they are ona royal botanic gardens, kew. mission to discover and save unique plant species before they vanished forever. i am going to bear witness on the frontline 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 bernados. he was in a library for lab specimens. que tal? como estas? this is where we identify new plants. we believe we have more than 200,000 different species here. you are a botanist and 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 stop we're going to try to get into the of this area. we do not know what we expect to find. what is at sta ke what we expect to find. what is at sta

kew is the world leader in developing plant science.otanists are preparing for their mission to discover new species. and it's from here that this expedition will be launched. i've come here to see the expedition leader, dr mauricio de bernardos. he works in a library for lab specimens. que tal? como estas? this is where we identify new plants. we believe we have more than 200,000 different species here. you're a botanist and a biologist. 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 don't know what we expect to find. what is at stake with this whole trip that we're doing? why is this so important? we are in a race against time to protect this biodiversity from disappearing. we have rampant deforestation. we see how we are losing this forest very quickly, and ourjob is to get an understanding about the diversity of these resources as well as their importance. in 2016, the colom

richard deverell is the director of kew gardens and lives on the property. not a bad perk.hat the world is experiencing and the kind of things that kew has been trying to do for centuries? >> i think humanity faces some fundamental challenges unless we start to treat the natural world better. >> reporter: is there anything about the current situation that makes you think the lesson may, in fact, finally hit home? >> i don't know. but i hope so. i hope that we will listen to scientists and experts more carefully, both the politicians and the public. and i hope, too, that we'll realize that actually the cost of preempting a problem, of mitigating it, is a fraction of the cost of dealing with it when it engulfs you. >> reporter: kew gardens is not just a pretty place. it's been a research center, too, going way back. >> parcels of specimens arrive every week from scientific workers and collectors from all over the world -- >> reporter: over the years, they've learned one thing -- >> if you abuse the natural world, bad things happen, including bad things to people. >> reporter:

but now this team of plant scientist from the royal botanic gardens, kew in london have come here onthey vanish forever. in 2016, the colombian government signed a peace deal with the farc rebels, who were largely based in the forest. now remote tracts of land have opened up, farmers, loggers and miners are scrambling for resources. colombia is reportedly losing 3,000 square kilometres of forest every year. this is the first time this area is going to be explored by botanists or scientists. for so many years, conflict and criminality made this area inaccessible to outsiders. they're in a race against time to try and save this forest. one of the local guides believes he's chanced upon something extraordinary. this... actually we don't know exactly what it is, and it could be something new. we are the first botanists collecting in this area. what does it mean to find a potentially new species like this in a remote forest? some of these species could have properties to cure important disease for humans. so as biologists, as botanists, we have to try to understand as soon as possible, as

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scientists from the royal botanical gardens at kew in the uk are racing to save the last remaining tropicaleace deal with farc guerrillas deforestation in the world's second most bio—diverse nation has accelerated. yet the botanists believe the forest contains rare plants still unknown to science, some of which may contain vital medicinal properties. security correspondent frank gardner went with them. in the forests of colombia, nature is under attack. since the civil war ended in 2016, deforestation has skyrocketed. this team of plant scientist from the royal botanical gardens queue in london have come here on a mission to discover and save unique plant species before they vanish for ever. in 2016, the colombian government signed a peace deal with the farc rebels, who were largely based in the forest. now remote tracts of land have opened up, farmers, loggers and miners are scrambling for resources . miners are scrambling for resources. colombia is reportedly losing 3000 square kilometres of forest every year. translation: this is the first time this area is going to be explored by botani