hello, and welcome to this special addition of witness history with me, claire marshall.um and gardens in south london to bring you five people who have experience extraordinary moments in environmental history. coming up, a survivor of the toxic waste scandal that devastated japan. the environmentalist who tried to solve mexico city's air pollution crisis, and we will remember the beginnings of organic farming in the uk. but first in 2004, wangari maathai became the first african woman to win the nobel peace prize. she was an environmentalist and human rights activists who founded the green belt movement in the 1970s. but she repeatedly clashed with the government while trying to protect kenya's forests and parks. 0urfirst witness is her daughter, wanjira mathai. 0urfirst witness is her daughter, wanjira mathaai. my mother was often asked, "were you afraid? "you were fearless!" "how can you do all these things?" and she said, "no, i was afraid." but she said, "what needed to be done was so compelling, "that i had to do it." she grew up surrounded by nature, surrounded by

claire marshall bbc news.e's undergone, after herjaw was broken in a horse riding accident. emily eccles' surgeon described the injuries as the worst he'd seen outside a war zone. the 15—year—old smashed into a gatepost while riding in derbyshire in august. it took medics five and a half hours to rebuild emily's face, using three titanium plates and more than 160 stitches. andy moore reports. for five days after the horrific incident, emily avoided seeing her reflection. but now, eight weeks later, she is happy to see the results of her recovery. her scar is healing well. this was the ct scan taken soon after her freak horse riding accident. part of herjaw was completely detached and hanging byjust a thread of skin. it was a life—threatening injury. she was told if the impact had been a centimetre away, the result could have been catastrophic. immediately afterwards, she was in shock and could not quite comprehend the scale of her injuries. i asked the lady next to me, is that myjaw? and she just looked at me

claire marshall, bbc news, the wave, near bristol.t since they spoke candidly in a tv documentary screened earlier this week. prince harry made a surprise appearance at the event in windsor castle to discuss gender equality, which was being hosted by his wife. meghan thanked attendees for allowing harry to "crash the party". time for a look at the weather.. here's chris. yes, this was the scene in the staffordshi re yes, this was the scene in the staffordshire mirrors, probably a scene we will get used to in the next 2a hours because —— staffordshi re next 2a hours because —— staffordshire moors. you can see here the cloud stretches out for a long way into the tropical atlantic. this weather front is in fact over 3000 miles long and this conveyor belt of moisture will be hitting the high ground of england and wales, bringing a risk of localised flooding. this is 2a hours' worth of rain in some places so you can imagine it will be very wet. met office issued warnings, amber warnings in force in the south of wales, where some flooding i

claire marshall, bbc news, the wave, near bristol.brand new skyscraper, it's one of the highest outdoor observation decks in the world. for real thrill—seekers, there's a glass bottomed floor where you can see the streets below, and even angled glass, so you can lean out above the city. now it's time for a look at the weather with simon king. iam not i am not sure about that! we have an unpleasant 21! hours ahead of us with heavy rain moving in from the south—west, all courtesy of this area of low pressure which is way out into the atlantic. but look at this wiggling front moving its way in across the uk. low pressure towards the far north will give us some strong winds. there is a real temperature contrast. two very different air masses across the uk. mild airto the different air masses across the uk. mild air to the south, colder air coming into the north. it is going to feel very different depending where you are today. for northern areas, temperatures are 809 celsius. further south, really mild. areas, temperatures are 809 celsius

claire marshall, bbc news, the wave, near bristol. the duke and duchess of sussex have attended their firstjoint engagement since they spoke candidly in a tv documentary screened earlier this week. prince harry made a surprise appearance at the event in windsor castle to discuss gender equality, which was being hosted by his wife. meghan thanked attendees for allowing harry to "crash the party". time for a look at the weather.. here's chris. yes, this was the scene in the staffordshi re yes, this was the scene in the staffordshire mirrors, probably a scene we will get used to in the next 2a hours because —— staffordshi re next 2a hours because —— staffordshire moors. you can see here the cloud stretches out for a long way into the tropical atlantic. this weather front is in fact over 3000 miles long and this conveyor belt of moisture will be hitting the high ground of england and wales, bringing a risk of localised flooding. this is 2a hours‘ worth of rain in some places so you can imagine it will be very wet. met office issued warnin

claire marshall, bbc news, the wave, near bristol.go and sample earthworms in the tropics, you would on average find lower numbers of species and abundance than if you were to sample earthworms in the temperate regions. this is actually not what we would expect if you were to only look at above ground organisms. secondly, what we found was that it was climate that was driving these sorts of patterns in the earthworm communities, which of course has implications with our changing climate. gardeners here at the chelsea physic garden are doing everything they can to encourage earthworms. they have even created this earthworm hotel. so tell me about this earthworm paradise? earthworms are really important to gardeners. they help recycle organic matter backed into the soil. in this special memory, we have created a home for them to recycle some of our vegetable peelings on eggshells. scientists say we need to be doing more to protect the animals living underground as well as those on the surface. this study will help us find out more about

claire marshall has been finding out more.ankly, conservation groups don‘t seem to be saving our wildlife at the moment. we work to inspire and empower young people between the ages of 12 and 18 to take action on nature. the statistics coming out of the report are shocking. for young people in particular who are growing up people in particular who are growing up seeing the effects of these declines, their vision of nature is very different to that of generations before them. but yet we are seeing young people bringing hope to this situation, they are fronting a report, the climate strikes and greta thornburg, is driven by young people. it is an exciting time. now that they are sharing their voice though, we need opportunities for them to be part of the solution. that is what we are trying to do here. it is the largest youth led nature conservation project that we know of in the world. and we are working with a group of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 to take action here and restored nature to the site. ok. and this

says climate change and more intense farming methods are to blame. 0ur environment correspondent claire marshallng up today on the programme. an american author who fell in love with britain, bill bryson, will be here to talk about his latest book. it is all about the body, so goes into lots of details, and some myths. did you know that... what was the thing i found out? skin can what was the thing i found out? skin ca n stretch what was the thing i found out? skin can stretch over a ridiculous amount of space, if you took all the skin away... you wouldn't want to do it. and i will tell you a wonderful thing about this book, will bryson isa thing about this book, will bryson is a storyteller, and he kind of does storytelling about the body, the history of surgery and all sorts of things like that. it is worth saying as well, this morning, we are delighted to say that in around 12 minutes or so, katarina johnson—thompson, who is now the heptathlon world champion, she won last night what was the final event ina last night what was the final event in a gruelling event, she now has the gold medal, a

our environment and rural affairs correspondent claire marshall is live in bristol for us this morningho are going to sit for the first time. marshall, you are here from the seaside but you have never been able to serve before, how are you going to feel getting in in about an hour? it will be good. getting in for the first ever time, yeah. are you excited? very excited. why when you nominated for this? luke... idon't why when you nominated for this? luke... i don't actually know. ok, uk young champion, server of the year, and nick over here, this was all your idea, let'sjust year, and nick over here, this was all your idea, let's just watch the waves breaking for the first time on national tv. there we go. it is so blue, isn't it? yeah, in bristol. there we go, isn't that an amazing sight to see in a field is 12 miles north of bristol, how do you feel, marshall, exciting? yeah, it's very exciting, it looks blue and tropical! it does, yeah, and you are going to get some coaching?” hope so. do you think you will inspire others to get in?” hope so. do you think you will inspire others to

claire marshall, bbc news, the wave, near bristol. out above the city. it looks pretty spectacular. now it's time for a look at the weather with simon king. however, heavy and persistent outbreaks of rain will affect northern and western parts of england along with wales and it is likely to cause some issues. the rain bearing clouds has already begun to spread its way in but if i zoom away begun to spread its way in but if i zoom away from the united kingdom you can see the extent of this weather front as it stretches way out into the subtropical atlantic. a weather front that stretches for over 3000 miles. this conveyor belt of moisture is going to be slamming into the hills, basically of wales but also affecting parts of south—west england around the moors and over the peaks and pennines as well. so we could be looking at some issues here with flooding building in. the met office have issued an amber weather warning for the heaviest rain across the hills of southern wales, some localised flooding is quite likely to develop here over