All language subtitles for RTE.The.Future.of.Nature.1of4.Oceans.1080p.x265.AAC.MVGroup.org_track3_[eng]

Life.

The closer you look...

..the more mysterious
it seems.

We can't see the invisible
forces at work.

But what if we could?

It's time to look at our home...

..in a whole new way.

Imagine carbon
cycling through nature.

It's one of the building
blocks of life...

..and it's stored in our forests...

..oceans...

..and grasslands

on an incredible scale.

But we've released too much
of it into the atmosphere,

risking our future.

We can halt emissions
and draw the carbon back down.

And our best ally for that

is nature.

Restoring it to abundance

is the biggest challenge
of our time.

But we can do it.

If the future of nature
looked brighter,

so could the future for us all.

♪ (vocalising) ♪

(clock ticking)

Our ocean.

It's the greatest ecosystem
on the planet.

(on radio) Standing by.

There might be
a group going left to right.

They just dove.
Roger that. Thanks.

Understanding how it works
has never been so important.

Over on the other side.
Right by that black boat?

Yeah, I can see dorsals.
Yeah.

Because it's changing

under the pressure
of climate change.

It's getting hotter and hotter,
without a doubt.

And life within the ocean
affects the whole planet.

Humpback whales
are ocean nomads.

It's estimated they can migrate

over half a million miles
in a lifetime.

Each summer,

Atlantic populations come
to feed in Stellwagen Bank

National Marine Sanctuary,

where marine biologist
Dr Dave Wiley and his team

are ready to meet them.

There's a lot of activity,

both commercial whale-watching boats
and recreational boats.

So we have to work around them,

but we're looking for a group
of two or three.

Dave's team wants to know
how climate change

is affecting the humpbacks'
feeding behaviour.

To find out, they need to get
much nearer to the whales.

You can't try to rush any of it.

That's why it takes sometimes,
you know, long periods of time

before we actually get close enough.

It's a waiting game.

There's gonna be a lot
of this during this trip.

After looking for whales
and working on whales,

eating is probably the next
most common thing I do.

Such a good sandwich.

We're out here for like eight
to ten hours at a time.

Of course,
everybody gets hungry.

But we've noticed as soon
as you start to snack,

that's when the whales pop up.

Oh!
Look at that!

Whales coming up.

The scientists want to
attach sensors to the whales

to collect important data.

It's not an easy task to put tags
on every animal in a group,

but we've done it before
and we're gonna try to do it again.

Looks like the group's coming up
over there at our one o'clock.

I have 403 here.

The tags we're using
are called DTAGs.

They're a really
sophisticated tag

that goes on with suction cups

so it doesn't hurt the animals
at all.

So basically with these tags,

we know what the animals
are doing with their body

and we know
any sounds they make

or anything they're hearing.

And they're also
equipped with GPS

so when they come to the surface,
they give us location.

So it's really a full suite of data.

OK. Mike's ready to tag,
everybody.

Hold on.

Here we go.
(they cheer)

That was good.
That worked well.

It all comes together,
it's perfect.

Some of the tags
are fitted with cameras

to see what the whales
are doing.

So we've got
this great backlog of data

that shows us what the ocean was
like over the past 20 years,

how it's changing
right at this very minute.

And then as this project
continues into the future,

we'll know how the animals
are behaving

in an ocean that's going
to be really quite different

than the one they've been
used to for the last...

..hundreds and hundreds
and thousands of years.

And by deploying
almost 300 tags since 2004,

they've built a picture
of their feeding behaviour.

This gives the scientists
an important reference,

allowing them to see if
anything unusual is happening.

Since the study began,

the whales' feeding habits
stayed fairly consistent...

..until this year,

when Dave and his team noticed
something different going on.

The main prey item
for almost everything

in the Stellwagen Bank
National Marine Sanctuary,

and humpback whales
in particular,

are a little fish
called sand lance.

They're maybe six inches long,
as big around as your thumb,

and they're here
in really big numbers.

Sand lance normally stay
at the surface,

but this year they are
keeping to the sea floor.

Dave thinks that rising
ocean temperatures

are causing the fish
to hibernate early.

We haven't seen this before,

so this is already a sign that
the ocean is changing rapidly

and in many ways drastically.

What happens to whales matters,

as they play an important role
in the ocean.

So these animals are going down
and they're feeding on the bottom,

but they defecate at the surface.

They spread huge amounts
of fertilizer

all over the surface of the ocean,

where the sunlight is also,

so you get this combination
of fertilizer and sunlight.

This creates
the perfect conditions

for a microscopic organism
to flourish.

Phytoplankton.

Just like plants,
they photosynthesize,

absorbing carbon dioxide.

And when conditions are right,

their numbers explode.

Carbon is now locked inside
these giant blooms

instead of in the atmosphere.

They can become so huge

they're visible from space.

The more whales you have,
the healthier the ocean is.

One of the really great things
about humpback whales

is how successful they've been

in making a comeback
from commercial whaling.

Some populations have
recovered by as much as 90%.

If all the whales came back
to fill the ocean,

the future would be brighter.

They're fertilizing
the entire system

so there's more life here
that can hold lots more carbon

and draw down carbon dioxide

out of the atmosphere
where we don't want it,

and into this ecological world
that we're looking at,

which is exactly
where we do want it.

But there's more
to phytoplankton

and the role they play
in the carbon drawdown story.

I wish more people
knew about phytoplankton

cos they really are the unsung
heroes of life on our planet.

Dr Stephanie Henson
is a phytoplankton expert

at the National Oceanography
Centre in England.

Hiya. Here's a little sample.

Thank you.

So the bucket that we collected
this morning of water

probably contains
more phytoplankton

than the population of London
or New York.

There's plenty of phytoplankton
and zooplankton in there.

Oh, nice.
That's really great.

Oh, there's all sorts of stuff
in there.

Yeah.
Really nice. Great.

But of course, they're feeding
the whole ocean, effectively.

They're the base
of the marine food chain,

and everything else
in the ocean depends on them.

Phytoplankton are eaten
by tiny creatures called zooplankton.

And they in turn
are eaten by larger predators.

If there weren't
phytoplankton in the oceans,

the marine food chain
as we know it today

would completely collapse.

As species eat each other,

the carbon goes all the way
to the top.

It's part of a process

that scientists call
the biological pump.

To understand its significance,

we need to measure
how much life there is in the ocean.

And that takes
innovative thinking.

Marine ecologist Gael Mariani
is crunching the numbers.

I know this code
might look pretty boring,

but in fact it reveals something
really fascinating about fish,

something
we didn't even know about

three or four years ago
in science.

And this research reveals
really new information

about the role fish can play

in transporting carbon
into a safe place.

So fish are able to store the carbon
they eat in their own bodies.

And you might say, hang on,

it's not a lot compared to a large
species like some whales.

But it's biomass that matters.

How many fish there are.

By gathering data from
the fisheries around the world,

Gael's results
give an astonishing picture

of how ocean life helps us
in the fight against climate change.

So we've made some calculations,

and we found out
fish of commercial interest

are able to draw down
the equivalent

to the annual emission
of 50 million American citizens.

It's massive.

Fish numbers are far lower
than they could be.

By taking them out of our ocean,

we are reducing the power
of the biological pump.

We can also work out
how much carbon we've lost

through fishing globally,

and the numbers
are quite remarkable.

We calculate industrial fisheries

has reduced
the carbon drawdown potential

of fish of commercial interest
by 50%.

As well as their carbon value,

fish have a market value...

..and 60 million people
around the world

depend on the fishing industry.

So we really have
to move toward a future

where we change how we value fish.
Like this place just behind me,

who really cares about
how they source their produce.

Most of the life we know
in the ocean

inhabits the surface layers.

It draws the carbon in.

But the deeper the carbon goes,

the better it is for the planet.

The twilight zone
is a vast part of the ocean.

It extends around the globe,
from pole to pole,

anywhere that
the water's deep enough.

If you go into
the ocean twilight zone,

one of the most amazing things
you'll see

is the incredible
what we call marine snowfall.

These tiny particles -
microscopic organisms,

debris of animals
and plankton that have died

and are drifting down slowly
through the ocean.

And as it's falling,
it's helping the ocean

to draw that carbon away
from the atmosphere.

These deep, dark waters
may seem lifeless.

But there are creatures here

that look like
they're from an alien world.

There are types of organisms

that just look completely
different than those species

that we're used to seeing
in the upper ocean.

Many are luminescent,
so they sparkle like fireflies.

After many years

of scientists slowly learning
about the ocean twilight zone,

we thought we had a pretty good idea
how many fish might live there.

But recent methods using sonar

have suggested
that we may have been way off,

and there may be ten times more fish
than we previously thought.

Researchers from the Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution

are on a mission to recover
an instrument

that's been moored 1,800 feet
down in the deep ocean.

Winch left. Bottom depth is 2802.

It's been gathering information

for the past two years,

so should be full
of scientific revelation.

So there's always a chance

that something can go wrong
during the recovery.

The research is led by
oceanographer Dr Andone Lavery.

This is the mooring
that's been out for two years.

We are looking at
the acoustic sonars

that are on the top
of the... of the mooring.

There's a little bit
of slime on it,

but not a lot considering
it's been down there for two years,

so, uh, pretty exciting.

This giant acoustic ball

sends pulses of sound
through the water

to paint a picture
of what's happening in the dark.

We're interested in the fishes
in the ocean twilight zone,

and their migration
from the deep waters

down at about 600 or 700m of depth.

And as they come up to
the surface at night to feed,

we're interested in how much
carbon they basically consume

and draw down when they migrate
back down to the deep ocean

during the daylight hours.

We think that this is probably
the largest migration on Earth,

the largest movement of animals
on this planet,

which happens daily

in this big wave
around the ocean.

We're only just discovering
the secrets of the twilight zone...

..and its role in drawing
carbon into the deep.

I'm in a really slick area.
You got it? Yeah.

OK.

Finally get the data.

A simple USB stick holds
the precious files.

All the data is here.

This is awesome.

6,000 files.

Could you put them up
on the big screen?

Yeah.

The reason we use
acoustics in the ocean

to look at fishes
instead of using cameras,

is that you can see quite
a long way with acoustics.

With a camera, you can only see
fishes that are very close by.

And we use that sound
and that really strong signal

to count how many fish
we're seeing,

and to characterize
what kinds of fishes they are.

Studying this movement
of life is a formidable task...

..but the team is making headway.

What we've learned
about the Twilight Zone

suggests that it may help
the ocean draw down

billions of metric tonnes
of carbon every year.

As much as six times
the carbon dioxide

emitted by automobiles worldwide

may be drawn down by the ocean
with the Twilight Zone's help.

But it's very hard to study,

and there's a lot of things
that we still don't know about it.

The race is on to improve
our understanding of the ocean.

But it's huge.

It covers 70% of our planet.

There's only one way to get a
truly global picture of how it works.

The ocean
is a challenging environment,

which is one of the reasons
why we don't know

as much as we
probably should about it.

Dr Laura Lorenzoni is
a NASA scientist.

She's preparing
for a historical rocket launch.

A mission that aims to see
the ocean

in a way that's impossible
from Earth.

So important,
the world will be watching.

Right now, I'm getting ready

because I'm gonna be part
of that broadcast tonight

for our mission
that we're launching to space.

This mission that we're launching

is really gonna help us understand
that connection

between the atmosphere
and the ocean

and that carbon drawdown.

What do I do?
Just stick it in my ear?

As this is my first broadcast,

I am obviously a little nervous.

What time do we start?

You are looking live
at Space Launch Complex-40

on Cape Canaveral
Space Force Station.

It is such an honor to
be here with all of you

near and far and witness
history in the making.

NASA has studied
Earth's atmosphere in the past.

What is it that you hope to learn
that you didn't already know?

That is an excellent question.

So this mission is really going
to be critical

to nail down some of the gaps
of information that we have

in terms of carbon cycling.

We have a decent grasp on

the physics
of this carbon drawdown,

but the one thing that we're
not really 100% sure on

is the biological part which is
carried out by phytoplankton.

This mission is going to be
able to tell us

what kind of plankton
and what species,

and some species are
really important

and can sequester
a lot more carbon

faster than other species.

Many on the PACE spacecraft team

now going outside to watch
this launch.

Getting down
to the final seconds.

15 seconds.

This mission has been
in the works

for about two decades.

It has gone through the hands

of many hundreds of scientists
and engineers,

enabling us to see the ocean
in brand-new ways

that we hadn't before.

Minus 10.

10, 9, 8,

7, 6, 5,

4, 3, 2, 1.

Booster ignition,

full power engines

and liftoff of the Falcon 9
and PACE,

helping keep pace with our
ever-changing ocean and atmosphere.

Stage one propulsion is now go.

With every orbit,

this satellite will scan
30 million square miles

of the Earth's surface...

..identifying different types
of phytoplankton...

..and where the most carbon-rich
expanses of ocean exist.

This mission is really
going to move us forwards.

Because of the new measurements
that this mission is bringing,

we have a lot of opportunities
at our fingertips

to try to mitigate some
of the changes that our presence,

our human presence,
has induced on the planet.

We're about 10 seconds

from the engine cut off.

We can establish
which parts of our ocean

are most important
for carbon drawdown.

But they are often the most
sensitive to climate change.

In the Southern Ocean,
warming temperatures are affecting

a very different kind
of carbon system...

..one so important it's studied
by scientists across the world.

My name is Peter.

I'm a research director
at the Flanders Marine Institute.

I'm an oceanographer.

So the Southern Ocean is
the most remote ocean of our planet.

Now, you can think about
the Southern Ocean as a big lung.

It breathes in and breathes
out carbon dioxide.

Atmospheric pressure pushes carbon
dioxide into the ocean surface,

a process called
"the physical pump".

When it dissolves
into the cold Antarctic waters,

it sinks down deep...

..where it can be stored
for thousands of years.

We know today
that the Southern Ocean

is one of the most important
carbon sinks on this planet,

slowing down the rate
of global warming this way,

but what we do not really know
is how this is changing,

how this heat and this carbon
uptake are changing over time,

how variable they might be,

and as climate change
progresses,

what we can expect
in the near and far future.

There are few places on Earth

more difficult to study
than the Southern Ocean.

But Peter knows someone
who's always up for a challenge.

Yeah, yeah, OK. Let's go.

Boris Herrmann
is a professional yachtsman.

Woohoo!

Yeah, yeah. Pause.

Yeah, I obviously love sailing
and racing on the ocean.

That is my passion
since my childhood,

and it became my job.

I really feel at home
on the ocean.

OK, let's have a look outside.

Sea state is OK.

And full main!

Scientists need precise data

about the exact
CO2 concentration

in the ocean surface.

This you cannot measure
by satellites.

You need to go
with some sort of vessel.

And there are
no commercial ships here,

no cruise ships, etc.

Here in the Southern Ocean,
us racing sailors,

we are the only ones.

Boris's boat gathers data
as it sails.

Here's the ocean lab.

So, basically, there's
a big pump here. I can...

If I put my hand on
it, it's warm,

I can feel it pumping and I can hear

the water flowing
through these tubes.

It comes from the keel,

it goes through here and then
goes back out into the sea.

So it permanently tracks water
temperature, water salinity

and, most importantly,
the CO2 concentration.

With Boris's help,

scientists will be able to assess

how the Southern Ocean
is changing.

And what's really remarkable

about the data
that Boris has collected

is that he has collected data
in places where we haven't...

..we've never, ever collected carbon
dioxide measurements before.

I think the biggest gratitude
for Boris

might be that his data will be
used for a very long time.

So every measurement that is
taken today

will not only be used tomorrow
or in the next years,

it will be actually used
indefinitely.

I'm very happy
that we can use the attention

we get around this sport

to make people speak about
climate solutions

and hopefully inspire people
around this topic

and hopefully have a positive
influence with this

because we have no choice.
It's a race we must win.

We shouldn't take it for granted,

because if we don't protect
those natural carbon sinks,

may they be on land
or in the ocean,

we will not have this service
in the future

and will be a much bigger problem.

We want to keep a close eye
on the climate system,

how it behaves, how it changes,

because there are so many
things that we may not know,

and so many changes that
we might otherwise overlook,

and so we want to understand
our future we're heading to.

Across the seas of the world,

signs of what's in store
are becoming more frequent.

One of the great advantages
of being here

is that the Mediterranean
is a laboratory for the world.

Dr Giulio Boccaletti

is the Scientific Director
at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre

on Climate Change.

So the Mediterranean is
undergoing remarkable changes.

Its temperature has never
been hotter.

The last few years we've had
extreme marine heat waves.

And so what we see when we look
at the Mediterranean

is a glimpse of the future
for the rest of the planet.

If we don't figure out
how to stop the climate

from changing more,

if we don't figure out a way
of drawing down carbon,

if we don't find a way
of working with nature,

I don't know exactly
what the future will look like,

but this is the place
where we will find out first.

The ocean draws down a quarter

of the 11 billion tonnes of carbon
that we emit each year.

Extreme temperatures

are compromising
this critical system.

Giulio's work models
these effects

to help us avoid the worst,
and prepare for what is coming.

I actually think that nature has
been trying really hard to help us.

Now, it can't do that by itself.

It can't solve
all of our problems by itself.

We have to stop emitting,

and we have to help nature
do what it does.

So the quest here is,
can we transform that nature?

Can we power it up so that,
while we stop emitting,

it then helps us draw back down

the stuff that we put up in the
atmosphere in the first place?

Restoring life
in our ocean is a huge task.

It takes collaboration...

..determination...

..and innovation...

..and some brilliant projects
are already under way.

40% of us live along the coastline,

for good reason.

On this small island in Kenya,

nature is still abundant.

It's a favourite spot for local
fisher Hassan Shee Yusuf.

What makes the catch so good here

is the surrounding
mangrove forest...

..an ecosystem of tangled roots

that only exists
where the land meets the sea.

Working alongside local fishers

is marine biologist
Mwanarusi Mwafrica.

What I love much
about the mangrove forest

is because this is an ecosystem that
actually provided me with a job.

Like my daily bread, yeah!

Mangrove roots are very essential

because they provide
a safe haven for juvenile fish

from being carried away
by strong waves.

So the fact of having more trees,

this means you're going
to have more fish,

more fish in the future.

Mangrove forests grow
along many tropical coastlines.

And when it comes
to harnessing carbon dioxide,

they are a superpower.

These are very magical trees

because the services
that they provide are quite diverse.

Mangroves are very efficient
at drawing down carbon.

When we look at the capacity,
it's almost seven to ten times

compared to other terrestrial trees.

The interaction between
the trees, the tide and the mud

creates a unique environment...

..that not only means mangroves
can store more carbon per acre

than any other type of forest
on Earth...

..they keep it locked up
for millennia.

But many mangroves

have been lost to deforestation
and coastal development...

..including here in Kenya.

But the community here
is now turning things around...

..through a new business venture.

So Vanga Blue Forest is part
of a carbon-offsetting scheme.

So what happens is that
individuals, companies,

businesses come to offset
with the project,

in the essence that they are
promoting conservation efforts

as much as they are offsetting
their own carbon emissions.

If we fund nature now,

these ecosystems will continue
to draw down carbon

long after our emissions
have ceased.

Since the project started,

over 4,000 mangrove seedlings
have been planted.

Carbon drawdowns
of Vanga mangrove forest

are at 6,000 tonnes a year.

Carbon sales are also
enriching the community.

The local school
now has a science lab,

and better facilities have helped
its first student get to university.

What makes me to be very proud
working at Vanga Blue Forest

is the fact that I'm
at the focal point of a change,

the focal point of a movement
that is growing globally,

and that movement
is changing the narrative

of reversing climate change.

Pioneering projects like this

show how we can boost nature
and carbon drawdown.

But to really transform
our ocean,

we need to work at scale,

which requires
even more investment.

I'm Julie Robinson and I'm
the Belize Program Director

for the Nature Conservancy.

This story does not start in nature,

it actually starts in a boardroom.

Belize had a long history
of being indebted.

That actually became worse
during the COVID-19 pandemic,

and tourism came
to a screeching halt.

And so, essentially,
we were in an economic crisis,

and we also had
a debt payment looming.

But Julie and her team
were working on a plan

that was about to turn this crisis

into an opportunity
to invest in nature.

But I've spent way too much
time in boardrooms like this

looking over Excel sheets
and on computer.

What I'd really like to do
is take you out on the ocean

and show you exactly
what we're protecting.

So right now we're in San Pedro,

which is a really popular
tourist destination.

It is a biodiversity hotspot,

great for diving,
great for snorkeling.

It was actually
my childhood out here

that led me to be
where I am today...

Right over here looks good.

..and at six years old,
I pretty much decided

that I was going to dedicate my life

to saving the animals in the water.

In today's warming ocean,

this beautiful reef needs
all the help it can get.

But conservation
at this scale is expensive.

Hard to prioritize when you've
got a large national debt.

But Belize had a plan.

We call it Blue Bonds
for ocean conservation.

You could think of it
as refinancing

or remortgaging a home,

whereby a bank is able
to provide better terms

and reduce the overall payments,

and then the savings
from that reduced payment

is what goes towards conservation.

In this case, that was a figure
of $180 million US

to be rolled out
over a 20-year period.

When you borrow money
for your home,

it's an investment, right?

You renovate, you look after it,

and over time, it adds value.

The challenge was really
coordinating

all the various players,
all the partners,

because something of this scale
had just never been done before.

A big team effort was needed
for this ground-breaking deal

to protect mile after mile of ocean.

And for its part of the bargain,

Belize had to commit
to some serious goals.

Protecting 30% of waters would
allow nature to thrive...

..and better management
would support the people

who rely on a healthy ocean.

And look at it.

When it's working,
it is absolutely paradise.

Once the decision had been made
to move the deal forwards,

it took only 18 months to get
everything in order,

and now there's a model
for other countries.

Around the world, more projects
like this are in the works,

thanks to the success
of this inspirational deal.

During a time during
climate crisis,

we need things like this
more than ever before.

When nature wins, we win,

and so does the carbon drawdown.

But two-thirds of our ocean,
known as the high seas,

fall outside of national laws.

Without governance,
fishing can be a free-for-all.

To protect nature
in these unmanaged waters

takes international collaboration...

..based on accurate
scientific information.

Ecologist Tristan Rouyer

is hoping to spot one of the world's
most valuable fish from the sky.

Buckle up and let's go.

Tristan is joining Scientific Angler,

a fleet of recreational fishers

competing to catch
a tuna for science.

The Mediterranean Sea

is home to one of the most important

Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries
in the world...

..making it a prime spot
to monitor numbers.

Demand for bluefin
surged in the 1990s,

which led to their rapid demise.

But against the odds,

these highly prized fish are
making a comeback.

Fabien!

The competition is on!

Small tuna like this are
the optimum size for tagging.

The tag has been programmed
to last for over four years.

It will show Tristan exactly
where the tuna goes

as it heads out
into unprotected waters.

Perfect.

The resurgence of bluefin tuna
can't be taken for granted.

Keeping their numbers up
requires collaboration.

And Tristan's data feeds
into an international coalition

of over 50 countries
and governments

committed to preventing
overexploitation in the future.

If Atlantic bluefin tuna
can come back from the brink,

surely there's hope
we can return

even more nature to abundance.

In an ocean bursting with life,

carbon can be drawn away
from the atmosphere.

Carbon is the... It's the...
It's the thing of our time, right?

It's the challenge
that all of us have to face.

Climate change, it's something
that we have done,

but it's also something
that we can fix.

No matter where we live,

the nature that surrounds us
can be restored.

As a project lead,
it gives me the boost

to always look forward

to every morning waking up
with an open heart,

because it gives me
the determination

that whatever I'm doing
brings change.

But it's not just down
to you and me.

The world needs to act and
boost our entire living planet.

It's a race against time to find
solutions for climate change.

We have a choice to build
the world we want to live in.

So if we can find a way
of investing in nature,

of working with nature...

..I think we'll be able
to overcome even this,

which is the greatest challenge
of this century.

The future I want is a future
where this sanctuary is filled

with whales and filled
with sea birds

and fish and just life,

and so I want to make sure that
this sanctuary stays this way.

I want this place to be like this,
you know, for ever.

And for ever depends
on the future of nature.