hello and welcome to this week's focus on europe. my name is liz shoo and it's great to be back. the number of people in europe who are dying of drug consumption is on the rise. while hard drugs are illegal in most european countries, portugal has a different approach. the country radically changed its policies. drug addiction is treated as an illness. instead of being punished, addicts are offered help - regardless of whether they consume marijuana,

cocaine or heroin. more than 20 years ago, portugal decriminalized all types of drugs. in the coastal city of porto and other parts of the country, it's mainly those who deal in drugs who have to face legal consequences. while experts hail this step as a role model for other countries, porto residents like cristiano silva have a different view. he's unhappy about how addicts are getting high in his neighborhood. often with the police seemingly powerless. charred tin foil, discarded bits of syringes and blood are all evidence of drug use in the streets and parks of porto. cristiano silva sees it every day. he lives in portugal's second largest city, in a middle-class neighborhood. it's also a hangout for drug addicts.

it's disrespectful to the rest of society. they're using openly in the street. if you don't like it, you have to cross the street. and if you say it's not okay, they get aggressive. portugal decriminalized all narcotics in 2001, no matter how dangerous. anyone found in possession of less than ten days supply now just gets a fine. only dealers go to jail. we're on the road with police trade-unionist hugo moreira. this is a drug-dealing area. we get harassed because we're filming. so we use cell phones to be discreet. we use caution as we try to approach. back there is their meeting point. it's better to avoid it. they can get hostile.

dealing is still prohibited. most drug trades are made behind closed doors. while outdoor consumption isn't allowed, it rarely has legal consequences. since we're no longer allowed to arrest consumers, the problem is we come across more and more situations like this. the police have had their hands tied. those who get caught are offered therapy. and drug centers like this one are supposed to draw users off the streets. but this is the only one in all of porto. joao comes here daily to smoke a cocktail of heroin and cocaine, under supervision. we're human beings, sick, addicted to drugs. we need a lot of help.

psychologist diana castro is proud of portugal's drug law. she says it's a way to entice those affected out of the shadows. after all, there are fewer drug deaths now. when drug use is a crime, addicts stay hidden, off the social radar; they don't accept treatment offers simply because they're viewed as criminals, not as people in need of help. but there's clearly a lack of treatment services. critics fear for public safety. in fact, we were also threatened along with a city administration employee. we got caught trying to secretly film in this underpass. it's an untenable state of affairs for patricia rapazote. she's the district mayor of ramalde, one of porto's problem neighborhoods.

this feeling of fear, of turning around and looking to see if someone's behind you, it's unacceptable. we need more police and more patrols on the streets. the police union are also calling for tougher measures. we're doing our job, doing our rounds, yes. but if there are no consequences? i think we need a facility that takes users and forces them to accept treatment - a facility with enough resources and professionals to care for them. after more than twenty years of liberal drug policies, it is time to act, says resident cristiano silva. caring for addicts is all very well, but not at the expense of protecting the population. it all leads to a sense that they can do what they

like with impunity. it's a pretty dangerous spiral. things settled down a bit in cristiano's neighborhood after a big police operation. but some of the drug scene just moved to another part of town, something that clearly doesn't solve porto's problem. it's been 18 months since the beginning of the war in ukraine. currently, there are no signs of the fighting ending soon so in the port city of odessa, just as in the rest of the country, ukrainians have learned to live under martial law. dj anatoli is offering his fans a much needed break from constantly thinking about the attacks. it seems that now, more than ever, people are even more determined to embrace every opportunity to celebrate life.

enjoying life is what it's about - because it all could end in an instant. they're partying for what it's worth at this beach club in odessa - in a country at war. anatoly is 23. he doesn't have to serve in the army because he's a student, so on the weekends he's a dj. it's music that i love above all else and i play to suit the crowd. that means i find out what people are coming for and play what the people need. the party on the black sea is unfolding between anti-aircraft guns and warships. we're not allowed to show either for security reasons.

i like the ukrainian forces and i'm also grateful that i can do what i love in such hard times and that i can keep on working. the dancers know that everything has to happen fast this evening. after all, there's still a curfew. so, they drink and party hard and fast. diana has invited a few friends to celebrate her birthday. we ask her how she manages to reconcile it all - a birthday party and nights in the bunker. i know that i could die any day. i won't regret having this party today because it's the only one we've had in two years. odessa used to attract vacationers from all over the world. now they are mainly from other ukrainian cities - vika and yulia are from bucha. how's the water?

it's not too cold for me to go in here. it's a change of scene for us. this couple won't give us their names. it's too dangerous for their family in mariupol. they fled from the russian-occupied city last summer. it's fine here, but our hearts are there. matvyi is two-and-a-half. he's from odessa but he can't really enjoy the seaside as he would in peace time. he's startled by every type of noise, each explosion, even when something just falls down. he's scared, runs away and cries. he takes medicine regularly and we're seeing a psychiatrist. oleksii and his 10-month-old daughter yeva fled from the ukrainian city of mykolaiv. they're waiting it out in odesa until they can go home again.

we're just tired of this situation. tired about the uncertainty of life. we don't know what to do. that's the worst thing for all ukrainians, this uncertainty. the russians have attacked odessa again and again over the previous weeks - a city whose center is on the unesco list of endangered world heritage sites. pavlo is waiting for tourists in front of the famous odessa opera house so he can show them the city. history is developing in parallel. i want to share this part of odessa with others so that they can take a piece of the city home with them and not with sad and frightened faces. he shows this group a passage that was built in milanese style at the end of the 19th century, when odessa was part of the russian tsarist empire. the sites hint at the opulence and wealth - traces of which can be seen everywhere.

more recently, pavlo has also started to stop at places that russian missiles have hit. beautiful ukranian cities, like odessa, are being destroyed. it's inhuman. back at the beach club in odessa the party will soon be over because of the curfew and martial law but maria still thinks it important to celebrate life. life goes on for me, as does the war. but without dancing, it's just not the same - even if there's a war. just before 10 p.m., anatoly plays his last tune. something slow . to bring people down. it seems as if he's flicked a switch. the last song was 'everything will be alright' by our very popular okean elzy. i'm using the song to show people that sooner or later we'll win the war and everything will be fine in our country.

he wishes us quiet skies as we go. in this city, that means a night without a russian attack. back in 2015, the world got together to sign a landmark agreement to stop climate change. the paris agreement. eight years later, it's no surprise that the french capital is leading efforts to combat rising global temperatures. gardener valentin hallay is doing his bit: he has chosen the roofs of the city's buildings as his primary battleground in his fight against climate change. valentin hallay is satisfied with this year's bean harvest on the biggest rooftop farm in paris. beans! a whole load of them.

most people who come here are surprised. they say they don't feel like they're in the heart of paris. paris is undergoing a transformation. many are sick of the traffic jams and air pollution, which make the summers almost unbearable. the french capital is hoping to be climate-neutral by 2050. so trees are being planted on public buildings and vertical forests are cropping up. rooftops are turning into massive vegetable plantations. not far from the eiffel tower, valentin hallay's rooftop farm is the biggest of its kind in europe. 1.5 hectares - or the equivalent of two soccer fields. 250 grams, make sure you put the lid on properly. the fruit and vegetables are delivered to a supermarket

that's just two kilometers away. short distances mean lower co2 emissions - it's a win-win situation for the environment. but what about the quality of the produce? i'm ambivalent because, on the one hand, a good co2 record because everything is close by but, on the other hand, it's a very polluted environment. i have to admit i'm not that interested in produce that's been cultivated in the city. i prefer fruit and vegetables produced in the countryside. especially because paris is very polluted. the french institute for agricultural research is hoping to dispel some of the doubts. on this roof there are boxes for fruit trees, and a piece of fallow land to test what grows here naturally. christine aubry and the institute are looking for a

way to promote urban agriculture. she thinks that the produce grown on paris roofs is harmless. some german colleagues at the berlin university discovered about 10 years ago that as soon as you pass the third floor, you're no longer in the zone polluted by traffic. she says these roof farms also have an educational function. there are at least three or four generations of urbanites who don't have any education or direct contact with rural agriculture. so most of our children, grandchildren don't know what cultivating a tomato or a salad entails. that's why franck ponthier rescued a vegetable farm in the middle of a typical concrete desert in the paris suburbs.

how are you? off you go to work. they're a bit shy. he's less worried about air pollution than the contaminated ground. by heavy metals for instance. but he's found a way of getting around this. as the soil is broken up the lead will sink in slowly especially if i don't use any plants that would retain it. if i don't use spinach, lamb's lettuce, carrots or beetroot, that trap the lead, it will sink down. he has planted edible flowers instead. he says that tests have shown that they have no lead residues and chefs love them. just take a tiny little grain, it tastes like leeks - it's pretty incredible. many urban farmers are convinced that there are solutions to fight the problems that arise in an industrialized city.

and the state is funding visionary projects and farms all over france. there are already over 300. not only in paris but in all the big cities of france and even europe. there are more and more roofs being built. and many architects who are already thinking about how to use roofs for vegetation and create green roofs. valentin hallay and his colleagues are planning to double their rooftop space in paris - this is where they see the economic and environmental future. one of the most popular countries for tourists from across europe is greece. every year, millions of people visit the mainland or islands like naxos. but recently, the beaches have been getting more and more

crowded and access to sun beds pretty expensive. locals like journalist irini prompona have had enough. they want to reclaim the paradise right at their door step. it's an unusual sight - demonstators on greece's sun-soaked beaches. but it's not a rarity these days. we want our beaches back, they chant. local journalist irini prompoa is familiar with the anger and outrage on the island of naxos. the islanders are being denied access to more and more beaches -- reserved now for the sun loungers and umbrellas of the business community: all of a sudden there's a free space there on the left. normally, it's crammed full of sun shades, so it looks like they got worried about inspections. but they've just stacked the sun loungers to the side. they can't have known when the inspectors would come;

someone must have warned them. sunshine and azure blue sea. the greek cycladic island of naxos has long ceased to be an insider tip. every year, tens of thousands of tourists from greece and abroad flock to its long sandy beaches. access is supposed to be free. but in the meantime, businesses are cashing in - mostly illegally: local businesses stake out their beach territory bit by bit - and then rent out sun loungers and umbrellas to tourists. a sun lounger with umbrella costs between 20 and 50 euros a day. even nature reserves are not safe, as journalist prompona has discovered: there's even a digger here in the nature reserve. this is a specially protected area, with bogs

and cypress forest. a particularly rare landscape in the cyclades islands. on naxos alone, thousands have joined the save the beaches protest movement. today a delegation is to deliver a petition to the island's public prosecutor. over 1500 residents have signed. the state's being called upon to stop the farce on the beaches. it's the greek ministry of finance who's responsible for monitoring whether the tenants have contracts or not: they are breaching their contracts, but it's also problem the contracts themselves, that they have. so the contracts are probably not legal anyway. restaurant owner giorgos kavuras has a government permit for his beach chairs. the fact that there's no more room for others on the beach, is he says, also due to the hot weather. in the high

season we're overrun by tourists looking for sun loungers - and each time they want more. they literally beg us! the temperatures are rising. without a sun lounger and shade, you won't last on the beach for more than five minutes! just feeble excuses, say more and more greeks. they want their beaches back. and not only on naxos. throughout the country, there are demonstrations against the profiteers. among tourists, the protests are controversial. i'm in favour of the protests. it's not good for everything to be privatized. a beach should be public property. no insert i'm a fan of the sun loungers. it's more comfortable and you have both sun and shade.

even the mayor of naxos demands that the government intervene against the lawlessness. he fears for the reputation of his island. a big issue, not only for naxos, for all of greece, because this shows the lack of good coordination of the state services meanwhile, the government has increased its monitoring, and there are even arrests. fearing inspections, some collect their illegal beach furniture at night. but they won't stay away for long, irini prompona believes: what happens when the storm settles? fines will be sent out. -- or not. that's just how the authorities work in this country. after some time, the parasols will be back as if nothing had happened.

and the fight will start all over again. towels, not loungers! is the slogan of the naxos protesters. and: beaches for all! - for free! and the winner of the battle of the beaches? we'll know by next summer. from the beaches of greece to the swiss alps. part of the mountains is covered in permafrost which - as the name indicates - is supposed to be a layer of frost that is around permanently. but rising temperatures and melting glaciers are shifting the ground, posing big challenges. for decades, the rothorn hut - which opened in 1949 - defied wind and all weather. but then it began to slip. it's located in a permafrost area above zermatt, at almost 3,200 meters. and as the permafrost melts because of climate change, cracks have formed.

there are cracks here on the façade as well as on the inside. they were repaired years ago. but the thawing of the permafrost is causing greater damage. many mountain cable car systems are suffering from the same problem. the eggishorn, which is almost 3,000 meters high, is a popular destination. tourists have a view over the great aletsch glacier, the biggest in the alps. but the ground beneath the mountain station is unstable. the last cable car pylon is shifting and so is the station but not in the same way. we make regular measurements and move the pylon slightly when necessary. the officials say safety is guaranteed because the movements

are monitored meticulously. but there will be a time when it will no longer be possible to make adjustments. that's why a new cable car system, with a restaurant, is being planned on eggishorn. boasting state-of-the-art technology, it will cost 35 million swiss francs. we're going to put the station in a basin and thanks to the hydraulic presses in it, we'll be able to compensate for the movements. there is also building going on at the rothorn hut. a new hut is being built under the old one. at a cost of 3.7 million swiss francs. to repair the old hut would have cost the same as building a new one. like it or not, the mountain is moving. anyone who chooses to build on it will have to reckon with higher costs in future. well, that wraps up today's focus on europe. thank you so much for watching. remember to follow us on social media for more reports.

my name is liz shoo, see you next time!

from berlin. tonight, the leadership of the breakaway enclave of nagorno-karabakh announcing on january 1 we will no longer exist. the announcement comes in the wake of a mass exodus. more than half of the 120,000 ethnic armenians fleeing after an attack last week by the azerbaijani military. also coming up, the european union struggling to agree on new rules on migration, even after germany agrees to go along with