Original subtitles

LOW RADIO CHATTER

These people are hunting

for one of the most endangered animals on the planet.

The black rhino - an animal poached for its horn.

GUN FIRES

But they aren't going to harm her.

Dumi Zwane and his team are on a rescue mission.

I don't think I'll ever stop fighting for rhino.

It's just not possible.

OK! Yeah...

They're setting up a new breeding colony in a safe haven.

Get her on two.

Two. OK. That's good.

This female is going to be at the very centre of it.

She weighs over a tonne...

Go!

..and there's only one way to get her out.

That's it.

There we are. Perfect!

When I watch it fly off, it's very emotional.

It's a beautiful feeling.

She is sedated and safe...

...and in less than half an hour, she'll be back on the ground

and starting a new life in a project that could save her entire species,

thanks to Dumi and his remarkable team.

We started making the very first Planet Earth series

just over 20 years ago.

Since then, our camera teams have filmed all over the world

and visited some of its wildest and most remote corners.

But the truth is that most of the animals we filmed

over these last two decades are now rarer than they were.

And the places where they live

are in greater danger of destruction.

But I've seen another change in those years,

a hopeful change.

A new generation of remarkable people are stepping up

to save wildlife.

They're overcoming huge obstacles,

travelling to dangerous places,

and sometimes even risking their lives.

To me, they are true heroes.

This is the story of some of them.

Hidden in the heart of the Andes

is the Centro Jambatu research centre.

It's protecting members of what is, perhaps surprisingly,

the most endangered group of animals in the world.

Frogs.

These individuals are the very last of their particular species.

They're brought here not only for protection,

but, more importantly,

to increase their numbers.

And the person to find them...

..Jaime Culebras.

I was seven the first time that I saw a frog

and just changed my life.

And ever since his childhood,

he's been exploring the remotest places

and searching for the rarest frogs.

This is a leaf frog.

He is just amazing.

It's impossible to don't fall in love with an animal like this, no?

But there is one frog here that is very special.

His name, Sad Santiago.

This is Sad Santiago.

He's sad because he's alone.

He's one of the last members of his species.

And he needs a female.

Known as the Morona-Santiago harlequin frog,

he may be the rarest frog in the world.

While the other frogs here are doing their best

to increase their populations,

Santiago has sat alone for four long years.

Maybe it's not the most beautiful frog, but he deserves love.

Santiago has now grown old,

and if Jaime can't find a female for him soon,

the whole species could become extinct.

THUNDER RUMBLES

The last place where one of these frogs was seen...

..was high up on a mountain in the cloud forest of Ecuador.

There's only one way to get there.

DONKEY SNORTS

Joining him is fellow frog-hunter Darwin

and Jaime's partner and frog scientist, Francesca.

Oh!

Come on, vamanos.

Arriba.

This is one of the wettest places on Earth,

and right now it's actually the wet season, the rainy season,

so it rains even more.

Soaking wet and teeming with bugs...

..it's a perfect place for frogs.

Let's go.

Most frogs come out of hiding at night.

This place is extremely wonderful.

But you have to be careful where you put your hands.

Being with him is...

..it's unusual.

It's not your regular relationship.

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, he's obsessed. He's really obsessed.

Streams like this should be full of frogs

of many different species...

..but they search all night and find nothing.

It's a silent forest.

It's sad.

The sound of frogs is slowly disappearing from our world.

The only place many frog species can now be found

is in a museum.

A key reason is the spread of a fungus called chytrid...

..that can grow on the moist skins of frogs,

eventually killing them.

90 species are thought to have become extinct as a consequence,

and almost 600 more are now critically endangered.

Before chytrid, I'm pretty sure that you could walk

through the stream and see everywhere

many, many, many frogs on the rocks,

calling "prrr-prrr"!

I wish I had been born before the frog disease.

Night after night...

..they search the stream.

Jaime!

At last, there is a discovery.

The sound is a... JAIME TRILLS

I don't know exactly where, but it's there, more or less.

En el agua!

We have it.

A glass frog.

A really beautiful glass frog.

Glass frogs are becoming increasingly rare,

and one day they, too, could disappear.

But it's not what they are looking for.

The fact is that countless species go extinct...

..unnoticed.

All Jaime can do is to continue his search

for a mate for Santiago.

It's there?

I found a female!

Agh!

Woohoo!

It's a female! Look.

The size is bigger than the males.

Wow.

I feel so happy!

The first female!

She could be the cornerstone of a new breeding programme.

Santiago will be very, very, very, very, very happy.

JAIME LAUGHS

Because she's really beautiful!

In my hand, I have hope.

I have the saviour of this species,

for breeding programmes and for people to reproduce it.

I don't know, it's like I just have hope in my hand.

There are over 7,000 species of frogs in the world,

and you may well ask...

..does it really matter if a few go extinct?

Well, just look at this tiny species

of poison arrow frog.

Scientists discovered a chemical on its skin...

..200 times stronger than morphine.

Now they are studying how it works to create powerful new painkillers.

But the natural world is not just one vast medicine chest.

It's far more than that.

It is our life support system,

the fabric that holds our world together.

Remove a part of it, a species or a habitat,

and there's no knowing what could happen.

LOW RUMBLING

A prime example is the forest elephant.

They play a crucial role in maintaining

the rainforests of Africa...

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

..dispersing seeds and making clearings

that are then used by many other animals.

We filmed these images in 2004

for the first Planet Earth series.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

Nine years later, poachers came here

and killed 26 elephants for their ivory...

..including four of the calves.

Since that first series,

the number of forest elephants across Africa

has dropped by two-thirds.

But stopping the slaughter is a risky business.

Abidjan, in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa...

..part of the global network in the illegal ivory trade.

A stranger has flown in from Vietnam,

a hub for the import of ivory.

Her name - Trang Nguyen.

Her speciality - infiltrating the illegal wildlife trade

by posing as a buyer.

Trang is working with a network of conservationists called EAGLE.

Her contact here is Rens Ilgen.

But what is particular with this new trade in West Africa is,

as you can see, a lot of the tusks are from baby elephants.

So, they're really down to the last elephants.

Last week, seven people were killed.

Seven ranger was killed?

So, clearly, it is not just about the ivory trade,

but a lot of people, rangers, that are being killed as well.

It's...it's war. It's war.

And they're even going for the baby elephants. Yeah.

Now Trang is set her task.

So, I want you to meet the godfather of ivory.

We already arrested him four years ago

when he had 400kg of ivory,

which he was supplying to the Vietnamese community

linked to the Vietnamese mafia.

As he has been arrested before, he might be very cautious.

It might be dangerous.

She prepares her disguise as a businesswoman -

but under her jacket,

hidden recording equipment.

EAGLE's undercover agents have been following

the godfather for years.

Now is the moment to catch him.

This is your first meeting.

You're just going to discuss and get to know each other.

See if they have the products. Exactly.

I'm going in,

and I need to sit facing away from the door,

because I don't want people to see me with him.

We will be close by... Yep.

..and nothing will go wrong.

OK.

Good luck.

Bye.

She meets the godfather at a local cafe.

The secret cameras capture the story.

Mm-hm.

But the godfather denies having any ivory for sale.

Merci.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Merci.

Perhaps there's no ivory.

Or maybe he doesn't trust Trang.

It's a serious setback.

But there are other traders out there.

Perhaps her presence in town will draw them in.

Every day that passes,

more elephants are killed.

For Trang, this work is very personal.

When I was 23, I got the phone call.

The doctor told me that I had bowel cancer.

The first thing pop up in my mind is that I'm so young,

well, how can I get cancer?

Once you have cancer,

you don't know how long you're going to live for,

and if I want to do anything, then I should just do it now.

And that's when I said, "OK, I'm just going to do undercover,"

because I don't know when I'm going to die.

I might as well do something really meaningful.

Currently, Trang is in remission.

Three days later, there's a breakthrough.

PHONE PINGS

A video sent by a trader.

I can see that this video have about 14, 15 ivory.

They are big tusks, they are also small tusks as well.

It's obviously come from baby elephants.

The bait has been taken.

Trang and the EAGLE team must act fast.

She goes to meet the new targets.

First job...

Bonsoir.

..gain their trust.

Cheers.

Cheers. Cheers.

TRANG SPEAKING ENGLISH:

OK.

Eventually, Trang persuades the traders to move to

a hotel room nearby...

..to weigh the ivory and make the transaction.

Close the door. Close the door.

Ivory is sold by the kilo.

That is just over 20.

20.2?

20.3.

A whole elephant family was killed for this haul.

LOW CHATTER

It's worth over £5,000.

Here, that is a year's salary.

What the traders don't realise...

..is that the police are in the room above,

waiting for a text from Trang.

OK, let's go.

WHISPERING

KNOCK ON DOOR

Who's there?

Service?

You go open the door.

OK.

Just put it down here.

Police! Police!

TRANG SCREAMS

Don't move, don't move, don't move!

TRANG SCREAMS

TRANG SPEAKING FRENCH:

For her own safety,

she has to keep her cover story and behave as a criminal...

MUFFLED SHOUTING

..which means she must also be arrested.

POLICE ISSUE ORDERS

A link in the global supply chain...

..broken.

Trang is whisked away,

whilst the traders are taken to the police station,

none the wiser about her involvement.

Over the next year, EAGLE catch 140 more traffickers

in the fight against the global wildlife trade.

But for Trang, this is her last operation.

It's why we can show her face.

It's not safe for her to stay a minute longer than necessary.

Trang's final task is to vanish from Abidjan...

..for ever.

Across the world, the numbers of wild animals are falling alarmingly.

In just two decades -

since we started making the first Planet Earth series -

the abundance of wildlife around the globe has dropped,

on average, by over 30%.

We're facing a disaster, a catastrophe.

Scientists say that we're on the edge of a mass extinction.

It's being caused by human activity.

So humans also have the power to stop it.

It takes many qualities to save even one species.

Determination...

..courage...

..and passion.

And often, there's another ingredient that's needed...

..the ability to think big.

In Vienna, Katharina Huchler is just starting a new job.

The pay is terrible.

The hours are long.

And there are no days off.

She is about to become a foster mother.

Hi.

Hi. CHEEPING

Good morning.

Hi. Hi.

And these are her new babies...

Oh.

You're pretty awake. Hi.

..28 of one of the world's rarest birds.

Hey. Hi.

The northern bald ibis.

You really quickly fall in love with them.

KATHARINA LAUGHS

They were hunted to extinction in Europe over 400 years ago.

These chicks were born in a zoo.

Katharina's task is to teach them

to become wild, free birds.

Yes, yes, yes. Komm. Komm.

To do that, she must convince them that she is their mother.

It's a process called imprinting.

While it's happening, the chicks must never see or hear

any other human except Helena,

who's an ibis foster mum for the second time.

They must always wear identical yellow clothes

and repeat the same noises again and again.

We mimic the sounds the adults make, it's like...

SHE MAKES HOARSE CALL

Kkrukk!

Kkrukk! Kklup.

Kklup. Kklup.

Kklup.

But I'm not good yet at doing it!

THEY LAUGH

Goodnight.

They're here when the chicks fall asleep...

Sleep well.

..and the first thing they see when they awake.

Good morning, waldies! Hallo!

Let's have something to eat, shall we? Yes, let's eat.

They're a bit like every human baby.

They just need their food bit by bit by bit

all day long.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Oh, no, we did it all wrong!

Oh! Aw!

It's really like changing the nappies of the babies.

28 mouths to feed and bottoms to wipe,

and all the time talking to the birds.

Komm, komm, waldies! Komm, komm!

Feeling really tired.

Yeah, I'd really like to sleep a little bit more.

As the weeks pass, the bond grows.

And then it is time for their next stage

in becoming wild birds.

They move to a field in the Austrian Alps.

They've now grown their adult flight feathers...

...but they're still chicks on the inside.

So the imprinting must continue.

With this hand gesture we do,

we imitate the bill of an adult ibis

and we combine it with the greeting sound.

So, this is...

Kklup! Kklup!

All this imprinting is for a very important reason.

These are migratory birds.

In autumn, they must fly south

to their warm feeding grounds in Italy.

And that is a problem.

They know that they need to go somewhere,

but they don't know in which direction and how far.

So they need to learn the route from their parents.

Their human mothers must show them the way.

And that requires a little ingenuity.

ENGINE POWERS UP

This is where the imprinting is put to the test.

Will the birds follow them...

..even in a microlight?

Komm, komm!

Komm, komm, waldies!

Komm, komm!

Getting too close is dangerous for both birds and humans.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!

After a wobbly start...

..at last they settle.

The imprinting has worked.

Our birds did very well today.

But their biggest challenge is still to come.

The Zillertal Alps.

A great wall of rock and ice.

It's going to be the most important flight

of their young lives.

It will take them to the very edge of exhaustion.

A lot of young birds die during their first migration.

They are still so inexperienced.

There's also danger for the foster mothers and the pilots.

If there is a problem with the microlights,

there is no safe place to land.

To gain enough height to fly over these mountains...

..they must find columns of rising air called thermals.

A skill these birds would normally learn

by following their natural mothers.

WIND WHISTLES

It takes expert piloting to find the thermals.

Once within one,

it's turbulent and unpredictable.

With every turn, the mothers must make sure

all 28 birds are following.

All 28 birds here.

Phew. SHE LAUGHS IN RELIEF

At last, they make it over the highest ridge.

From now on, it should be easy flying.

What we are trying to do, apart from saving the ibis,

is trying to give hope to people.

If you can bring back one species,

you can also do it with others.

A species once left for dead now has a future.

And they head for their safe winter home

in a protected nature reserve.

HORN BEEPS

But as we have seen throughout this series,

many species are losing the wild habitats they need to survive.

It's the biggest cause of extinction.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Amazon rainforest.

Our Planet Earth crews have filmed here many times

over the last two decades.

TIMBER CREAKING

And in that time, over 16,000 million trees...

..have been felled.

To safeguard the countless species that live here...

..the forest itself must be protected..

And there's a force rising up to do just that.

Alessandra Korap is one of the leaders of the Munduruku.

They have been the guardians of this part of the Amazon

for thousands of years.

When she was a child, this part of the Amazon forest

stretched unbroken for hundreds of miles.

Now it's being carved up...

..for mining, for timber,

but most of all for agriculture.

This is the front line in the battle for the Amazon,

and it is a deadly one.

In the last decade, more than 300 people have been murdered

in Brazil defending the environment.

The Munduruku, like many indigenous groups,

live in isolated communities

vulnerable to attack from miners, farmers and loggers.

The Amazon's future is decided 2,000 miles away.

Here, in the parliament of Brazil,

new laws are being debated to allow the exploitation

of their traditional tribal land.

But Alessandra has a plan -

to unite with other tribes

and organise a protest so big

that it cannot be ignored.

It's a three-day journey to the capital city.

HORN BLARES

Trucks rumble to and from the fields...

..land that used to be rainforest.

They're carrying thousands of tonnes of soya beans.

It's shipped from the heart of the Amazon across the world.

Not to feed humans...

..but to feed livestock.

Eventually, Alessandra makes it to Brasilia.

News of the protest has spread all over the country.

200 groups have united in a huge camp.

PROTESTORS SING

From the northeast of Brazil - the Xukuru.

From the southern edge of the Amazon - the Karaja.

For ten days, they protest against the proposed laws.

Alessandra and the other leaders have created

the biggest protest by indigenous people ever held in Brazil.

Later, one of the proposed laws was withdrawn.

A small but significant victory

in Alessandra's fight for Brazil's wild places.

The destruction of habitats is currently the biggest threat

to the survival of animal species.

But there is an even greater disaster on the horizon.

Our climate is changing.

Seasons have become unpredictable and more extreme.

Our planet is getting hotter.

Scientists predict that if the global temperature

rises by over two degrees,

it is likely to become the number one cause of extinction.

To halt climate change,

perhaps politicians need to become heroes, too.

Hello, good evening, and a warm welcome to Glasgow

and the start of the long-awaited climate summit, COP26.

World leaders, prominent scientists

and advisers all ready for 12 days of...

Mohamed Nasheed is a politician,

the former president of the Maldives.

The doctors said that they took 16 ball bearings

from all parts of my body.

I was unconscious for two days.

Over his political career, he has been tortured, imprisoned

and recently survived an assassination attempt.

But during that time,

he's also fought relentlessly against climate change.

..pleasure to be able to bring you Mohamed Nasheed.

AUDIENCE CHEERS

In Glasgow, on the eve of climate conference COP26,

he is addressing a rally.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

So, we come to COP26

to find out whether we still have a future.

If we cannot have a legally binding agreement

not to push global temperatures

above 1.5 degrees,

my country will be gone,

as will all the world's coral reefs

and most of the rainforests.

Is all this devastation really worth it,

so that we can continue to burn coal and fossil fuel

for a few more years?

I have spent a lifetime

fighting for my country,

and with more determination than ever,

because I know my time on Earth might be cut short.

Mohamed Nasheed's passion for the natural world

began the first time he saw a coral reef.

My earliest memory

is with the ocean and the reef.

We were the first generation to actually see the reef.

Masks and goggles came to the Maldives

in the late '60s, early '70s.

Once we started seeing the reef as a living creature...

..we were just dumbfounded.

But Nasheed's beloved coral is now the habitat

that is most threatened by climate change.

The critical tipping point is a 1.5 degree temperature rise.

Beyond that, most reefs will die,

leaving nothing but rubble.

When you think of a bigger picture,

then your own life is not so important.

It's what you want to get done which is important.

Nasheed's aim is to persuade politicians to cut the use

of coal and other fossil fuels.

He repeats this plea at every climate conference.

You need to be able to convince people,

try to educate people.

We are in trouble.

We will not survive if the planet is heated above 1.5 degrees.

We must act now.

At first, journalists are reporting on some eye-catching promises

made by heads of state.

18 countries have committed themselves

to a plan to stop using coal-fired power plants.

It is an election issue now.

That is why world leaders have joined the rhetoric.

The next stage - turning promises into solid plans.

And Nasheed is busy working behind the scenes.

If they don't agree, we will ring their ministers, their presidents

and get them online.

I think that's what we're trying to do.

So let's do this.

How are you, Prime Minister?

Yeah, OK. I can hear you,

but I can hear the Prime Minister much clearer.

All countries need to agree to the final text -

and some won't.

People who want to continue fossil fuel,

I think, are the bad guys.

And people who want to change, I feel, are the good guys.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

After 14 days, this COP closes...

..with some progress,

but also with big compromises.

An agreement was finally reached this evening

after a key section on the future use of coal

was at the last moment watered down.

Without urgent new commitments,

the target of 1.5 degrees will be missed.

It is disastrous.

It will...

If you picture this, if you can fathom it...

..the coral will bleach

and they will die,

and when they are dead,

the fish and the marine life that lives there...

..cease to exist.

You would have thought that your normal prime minister

and president...

..would have a better grip on understanding things.

And not just go on and on and on

about protecting their way of life.

So it's frustrating to see politicians...

..who doesn't seem to understand it.

With current policies,

99% of coral reefs could be gone...

..in under 30 years.

Other habitats will follow.

You can't lose hope.

You cannot give up.

I will not stop.

Nasheed believes there is a solution.

The more environment becomes an election issue,

there will be more action on climate.

Every time you vote, in every election,

please tick the planet.

The challenge of saving species can't be left to a few

heroic individuals working against the odds.

It's those in positions of great power

who can make the most difference.

So, ultimately, it is they who must take the most responsibility.

Perhaps one of our roles is to hold them to account.

Time is running out for many species,

but I truly believe that if the right decisions are made now,

at this critical moment,

there could still be a bright future for all life

on our wonderful planet Earth.

Habitat Explorer brings animals and their habitats to life.

Explore this free interactive, and make origami animals.

Go to bbc.co.uk/planetearth3

and follow the links to the Open University.

Or to order a free printed version,

visit the website or call the numbers on the screen.