. >> biodiverse city often argued to be important for the world's human populations because all of the medicinal plants and uses that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. while these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars, the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. >> this is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way getting people to wake unand realize what is going on -- wake up and realize what is going on. so it is a memborial trying to get us to interpret history and look to the past. they have always been about lacking at the past so we proceed forward and maybe don't commit the same mistakes. 2:00 . >> (clapping.) you know, we're surrounding the in t

how delicate ecosystems are and what an important role biodiversity plays in their ability to endure. just over 15 miles from the heart of panama city, and steps away from the panama canal, lies soberania national park, a 55,000-acre rainforest that is just one of the many rainforests around the world being studied by tropical biologist bill laurance. dr. bill laurance: the focus of our research is, essentially, how do humans affect tropical rainforests? about 40 million acres of tropical forest are being destroyed every year. that's about 80 football fields a minute, and as a consequence, we are seeing vast landscapes being denuded of forests. we are also seeing the original rainforest being chopped up into isolated islands or parcels. and this might seem like an ironic place to talk about it here because it seems like such a beautiful area. we are in the heart of panama in soberania national park, but this is probably the future of much of tropical biology, because although it seems like a large area of rainforest, over here we have bulldozers knocking down the forest. over in this direction we have slash-and-burn farming going on

how delicate ecosystems are and what an important role biodiversity plays in their ability to endure. just over 15 miles from the heart of panama citycres of tropical forest are being destroyed every year. that's about 80 football fields a minute, and as a consequence, we are seeing vast landscapes being denuded of forests. we are also seeing the original rainforest being chopped up into isolated islands or parcels. and this might seem like an ironic place to talk about it here because it seems like such a beautiful area. we are in the heart of panama in soberania national park, but this is probably the future of much of tropical biology, because although it seems like a large area of rainforest, over here we have bulldozers knocking down the forest. over in this direction we have slash-and-burn farming going on. we have hunters encroaching from all sides of the forest, having major impacts on the wildlife communities. this is an island of forest, and it's shrinking over time. and so really this is the heart of t question we are trying to get out here. are these going to be islands of survival or islands of extinction? yes, you're v

city ministry some initiative and for this german expert. it's a model for the future. the station are in full is looking for ways to help protect costa rica is biodiversity the landscape years changing sometimes very quickly here for instance several meters of coastline had disappeared in the past three months after larger river altered its flow. like the tights that augustine up on that this is in part the result of climate change. there's an increase in rainfall intensity. it is also a result of human intervention that of a hippo or not but if you can see there are lot of tree trunks moving in the river. it was beating up on deforestation and higher earners in the highlands has increased the speed of the rivers flow into the river was more easily when it rains the big guy davis said. she changes the landscape and advising politicians is mediated through folks john. he's in the capital san jose to consult with costa rican authorities. his task is to help draw up guidelines for conservation areas with a special focus on climate change i'm in la and oakwood an amendment to a gap analysis we discovered that certain conservation areas are too small. again f

i think the biggest mystery is the lake itself because biodiversity makes it unique my column is the blue of the earth city get a x. as it can take up the lake through by calls museum of knowledge a must visit for any new comma. lake baikal is over twenty five million years old and in that twenty five million years it uses self and species of plants as well as animals just over three thousand five hundred of them now out of those numbers two thousand six hundred on native born white here and in the lake baikal it's museums like this that help us understand what lies beneath this great lake. the extraordinary creatures found in the lake when the inspiration for the site for a classic alien related director james cameron came here to form this scientific detail for titanic and avatar despite its remoteness there's plenty going on here the families are enjoying the lake species so this is the best kind of from extension for me because you can swim shear go cycling go skating you name it. wouldn't what started out as a day to find out what lake baikal has to offer turned out to be a day off finding out what th