hello and welcome to this special episode of planet sos we're here in evia in greece scene of those devastating wildfires in the summer [Music] it was a catastrophic year of extreme weather worldwide we look ahead to cop26 that crucial un climate summit in glasgow in scotland which is taking place next week and from here in greece we'll be traveling to the carpathian mountains in romania to hear the call of the wild the largest area of virgin forest in europe under assault from illegal loggers and saving the sturgeon how an ancient fish is struggling to survive alongside georgia's ambitious hydroelectricity projects the young polish activists hoping to protect their future he doesn't feel this this sense of the world just being destroyed that i see every day when i wake up and testing the air flying high over krakow in poland in one of the most polluted regions of europe but first typically you and climate summits do not attract the attention of the world at large but this one has and primarily it's because of the extreme weather events we've been seeing this year let's take a look this summer alone in the u.s death valley saw the highest temperature ever recorded on earth flooding in germany and belgium killed more than 200 people more flooding in china with passengers trapped on subway trains and wildfires raged in the u.s canada and siberia in europe record heat waves cause widespread fires across turkey and greece and here in evia they're still picking up the pieces in early august with temperatures at unseen highs wildfires ripped across southern europe the land was parched and the fires quickly spread northern avia in greece was the hardest hit the inferno lasted for two weeks thousands were evacuated today you can see what's left the devastation in this area was total people are well used to annual wildfires here but not on this scale not with this much lost thousands of hectares of forest and livelihoods just incinerated and because of the fires a new threat as the rain comes so do floods and mudslides the fires have destroyed the land's natural ability to withhold water to act as a flood defense system so now in periods of intense rain the water just cascades off these hillsides [Music] so they're using the dead trees to shore up the soil and keep the land intact it is hard exhausting work but vital to preserve what's left and encourage regeneration of the forest we're trying to keep the soil in place as we don't want it to be carried away by heavy rainfall because their natural regeneration cannot take place this soil will be carried into the creeks and that will create a huge problem causing flooding in nearby communities a big part of evia's forest economy has been obliterated costas ionia's livelihood comes from his bees who make honey from the resin of pine trees or used to costas shows me what's left of the dozens of hives he lost to the fires i feel sad that this once green forest has been burnt and i find it difficult to figure out what we'll do and how beekeeping can continue to exist on evia we will not be around when this forest is once again able to give us honey so for us our area has died collecting pine resin was an important money earner for farmers like georgios agnosti but not anymore he also lost a fifth of his goat herd to the fires across the island more animals died than survived the destruction was great for farmers buildings were burnt animals were lost and grazing land has disappeared in other words what we had here was lost many years need to go by so that things can return to how they were from lost livelihoods to ruined homes all this is the reality of a warming world natural weather events made worse by climate change certainly when you come inside that you get a sense a realization of just how fast this must have been it living normally one day and then the very next it's all just torched and collapsed around you and everywhere you look there's evidence of a life once lived a fork there's an old tin over here look ornaments that presumably just sat on shelves and here old books are just ash [Music] this has been a seismic event that has changed lives perhaps for a generation but the forest will come back because nature always does if humanity allows it to so helping people adapt to and mitigate against extreme weather events that cause damage like this is a big part of the un climate summit in glasgow next week so what does success at cop 26 look like well remember the science says we need to prevent temperatures from rising beyond ideally one and a half degrees celsius but the 2021 production gap report out last week shows current government plans will produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels required to make that happen so in glasgow we need a strong declaration that commits to net zero emissions by 2050 as well as big reductions by 2030. developing nations will want a considerable financial package to help them adapt and there needs to be ambitious commitment to phasing out coal and protecting forests anything short and cop 26 will be deemed a failure and then who knows what lies in store so a major focus at cop 26 will be an attempt to set goals to end deforestation for us of course are crucial for the health of the planet and we've come here to the carpathian mountains in romania which is home to one of the largest remnants of virgin forest in europe but which is also under devastating assault from illegal logging autumn carpets the hillsides the multi-hued canopy marking the seasonal change of millennia ancient original forests sweeping across the carpathian mountains in eastern europe it's been here since the ice age a mosaic of habitats rich in life and sheer natural value if the amazon rainforest is the lungs of the world then the forests of the carpathian mountains are the lungs of europe they suck the co2 out of the atmosphere and put oxygen back into it they regulate the water system there's a vast vast array of life here in fact the forests of the world are the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet but in this once pristine environment life is being squeezed out by the so-called timber mafia trees are being extracted illegally on an unprecedented scale by criminal gangs and the locals who fight against it paid the price beatings are frequent but people are murdered too six forest rangers have been killed in the last few years leading to recent protests in the capital bucharest [Music] forrester horia petrus mimics the call of a red stag we are slowly going upwards he tells me there used to be 50 or 60 in this area alone but now it seems there are none and this is why this area was illegally logged 10 years ago and it ripped apart the ecosystem where trees once stood for thousands of years in their abundant biodiversity a decade on it's all but a lifeless patchwork you can see this kind of devastation from the moon on the satellite it maps you you can see everything it's impossible to believe that they didn't know they know and they they encouraged and they took a lot of money horia says it's clear who's to blame the politicians any good forester and a professional that does studies and grew up into the forest and know what forestry means can blame only the politicians we spoke to the government and they told us combating illegal logging is one of the priorities of romania it's a continuous action and we've already seen results a working group has been set up which aims to increase the efficiency of solving criminal cases involving forestry crimes as well as the specialization of environmental prosecutors we drove on through the forest along tracks and roads used in plain sight by the illegal loggers [Music] for the people who live in the mountains it's terrible farmer and forrester nico eugene says the whole community is affected [Music] for hundreds of years we have managed the forest in a sustainable way we take a small amount of wood for building and fire it's very annoying that strangers come here from other countries and take away our way of life i'm frightened of the people who steal the wood i feel my family is in danger because this is a mob like organization the scale of loss is staggering romania loses up to nine hectares of forest per hour to illegal logging that contributes to the huge amount of forests lost globally in fact between 1990 and 2016 the world lost 1.3 million square kilometers of forest an area larger than south africa and in 2020 tropical forest loss around the world equaled the size of the netherlands since humans started cutting down forests 46 of trees have been fell around the world 2020 was meant to be a landmark year in the fight against deforestation a year by which many countries had pledged to halve or completely stop forest loss but in fact the plundering has increased here in romania it's not too late yet but if not now when [Music] we've come to southern poland the heart of the country's mining industry the rich coal seams of silasia have long powered the country's economic engine today providing up to 50 000 jobs coal accounts for more than two-thirds of the country's energy supply the trouble is by 2049 coal is due to be phased out and that presents a very real problem for the region and for the country as a whole across poland and coal heartlands this is a familiar site every day of the year and has been for decades power stations working non-stop to keep the country running this is the biggest and most carbon polluting power plant in the whole of europe it is the bellator power station and it accounts for around a fifth about 20 percent of poland's total energy requirement and it's fueled by this colossal open pit mine we can see in front of us here and it employs nearly 10 000 people but everyone across the industry is deeply worried about the future as the transition to renewables means coal should be phased out entirely by 2049 at the latest so the question is what happens to the miners i met with mining trade union officer georgie hubka who worked in the pits for 43 years he took me deep down a decommissioned mine which has more than 40 kilometers of underground tunnels and told me miners have worked the coal faces here since the early 1800s but now as the industry winds down the 21st century miners feel let down by the government i understand changes taking place in the mining industry are necessary but those changes have to put people first there must be a just and fair transition securing their existence the mining industry has long served as a lift to our economy and today mining is being considered as something bad and problematic for the government the green transition is a huge challenge it admitted to al jazeera it's unlikely to hit the 2050 carbon neutral target agreed by the eu i think for for us certainly it will be uh it will be more um difficult than than for others and it will certainly take us longer it might be uh a few years beyond that we haven't set that goal specifically in our in our legislation today we are currently working on uh on a strategy until 2050 but that hasn't been finalized at the moment that stance certainly does not make the forthcoming u.n climate negotiations in glasgow any easier with their focus on the phasing out of coal and bad news too because from a health perspective the green transition cannot come soon enough across poland toxic coal smoke billows from millions of chimney tops and this at a time when the world health organization says that air pollution is more dangerous than previously thought killing an estimated 7 million people a year in poland itself air pollution causes 45 000 premature deaths each year while the country has some of the most polluted air in europe and 36 of europe's 50 most polluted cities are in the country but in the once badly polluted city of krakow science is hitching a ride into the evening sky every time this sight-seeing balloon goes up on-board sensors send air pollution measurements down in 2019 city authorities banned the burning of fossil fuels within city limits and the effects have been immediate we see a great change in the city the quality of the air is improving the city authorities is pushing very much pressure to reduce the emissions the krakow experience demonstrates the possibilities ahead for poland phase out coal you slash emissions and clean up the air at the same time but getting there is a challenge silasia a region at the very front line of the green energy transition and as that transition gathers pace of course all forms of renewable energy need to be ramped up from solar to wind even the whole debate over nuclear power and we're going to focus now on hydro power and the problem with that is that as we build more dams it takes its toll on the natural world robin frasier walker reports now from georgia if you could travel back through the mists of time say around 200 million years you would find fish remarkably like the ones swimming the present day waters of the rioli river they are very special species when in the world where the dinosaurs the sturgeons were also living here so this is my water responsibility for this living link to pre-history rests on tamuna's young shoulders a phd student and conservation officer with fauna and flora international five critically endangered species of sturgeon still spawn in the rioni that is they travel upstream from the black sea to lay their eggs [Music] but upstream numerous dams have contributed to their drastic decline this one is the varzije hydropower cascade completed in 1987 it stopped fish from reaching spawning grounds that had existed for millennia hydropower is a very big problem for sure the target spawning grounds are decreased and now it's only nine kilometer and in the past it was more than fifty measure the temperature of the water to understand the threat tamuna needs more data morgelli is ready to help he remembers the days when the sturgeon were large and plentiful catching them now is illegal but if netted locals know who to call we keep it alive put it in a basket and wait for tamuna or the others they'll come take a sample and let them go the fish are released back into the river that's delivering results one species thought to be extinct has been rediscovered the so-called ship sturgeon but dna analysis also has revealed a worrying trend hybrid individuals which can no longer reproduce there are at least two species which interbreed they don't have enough spawning grounds also they are not a lot individuals and they cannot find the same species man's intervention is everywhere here the river has been diverted to reduce seasonal flooding these sluice gates used to be used for quite a different purpose if closed you could trap migrating sturgeon and they could be caught far more easily well thanks to observers on the ground those kinds of big fishing events are far less common twelve monitors now patrol a 92 kilometer stretch of the rioni last year gennady's team uncovered 22 incidents of poaching including this rig of hooks designed to snag sturgeon on the riverbed we are in contact with each other over the phone we pass on information what is happening in our area or if a boat goes by i will tell the others where it went in which direction and we will react so that if something illegal is happening we can stop it [Music] the sturgeon are now better protected and better understood but george's government wants more hydropower on this river not less their survival still hangs in the balance the battle to change the way we power the world has mobilized this mass climate youth movement whose actions resonate around the world we spoke to three of poland's youth activists and showed them some video clips of some key players in the climate conversation my name is dominica i'm 19 years old and i got into climate activism at the beginning of the pandemic because i always just wanted to be the solution to all the crisis that we're facing hi my name is wutsia i am 16 and i joined the climate movement two years ago i'm nikolai i'm 19 years old and i'm in cliven climate movement for about three years there are further rises in temperatures that are already baked in and my friends baked is the word if we keep on the current track then the temperatures will go up by 2.7 degrees or more by the end of the century never mind what that will do to the ice floes dissolving like ice in your martini here in new york when i hear this i i feel no hope to meet boris johnson just as his fellow prime ministers presidents across the world they are detached from the reality and do not treat the crisis that we're facing seriously he meets with so many people and and then he he makes jokes about how the glaciers uh will melt like like ice in martini i mean that's that just that said our commitment to fighting fires and deforestation is strong we've recently recorded a 28 decrease in deforestation and burning in the region but even then we're criticized yeah here bolsonaro is a climate denial and what he does is he commits ecocide and he he lies straight into our faces he he doesn't care about indigenous people of amazonia the unprecedented flash floods in new york and new jersey is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the crime of crisis crisis are here he's a man of 70s you know when who knows how long will he be able to to live on this planet i will be living here for decades but he is the one in power and he doesn't feel the fear that i feel he doesn't feel this this sense of you know the world just just being destroyed that i see every day when i wake up when climate crisis came to them when climate crisis started to threaten their homes like their country now they're starting to treat it seriously when for a lot of years climate crisis was a reality for billions of people in the global south there is no planet b there is no planet blah blah blah blah blah blah blah i think the blah blah blah sums up a lot uh i think it is a hundred percent representation of what the politicians across our country but across the world are giving us at the moment it's just blah blah blah it's emptiness it's nothing she was just so sarcastic at the beginning and i quite liked that because she played the same game as our politicians do and when she said blah blah blah that was what i hear when politicians say something about climate for me cop 26 is like very important because we don't have any more time for other 25 cops like this is there any hope for cop i think yes because there will be a lot of people from our climate movement and i'm i just can't wait to feel the power of of the people as long as they will be sticking to those fairy tales um we will not see climate action that we have the right to see and that we demand from the world leaders will not see justice being implemented will not see climate being treated seriously the only hope i see is in the movement and the people that treat this whole situation with the severity that it deserves the youth movement very much driving the impetus for global change well that's it for this episode of planet sos next stop that crucial climate summit in glasgow as we've seen there's a great deal at stake from extreme weather to water shortages to destruction of the environment to air pollution the science tells us this is a fundamental moment for the nations of the world a last chance perhaps to pull out of this headlong dive into the climate crisis that's altering the very nature of the world we live in you