i am joining a crack team of scientists from the royal botanic gardens, kew.ission to discover and save unique plant species before they vanish forever. i am going to bear witness on the frontline of rainforest conservation. this is where the journey begins — not in colombia, but in the royal botanic gardens, kew, london. kew is the world leader in developing plant science. the botanists are preparing for their mission to discover new species. and it is from here that this expedition will be launched. i have come here to see the expedition leader, doctor mauricio de bernardos. he works in a library for lab specimens. this is where we identify new plants. we believe we have more than 200,000 different species here. you are a botanist and a biologist. and a scientist and an explorer in some sense. what are you expecting to get from this mission? the most remote areas are the best preserved and this is going to be our most important expedition. we're going to try to get into the heart of this area. we do not know what we expect to find. what is at stake with this

i've traded in my wheelchair for a packhorse a the royal botanic gardens, kew.