to the fossil fuel industry. but there is a good reason for this. a partisan media with one side downplaying climate change. >> first have a look at this fearmongering from the climate council. >> are you sure australia's emissions really could make a difference? >> a surprisingly large chunk of australian media is in the hands of one powerful man. the three biggest newspapers are owned by rupert murdoch, the 91-year-old media mogul behind fox news in the u.s. his company news corp australia

also owns the tv channel sky news australia. murdoch's papers have historically sowed doubt about scientific facts and attacked policies that could cut pollution. and their coverage of policies to stop global warming was twice as likely to be negative than positive. things have started to change, at least a bit. in 2020, rupert murdoch's youngest son james called out his father's media empire for climate denial as bushfires ravaged australia, and then quit. a year later, the company surprised everyone with a campaign to highlight the benefits of cutting emissions. >> news corp papers unveiled a bold new editorial position this morning with a 16-page wraparound urging action on climate change. >> so the company is moving away from open climate denial but is still pushing to delay action. one argument that has worked particularly well is the idea that fighting climate change will cost australian jobs. australia is home to some of the world's biggest mining companies. the industry makes up about 10%

of the country's gdp. and politicians, journalists and business executives shout about this loudly. >> the proposed scheme is already threatening future contracts putting the jobs of 500 staff at risk. >> finding new jobs for fossil fuel workers is important. but the role that coal, oil and gas play is way smaller than australians think. >> this perception that fossil fuels are really crucial to the australian economy in terms of jobs is fundamental in sort of the narrative against climate action. but really, like, it doesn't really stack up in in practical terms. >> this is climate analyst sumithri venketasubramanian. she found australians overestimate the size of gas and oil industry employment by a factor of 58. it's a similar story for coal. people think coal mining makes 13% of gdp. it's actually ten times less. the weird thing here is that

not only does australia have enough sun and wind to make loads of renewable energy, it also has huge deposits of minerals that are key to cleaning up economies like copper and lithium. and despite all the denial, australians are pretty supportive of stopping climate change. which, given the fires and floods and droughts they're living through, maybe isn't so surprising. the australian institute study found 75% of australians are concerned about climate change. 79% want to phase out coal plants. >> those are some pretty large figures that show the opinions of australians. that maybe doesn't stack up so much with this idea that australians on the whole are climate deniers. >> that mindset played a big role in the last election. the new government has set a target to cut emissions 43% by 2030 from their 2005 levels. now these targets are still too weak to stop the planet heating 1.5 degrees celsius, the level world leaders said they'd try to aim for, but it would get it

down to about two degrees. but despite its higher ambition, the new government has two big problems. the first is the number of fossil fuel projects it plans to build. >> australia has 117 new fossil fuel projects in the pipeline. and so if those get approved, if those go through, that's going to blow all of our emissions over any limit that we set. >> but the bigger problem is their reliance on carbon offsets to clean up the economy. the government wants to make industry emit less co2 for each good it produces. the limit will shrink about 5% each year. but instead of forcing companies to pollute less, the government is letting some of them buy certificates that say they've avoided pollution elsewhere, a lot of the time by planting trees or protecting forests. >> there's no requirement that they can't start new projects. they can keep polluting, they can keep expanding, they can keep increasing their emissions as long as they buy offsets. that's totally fine. >> still, australia is cleaning up its energy system.

cheap renewable energy is displacing fossil fuels even where policy is weak. and even where the federal government has been slow, some states have moved fast. queensland and victoria are getting out of coal. tasmania's electricity grid is already 100% renewable and it wants to generate double its needs from clean energy by 2040. australia's reputation as a climate villain makes sense. it's fought policies to clean up the economy. lobbyists and journalists have kept it hooked on fossil fuels. but its people want change and that's something that's starting to show. >> thinking of the network -- thinking as a network. acting as one. "global 3000" is now global us. for a more united world, for a future worth living, new

"global us" on dw. >> right now, the world needs a lot of good ideas. like how to give waste a new life. this could be turning old plastic into clothes or bags, making jewelry out of scraps of wire, even buildings out of bottles. a passionate musician in paraguay even turns trash into musical instruments. a life-enhancing project. >> this vast mountain of waste is known as the cateura landfill. this area on the outskirts of paraguay's capital is poor, the streets strewn with rubbish. favio chavez is on a mission to improve the lives of local residents. he first came here 17 years ago to work at the cateura landfill as an environmental engineer. but then he decided to launch a project for young people aimed

at broadening their horizons. >> local children wake up every morning and see the landfill site in the distance, and it gets bigger every day. i wanted to broaden their horizons with music. >> a keen musician, favio chavez began sharing his enthusiasm for music with local children and their families. many here live from the little they can earn collecting and recycling waste. chavez has been teaching 14-year-old adner chena to play guitar for four years. >> the people here always welcome me with a smile as though i were bringing them the best gift in the world. all i'm bringing is music, but that's enough for them. >> adner has learnt to play traditional folk songs on a guitar made of tin cans.

>> i'd like to be like favio when i grow up. that's my dream. he helps people like us and he's always in a good mood. >> favio chavez brought the sound of music to this rundown neighborhood. and with it, hope. a music school affiliated to the orchestra is nearby. william lopez builds instruments out of recycled materials. >> these days i know the secret of good sound. this baking tray, for example, sounds better if the food cooked on it was burnt. >> he's skilled at turning trash into musical treasures. old tin cans, spoons and forks he can find a use for it all.

>> this double bass used to be an oil drum. we found it on some street corner, or maybe in the sea. i'm not sure what kind of oil it contained but it sounds great. when chavez worked at the landfill 17 years ago, he would play music with the children of the waste collectors who were waiting for their parents to come home. >> more and more them wanted to learn violin and we'd run out of instruments. violins cost more than a home here. we didn't know what else to do, so we built instruments out of rubbish. we never expected our idea to become world-famous.

>> these days, over 400 students take weekly lessons in the music school built with the help of donations from all over the world and with the proceeds from the students' performances. the music school has become the focal point of cateura. >> the school is an oasis in the district. we're not just teaching these young people to play music. we're giving them a sense of security that's vital. people in cateura have to find ways to survive, despite the many conflicts here, the drugs and the crime. they need this pocket of freedom. >> every year, favio chavez takes the most talented students on a world tour. cateura's recycled orchestra has performed everywhere from south korea to spain.

they've even performed for the pope. many of the families, including adner's, also receive financial aid from the orchestra to pay for school materials and health insurance. the project has kept many young people off the streets and out of trouble. >> whenever he plays, we go and watch. i love watching my son make music. i really do. >> it might be the last place you'd expect to find an orchestra, but cateura is now famous not just for its landfill but also for its music. >> in this week's global snack, we discover a deep sea delicacy in madeira.

the beautiful portuguese island of madeira is located just under 1000 kilometers southwest of lisbon. all sorts of culinary specialties can be found in the capital funchal. there's an abundance of colorful local produce at the mercado dos lavradores in the city center. the subtropical climate means that much more fruit grows in madeira than in mainland europe, such as passion fruit and bananas. not far from the market is rua santa maria. the restaurant sabor a fado uses fresh produce straight from the market. alessandra sousa has been running the place for 12 years. >> we serve typical madeiran dishes such as black scabbardfish, which is very popular with tourists. we serve it with banana and passion fruit.

it's a fish that means a lot to us because it's local, it's caught in the depths of the ocean. >> the black scabbardfish lives at depths of up to 2000 meters. when it's caught, it changes color from copper to black due to the rapid change in pressure. its white flesh is tender and fat-free and above all, delicious. sabor a fado's chef nuno prepares the scabbardfish for the restaurant's signature dish. >> first, we coat the fish in flour and dip it in egg before it goes into the pan. it has to be skin-side up so it doesn't fall apart. then we garnish the fish with banana sliced into thin

diagonal pieces. now we stir together passion fruit pulp and some cream. the cream shouldn't be too sweet. sweet cream doesn't work in this sauce. then add salt and pepper, and last but not least, sabor a fado's secret ingredient. we serve the fish with the passion fruit sauce and garnish it with a sprig of parsley. it looks great and goes perfectly with our special sauce. >> black scabbardfish with banana and passion fruit sauce is a famous madeiran dish. at sabor a fado, it costs about 12 euros. "bom apetite," as they say here.

>> and that's all from us at "global 3000" this week. please send us your comments, global3000@dw.com. see you next time. take care. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

anchor: this is dw news. how do we solve a problem of plastics? negotiators from around the world are trying to end our global plastic pollution problem. also, ukrainian troops training for urban warfare, preparing to take back cities occupied by russian forces. and one of germany's biggest rock bands facing claims of sexual misconduct.