i am joining a crack team of scientists from the royal botanic gardens, kew. oyal botanic gardens, kew. they are on a 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 k

our world joins a team of scientists from the royal botanic gardens. in the forests of colombia, nature is under attack. since the civil war ended in 2016, deforestation has skyrocketed. i'm frank gardnerand i am heading into what remains of the virgin tropical rainforest. i traded in my wheelchair for a packhorse and am tested to my limits. i think this is too dangerous. i don't think i can do this. i am joining a crack team of scientists from the royal botanic gardens, kew. they are on a mission 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 identi

. >> mark phillips spent the golden anniversary of earth day at london's royal botanic gardens. e had the place to himself. >> reporter: if you had to choose a place to self-isolate during this covid-19 crisis, you can do worse than here. these are the royal botanical gardens in west london. a place where they hve been studying the health of the planet for about 250 years. and never has their work seemed more vital than now. >> it's not a bad backyard that you've got here. >> it's exceptionally beautiful, but it's tragic to see these beautiful gardens 330 acres here rg at world heritage site, to see them empty. >> reporter: normally there would be 10 or 12,000 people strolling about q gardens on a glorious spring day like this. but in the post virus world, there's only us. richard deveral is director of q gardens and actually lives on the property. not a bad perk. >>> do you see a relationship between what's going on now, the whole covid-19 crisis the world is experiencing and the kinds of things the q has been trying to do for the centuries? >> i think humanity faces some really

scientists from the royal botanical gardens in kew in the uk —— scientists from the royal botanical gardensopical forest in a remote valley in colombia. since the 2016 peace 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. our 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. but now this team of plant scientist from the royal botanic gardens, kew in london have come here on a mission to discover and save unique plant species before they 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 b

this team of plant scientist from the royal botanical gardens queue in london have come here on a missionish 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 botanists or scientists. for so many years, conflict and criminality made this area inaccessible to outsiders. there 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. and you are the first botanist in this area. what does it mean to find a potentially new species like this ina potentially new species like this in a remote forest? some of these species could have properties to cure important disease for humans. as biologists,

london's royal botanic gardens are home to more than 50,000 living plants and more than seven million50th anniversary of earth day, many of us will not get outside to enjoy any of nature. so mark phillips reports from a back yard that's like no other. >> reporter: if you had to choose a place to self-isolate during this pandemic you could do worse than here. these are the royal botanical gardens at kew in west london, where they've been studying the health of the planet for about 250 years. never has their work seemed more vital than now. it's not a bad back yard that you've got here. >> it's exceptionally beautiful. but it's tragic to see these beautiful gardens, 330 acres here at kew, a world heritag site, to see them empty. >> reporter: normally there would be 10,000 or 12,000 people strolling about kew gardens on a glorious spring day like this. in the post-virus world, there's only us. richard deverell is the director of kew gardens and lives on the property. not a bad perk. do you see relationship between what's going on now and the covid-19 crisis that the world is experiencing