1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,000 We're in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 2 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,600 Contrary to appearances, these men are not soldiers. 3 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:26,640 Their forest ranges from the ICCN, the Congolese Institute of Nature Conservation. 4 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:32,640 Their job? To fight against poaching and protect the biodiversity of the Virunga National Park. 5 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:41,200 For a decade, from 1992 to 2002, this area was devastated by successive wars. 6 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:47,120 From 1994 to 1996, hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the massacres in Rwanda 7 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,200 flowed into the Congolese National Parks. 8 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,000 Refugees almost totally destitute, 9 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,000 completely dependent on natural resources of food and water to be able to survive. 10 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,120 Apart from the human misery it created, and despite food aid which was delivered 11 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,800 by humanitarian aid organizations, this situation 12 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,760 had catastrophic effects on the animal and plant life. 13 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:16,160 Despite the difficulties, the ICCN managed to continue its biodiversity conservation work, 14 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,640 after a fashion, throughout all these years, with help from the European Union. 15 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,360 This work continued in spite of the war. 16 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:28,080 The rangers remained on the job. 17 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,400 The European Commission continued to support the programs from near and far. 18 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,320 Today, the European Union is still involved. 19 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:42,800 For example, it financed the rebuilding of the infrastructure and the training of the rangers. 20 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,920 Training is essential because illegal hunting is a huge problem in this area. 21 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,000 I can give you an example. 22 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:59,360 Nearly 30 years ago, there was a population of 35,000 hippos in the Virunga National Park. 23 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,400 The last census gives an alarming figure of just 836 hippos, 24 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:08,160 which are now registered on the list of animals on the way to extinction. 25 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,200 That shows you the extent of the poaching that there was. 26 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,920 The ICCN rangers are also trained to take on the more social and rather 27 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:20,960 delicate task of raising awareness amongst the local people. 28 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,440 It's not easy to make the villagers, who live in difficult circumstances around the parks, 29 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,960 understand that they must stop cutting wood and killing animals. 30 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:40,400 One can't think of making a partition wall between the people who live around this nature 31 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,360 and the resources that the nature can provide them. 32 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,360 The difficulty is to help them understand that it's in their own interest to protect 33 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,880 the nature which surrounds them in order to ensure their survival. 34 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,080 There's an expression which says that one can preserve only what one knows and one loves. 35 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,320 So it's necessary to show these people that it's in their interest to preserve 36 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:08,400 the inheritance for future generations. 37 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:15,120 Not long ago there was a forest here. They're starting to realise that there's less rain. 38 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,200 We're starting to make them understand that they need to play their part in conservation 39 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:24,720 for the benefit of the country, but also for their own benefit too, and for future generations. 40 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:31,680 Their benefit but also ours, because the conservation of biological diversity 41 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,360 is actually something essential to human survival, to our survival. 42 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,920 In fact, we're all dependent on even these remote ecosystems. 43 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,920 They have a direct effect on the regulation of the climate. 44 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:49,360 They provide us with essential natural resources and contain wealth which has still to be discovered. 45 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:56,880 The situation is paradoxical. In fact, the poorest countries possess the richest ecosystems, 46 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:01,280 which is why Europeans must invest in the protection of biodiversity 47 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:03,840 and support these countries in their conservation efforts. 48 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,200 Biodiversity is regarded as a world public good. 49 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:14,400 Everyone needs to join together to preserve it for the present and future generations. 50 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,320 For the European Union, environmental protection is an integral part of its development aid 51 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:29,280 programmes. The protection of biodiversity is clearly stated in the Millennium Objectives 52 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:34,320 of the United Nations. We need ecosystems to fight against poverty. 53 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,880 Central Africa is the second-largest forest area in the world, 54 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,960 and it's already 15 years ago that Europe launched its ECOFAC programme here. 55 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:49,040 ECOFAC helps eight countries in the region to preserve and develop their biodiversity 56 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,120 in collaboration with the governments as well as local and international NGOs. 57 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,320 To conserve and develop, that's increasingly what local people want too. 58 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,720 Mohindo Simbendiri is a local chief in the North African government. 59 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:07,680 He's someone who thinks that preserving nature can provide more than just wood and food for 60 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:16,560 the local people. The park is our wealth. We'll profit when tourism develops. We're fine. 61 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,000 Eco-tourism is indeed one of the means of adding value to biodiversity. 62 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,200 Eprim and Baudouin are trackers in the Virunga Park. 63 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:35,040 Eprim and Baudouin are trackers in the Virunga Park. Their job is to accustom the large monkeys 64 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:40,080 to the presence of humans and to take visitors to see them. These visits to the gorillas are 65 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:46,880 actually the best way of protecting them. In the areas where tourism has been introduced, 66 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,960 poaching has almost ceased because the poachers avoid areas where people are. 67 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,840 The gorillas, who are used to visitors, are not worried by them as long as a few 68 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,920 definite rules are respected. No more than seven people in a group, 69 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:05,200 the length of visit limited to an hour, and no flash photography or direct contact. 70 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,600 The eco-tourism is good for the local economy and so can help the people with their conservation 71 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:16,800 effort. It's clear that, above all, it's a tool for the protection of biodiversity. 72 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,920 We're now closer to the capital Kinshasa. This is the Kisantu Botanical Garden. 73 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:28,720 This 100-year-old garden contains no less than 3,500 species in 225 hectares. 74 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:35,120 A public park which aims to concentrate the incredible wealth of Congolese flora in one place. 75 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:42,080 A garden open, above all, to the local people. The managers of the botanical garden want to show 76 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:46,880 that a well-managed environment can bring about a concrete improvement in quality of life. 77 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:55,360 We grow here what we call caterpillar plants. That is, we cultivate plants which caterpillars 78 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,200 come to feed on. And from then on, people can find food. In these areas, 79 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:02,800 there's not much cattle breeding. It's the caterpillars which provide the protein. 80 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,880 These caterpillar plants are cultivated and then replanted to help people living 81 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:17,600 near the botanical garden. Experiments which can then benefit large numbers of people. 82 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:24,800 Kisantu is a great success. Thanks to the hard work and the exceptional devotion of the Congolese 83 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:30,400 people, supported by Europe, the botanical garden was able to survive the country's troubled times. 84 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:36,480 We're off now to Gabon, another country which benefits from the ECOFAC program. 85 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:41,040 Here, too, Europe helps with the preservation and development of biodiversity. 86 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:48,640 In practice, it's resulted in an institutional support to make it possible for the country to 87 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:54,400 advance its national parks legislation. We provided considerable support for training 88 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,920 to allow Gabon to have the framework necessary to fight against poaching. We have also worked 89 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:04,640 to support research institutions to get a better understanding of the environments we want to 90 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:19,200 protect. The Lope Park is one of 13 national parks in Gabon. More than 5,000 square kilometers 91 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:24,320 of tropical forest and savanna where monkeys, gorillas, elephants and buffalo live together. 92 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:30,880 In the middle of the park, the Mikongo Camp welcomes visitors. Guyla and Sidouan are guides 93 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:35,200 in Mikongo. Every day, they go into the forest with small groups of people, 94 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:40,320 who they introduce to the tropical forest, its fauna and its sometimes unexpected richness. 95 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:49,360 When we're in the village, we go into the forest. If you're wounded, because we're in a place where 96 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:57,200 there's no hospital. So this tree, you pierce it like that and you take a leaf. 97 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:06,240 You take the sap and you put it where you're wounded and that stops the bleeding. 98 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:17,360 Guyla and Sidouan are not amateur guides. They first had to study for months to learn their job. 99 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:22,560 In fact, conservation of biodiversity requires very particular and varied skills. 100 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:29,600 In Gabon, the very best training is at the ENEF, the National School of Waters and Forests. 101 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,760 In this institution, young people are trained from all over the subcontinent. 102 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:38,160 These are the future protectors of Africa's ecosystems. 103 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:43,280 To develop, but also conserve, you need well-trained men and women and training is an 104 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:47,680 expensive area. The EU supports us in the field of capacity building. 105 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:52,400 We especially appreciated the EU program to train the trainers. 106 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:01,040 In the middle of the Lope Park is a research center which works with the European Union. 107 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:04,880 Several scientists, as well as Gabonese and French, 108 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,240 Several scientists, as well as Gabonese and foreign NGO members work here. 109 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:13,440 Their principal job is to monitor and count the animal species. 110 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:19,520 How many elephants or gorillas are there in the park? Where are they? 111 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:24,800 How are their populations developing? The researchers also study threats to the species, 112 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:30,560 poaching or the terrifying killer virus Ebola, responsible for the deaths of so many gorillas. 113 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,040 At the moment, there's nothing much that we can do about Ebola. 114 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:42,240 Nobody has been able to stop it yet, but at least if we know it's happening, it's important. 115 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,480 The solution for a vaccine against Ebola is maybe to be found in the jungle. 116 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,120 The ecosystems are vital to advanced research. 117 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:56,240 The national parks are home to a multitude of species, plants and molecules, 118 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:58,960 which could provide the medicines and vaccines of tomorrow. 119 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,720 Against the Ebola virus, which affects not only animals, but also humans, 120 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:07,760 or malaria, which continues to kill 3,000 African children every day. 121 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:15,120 To get to know and protect the ecosystems in danger is an absolute priority today. 122 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,880 The developed countries must become aware of the extent of the danger 123 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:24,560 and invest in conservation, or risk seeing incalculable wealth disappear forever. 124 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:29,120 We often forget that the ecosystems are necessary to safeguard life on Earth. 125 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,120 The time has come for action. 126 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,120 In the long term, the survival of humanity itself depends upon it.