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00:06Life.
00:09The closer you look, the more mysterious it seems.
00:17We can't see the invisible forces at work.
00:24But what if we could?
00:30It's time to look at our home.
00:34In a whole new way.
00:42Imagine carbon cycling through nature.
00:48It's one of the building blocks of life.
00:53And it's stored in our forests.
00:58Oceans.
01:01And grasslands.
01:03On an incredible scale.
01:08But we've released too much of it into the atmosphere.
01:12Risking our future.
01:15We can halt emissions and draw the carbon back down.
01:22And our best ally for that is nature.
01:29Restoring it to abundance is the biggest challenge of our time.
01:35But we can do it.
01:38If the future of nature looked brighter.
01:42So could the future for us all.
01:49And your largest energy.
01:49We're in the beginning.
01:49We're going to die.
01:51So we're coming to the forest.
01:52And we're coming to the forest.
01:52So these are like, we are forty-six.
02:03We look at the forest.
02:04We're coming to the forest.
02:09I want to be in the forest.
02:09What the forest is.
02:10How does it get our best?
02:12It's the greatest ecosystem on the planet.
02:16Standing by.
02:18There might be a group going left to right.
02:21They just don't.
02:22Roger that. Thanks.
02:23Understanding how it works has never been so important.
02:31Oh, right by that black hole boat?
02:34Yeah, I can't see dorsals.
02:36Yeah.
02:36Because it's changing under the pressure of climate change.
02:44It's getting hotter and hotter.
02:45Got it out.
02:47And life within the ocean affects the whole planet.
03:04Humpback whales are ocean nomads.
03:09It's estimated they can migrate over half a million miles in a lifetime.
03:18Each summer, Atlantic populations come to feed in Stale Wagon Bank National Marine Sanctuary,
03:25where marine biologist Dr. Dave Wiley and his team are ready to meet them.
03:42Dave's team wants to know how climate change is affecting the humpback's feeding behavior.
03:49To find out, they need to get much nearer to the whales.
03:55You can't try to rush any of it.
03:57That's why it takes sometimes, you know, long periods of time before we actually get close enough.
04:05It's a waiting game.
04:09Well, there's going to be a lot of this during this trip.
04:12After looking for whales and working on whales, eating's probably the next most common thing I do.
04:19Such a good sandwich.
04:21We're out here for, like, eight to ten hours at a time.
04:24Of course, everybody gets hungry.
04:25We've noticed as soon as we start to snack, that's when the whales pop up.
04:30Yes, they work!
04:34Whales coming up!
04:39The scientists want to attach sensors to the whales to collect important data.
04:46It's not an easy task to put tags on every animal in a group, but we've done it before, and
04:51we're going to try to do it again.
04:52Looks like the group's coming up over there at 1 o'clock.
05:07I have 403 here.
05:15The tags we're using are called D-Tags.
05:18They're a really sophisticated tag that goes on with suction cups, so it doesn't hurt the animals at all.
05:25So basically, with these tags, we know what the animals are doing with their body,
05:29and we all know any sounds they make or anything they're hearing.
05:32And they're also equipped with GPS, so when they come to the surface, they give us a location.
05:37So it's really a full suite of data.
05:53Okay, Mike's ready to tag, everybody.
05:59Hold on.
06:07Here we go.
06:09Nice.
06:14That was good.
06:15That worked well.
06:16If it all comes together, it's perfect.
06:22Some of the tags are fitted with cameras to see what the whales are doing.
06:28So we've got this great backlog of data that shows us what the ocean was like over the past 20
06:33years,
06:34how it's changing right at this very minute, and then as this project continues into the future,
06:40we'll know how the animals are behaving in an ocean that's going to be really quite different
06:45than the one they've been used to for the last hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years.
06:51And by deploying almost 300 tags since 2004, they've built a picture of their feeding behavior.
06:59This gives the scientists an important reference, allowing them to see if anything unusual is happening.
07:08Since the study began, the whales' feeding habits stayed fairly consistent.
07:16Until this year, when Dave and his team noticed something different going on.
07:23The main prey item for almost everything in the Stoag and Bank National Marine Sanctuary,
07:28and humpback whales in particular, are a little fish called sandlands.
07:33They're maybe six inches long, as big around as your thumb, and they're here in really big numbers.
07:41Sandlands normally stay at the surface, but this year they are keeping to the seafloor.
07:49Dave thinks that rising ocean temperatures are causing the fish to hibernate early.
07:55We haven't seen this before, so this is already a sign that the ocean is changing rapidly and in many
08:03ways drastically.
08:07What happens to whales matters.
08:10As they play an important role in the ocean.
08:17So these animals are going down and they're feeding on the bottom, but they defecate at the surface.
08:31They spread huge amounts of fertilizer all over the surface of the ocean, where the sunlight is also.
08:37So you get this combination of fertilizer and sunlight.
08:44This creates the perfect conditions for a microscopic organism to flourish.
08:53Phytoplankton.
08:55Just like plants, they photosynthesize, absorbing carbon dioxide.
09:06And when conditions are right, their numbers explode.
09:15Carbon is now locked inside these giant blooms, instead of in the atmosphere.
09:24They can become so huge, they are visible from space.
09:47The more whales you have, the healthier the ocean is.
09:51One of the really great things about humpback whales is how successful they've been in making a comeback from commercial
09:58whaling.
10:01Some populations have recovered by as much as 90%.
10:10If all the whales came back to fill the ocean, the future would be brighter.
10:19They're fertilizing the entire system, so there's more life here that can hold lots more carbon and draw down carbon
10:27dioxide out of the atmosphere where we don't want it,
10:29and into this ecological world that we're looking at, which is exactly where we do want it.
10:40But there's more to phytoplankton, and the role they play in the carbon drawdown story.
10:56I wish more people knew about phytoplankton, because they really are the unsung heroes of life on our planet.
11:02Dr. Stephanie Henson is a phytoplankton expert at the National Oceanography Centre in England.
11:10Hiya, here's a little sample.
11:12So the bucket that we collected this morning of water probably contains more phytoplankton than the population of London or
11:18New York.
11:20There's plenty of phytoplankton and sobrankton in there.
11:22Oh, nice. That's really great.
11:25Oh, there's all sorts of stuff in there.
11:26Yeah.
11:27Really nice. Great.
11:28But of course, they're feeding the whole ocean, effectively.
11:31They're the base of the marine food chain, and everything else in the ocean depends on them.
11:40Phytoplankton are eaten by tiny creatures called zooplankton.
11:46And they, in turn, are eaten by larger predators.
11:57If there weren't phytoplankton in the oceans, the marine food chain as we know it today would completely collapse.
12:08As species eat each other, the carbon goes all the way to the top.
12:32It's part of a process that scientists call the biological pump.
12:41To understand its significance, we need to measure how much life there is in the ocean.
12:50And that takes innovative thinking.
13:03Marine ecologist Gael Mariani is crunching the numbers.
13:10I know this cod might look pretty boring, but in fact, it reveals something really fascinating about fish.
13:17Something we didn't even know about three or four years ago in science.
13:21And this research reveals really new information about the role fish can play in transporting carbon into a safe place.
13:35So fish are able to store the carbon they eat in their own bodies.
13:42And you might say, hang on, it's not a lot compared to a large species like some whales.
13:51But it's biomass that matters, how many fish they are.
13:57By gathering data from the fisheries around the world,
14:01Gael's results give an astonishing picture
14:03of how ocean life helps us in the fight against climate change.
14:12So we've made some calculations and we found that fish of commercial interest are able to draw down the equivalent
14:19to the annual emission of 50 million American citizens.
14:25It's massive.
14:31Fish numbers are far lower than they could be.
14:36By taking them out of our ocean, we are reducing the power of the biological pump.
14:44We can also work out how much carbon we've lost through fishing globally.
14:49And the numbers are quite remarkable.
14:56We calculate industrial fisheries has reduced the carbon drawdown potential of fish of commercial interest by 50%.
15:10As well as their carbon value, fish have a market value.
15:19And 60 million people around the world depend on the fishing industry.
15:24Oh, on the set, attends.
15:31Bonjour.
15:32Bonjour, monsieur.
15:33Vous allez bien ?
15:33Ça va, et vous ?
15:34Ça va.
15:35Je vais vous regarder parce que vous voudriez manger du poisson à midi.
15:37Qu'est-ce que vous...
15:38Ah, chez Del Dorade.
15:39D'accord.
15:40On a des sols aussi, ça a bien pêché avec la mer, là .
15:42Des rouges, c'est la saison.
15:43Oui.
15:43J'ai du bouteau en rouge aussi, ça recommence.
15:45Ah, je vais prendre du taux en rouge, alors.
15:47Le taux en rouge, oui, c'est mieux.
15:48So we really have to move toward a future where we change how we value fish.
15:53Like this place just behind me, who really care about how they source their produce.
16:00Et voilà , merci beaucoup.
16:01Bonjour et au revoir.
16:07Most of the life we know in the ocean inhabits the surface layers.
16:29The twilight zone is a vast part of the ocean.
16:32It extends around the globe, from pole to pole, anywhere that the water's deep enough.
16:38If you go into the ocean twilight zone, one of the most amazing things you'll see is the incredible, what
16:46we call marine snowfall.
16:48These tiny particles, microscopic organisms, debris of animals and plankton that have died and are drifting down slowly through the
17:00ocean.
17:00And as it's falling, it's helping the ocean to draw that carbon away from the atmosphere.
17:08These deep dark waters may seem lifeless, but there are creatures here that look like they're from an alien world.
17:34There are types of organisms that just look completely different than those species that we're used to seeing in the
17:41upper ocean.
17:50Many of them are luminescent, so they sparkle like fireflies.
18:02After many years of scientists slowly learning about the ocean twilight zone, we thought we had a pretty good idea
18:08how many fish might live there.
18:10But recent methods using sonar have suggested that we may have been way off, and there may be ten times
18:18more fish than we previously thought.
18:25Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are on a mission to recover an instrument that's been moored 1,800
18:33feet down in the deep ocean.
18:36Winch left, bottom death is 2802.
18:42It's been gathering information for the past two years, so it should be full of scientific revelation.
18:55So there's always a chance that something can go wrong during the recovery.
18:59The research is led by oceanographer Dr. Andoni Lavery.
19:03This is the mooring that's been out for two years.
19:06We are looking at the acoustic sonars that are on the top of the mooring.
19:12There's a little bit of slime on it, but not a lot considering it's been down there for two years,
19:16so pretty exciting.
19:21This giant acoustic ball sends pulses of sound through the water to paint a picture of what's happening in the
19:27dark.
19:29We're interested in the fishes in the ocean twilight zone and their migration from the deep waters down at about
19:36six or seven hundred meters of depth.
19:37And as they come up to the surface at night to feed, and we're interested in how much carbon they
19:44basically consume and draw down when they migrate back down to the deep ocean during the daylight hours.
19:52We think that this is probably the largest migration on Earth, the largest movement of animals on this planet, which
20:01happens daily in this big wave around the ocean.
20:07We're only just discovering the secrets of the twilight zone and its role in drawing carbon into the deep.
20:21I'm in a really slick areas. You got it? Yeah.
20:25OK. Finally, gather data.
20:29A simple USB stick holds the precious files.
20:33All the data's here. This is awesome. 6,000 files.
20:39Could you put them up on the big screen? Yeah.
20:43The reason we use acoustics in the ocean to look at fishes instead of using cameras is that you can
20:49see quite a long way with acoustics.
20:51With a camera, you can only see fishes that are very close by.
20:55And we use that sound and that really strong signal to count how many fish we're seeing and to characterize
21:01what kinds of fishes they are.
21:09Studying this movement of life is a formidable task.
21:13But the team is making headway.
21:16What we've learned about the twilight zone suggests that it may help the ocean draw down billions of metric tons
21:24of carbon every year.
21:26As much as six times the carbon dioxide emitted by automobiles worldwide may be drawn down by the ocean with
21:35the twilight zone's help.
21:36But it's very hard to study and there's a lot of things that we still don't know about it.
21:43The race is on to improve our understanding of the ocean.
21:49But it's huge. It covers 70% of our planet.
21:56There's only one way to get a truly global picture of how it works.
22:09The ocean is a challenging environment, which is one of the reasons why we don't know as much as we
22:15probably should about it.
22:20Dr. Laura Lorenzoni is a NASA scientist.
22:24She's preparing for a historical rocket launch.
22:29A mission that aims to see the ocean in a way that's impossible from Earth.
22:34So important, the world will be watching.
22:38Right now I'm getting ready because I'm going to be part of that broadcast tonight for our mission that we're
22:43launching to space.
22:47This mission that we're launching is really going to help us understand that connection between the atmosphere and the ocean
22:52and that carbon drawdown.
22:55What do I do? Do you stick it in my ear?
22:58As this is my first broadcast, I am obviously a little nervous.
23:03What time do we start?
23:05You are looking live at Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
23:10It is such an honor to be here with all of you near and far and witness history in the
23:14making.
23:14NASA has studied Earth's atmosphere in the past.
23:17What is it that you hope to learn that you didn't already know?
23:21That is an excellent question.
23:23So this mission is really going to be critical to nail down some of the gaps of information that we
23:29have in terms of carbon cycling.
23:31We have a decent grasp on the physics of this carbon drawdown.
23:37But the one thing that we are not really 100% sure on is the biological part, which is carried
23:43out by phytoplankton.
23:55This mission is going to be able to tell us what kind of plantain and what species.
23:59And some species are really important and can sequester a lot more carbon faster than other species.
24:07Many on the PACE spacecraft team now going outside to watch this launch.
24:12Getting down to the final seconds.
24:1515 seconds.
24:16This mission has been in the works for about two decades.
24:19It has gone through the hands of many hundreds of scientists and engineers, enabling us to see the ocean in
24:25brand new ways that we hadn't before.
24:2610, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
24:37Booster ignition.
24:39Full power engines and liftoff of the Falcon 9 and PACE.
24:45Helping keep pace with our ever changing ocean and atmosphere.
25:00With every orbit, this satellite will scan 30 million square miles of the Earth's surface.
25:11identifying different types of phytoplankton
25:15and where the most carbon-rich expanses of ocean exist.
25:20This mission is really going to move us forward.
25:24Because of the new measurements that this mission is bringing,
25:29we have a lot of opportunities at our fingertips
25:32to try to mitigate some of the changes
25:35that our presence, our human presence,
25:38has induced on the planet.
25:42We're about 10 seconds from managing cutoff.
25:55We can establish which parts of our ocean
25:58are most important for carbon drawdown.
26:03But they are often the most sensitive to climate change.
26:18In the Southern Ocean,
26:21warming temperatures are affecting
26:22a very different kind of carbon system.
26:27One so important,
26:29it's studied by scientists across the world.
26:38My name is Peter.
26:39I'm a research director at the Flanders Marine Institute.
26:44I'm an oceanographer.
26:49So the Southern Ocean is the most remote ocean of our planet.
26:53Now you can think about the Southern Ocean as a big lung.
26:58It breathes in and breathes out carbon dioxide.
27:03Atmospheric pressure pushes carbon dioxide
27:06into the ocean's surface,
27:08a process called the physical pump.
27:14When it dissolves into the cold Antarctic waters,
27:18it sinks down deep,
27:21where it can be stored for thousands of years.
27:31We know today that the Southern Ocean
27:33is one of the most important carbon sinks on this planet,
27:36slowing down the rate of global warming this way.
27:40But what we do not really know is how this is changing,
27:43how this heat and this carbon uptake are changing over time,
27:46how variable they might be.
27:48And as climate change progresses,
27:50what we can expect in the near and far future.
27:54There are few places on Earth
27:56more difficult to study than the Southern Ocean.
28:01It's not for the faint-hearted.
28:05But Peter knows someone who's always up for a challenge.
28:16Yeah, yeah. Okay, let's go.
28:20Boris Herman is a professional yachtsman.
28:28Woo-hoo!
28:30Yeah, yeah.
28:31Pose!
28:32I obviously love sailing and racing on the ocean.
28:36That is my passion since my childhood,
28:38and it became my job.
28:40I really feel at home on the ocean.
28:43Okay, let's have a look outside.
28:47Sea state is okay.
28:51And full main.
28:58Scientists need precise data
29:00about the exact CO2 concentration
29:03in the ocean surface.
29:05This you cannot measure by satellites.
29:07You need to go with some sort of vessel.
29:10And there are no commercial ships here,
29:12no cruise ships, etc.
29:14Here in the Southern Ocean,
29:15us racing sailors, we are the only ones.
29:19Boris' boat gathers data as it sails.
29:23Here's the ocean lab.
29:24So basically there's a big pump here.
29:26I can, if I put my hand on it, it's warm.
29:29I can feel it pumping,
29:30and I can hear the water flowing through these tubes.
29:34It comes from the keel,
29:35goes through here,
29:36and then goes back out into the sea.
29:37So it permanently tracks water temperature,
29:41water salinity,
29:42and most importantly, the CO2 concentration.
29:48With Boris' help,
29:50scientists will be able to assess
29:52how the Southern Ocean is changing.
29:57And what's really remarkable
29:59about the data that Boris has collected
30:02is that he has to collect the data
30:04in places where we haven't,
30:05we've never ever collected
30:07carbon dioxide measurements before.
30:10I think the biggest gratitude for Boris
30:12might be that his data
30:13will be used for a very long time.
30:16So every measurement that is taken today
30:19will not only be used tomorrow
30:20or in the next years,
30:22it will be actually used indefinitely.
30:25I'm very happy that we can use
30:27the attention we get around this sport
30:30to make people speak about climate solutions
30:33and hopefully inspire people around this topic
30:36and hopefully have a positive influence with this.
30:39Because we have no choice.
30:41It's a race we must win.
30:57And we shouldn't take it for granted
30:58because if we don't protect
30:59those natural carbon sinks,
31:01maybe they be on land or in the ocean,
31:02we will not have this service in the future
31:05and will be a much bigger problem.
31:07We want to keep a close eye on the climate system,
31:10how it behaves, how it changes,
31:12because there are so many things
31:13that we may not know
31:14and so many changes
31:16that we might otherwise overlook.
31:17And so we want to understand
31:19our future we're heading to.
31:30Across the seas of the world,
31:33signs of what's in store
31:34are becoming more frequent.
31:42One of the great advantages of being here
31:46is that the Mediterranean is a laboratory for the world.
31:50So the Mediterranean is undergoing remarkable changes.
31:54Its temperature has never been hotter.
31:56The last few years we've had extreme marine heat waves.
32:01And so what we see
32:03when we look at the Mediterranean
32:04is a glimpse of the future
32:07for the rest of the planet.
32:17If we don't figure out how to stop the climate
32:21from changing more,
32:22if we don't figure out a way
32:23of drawing down carbon,
32:25if we don't find a way
32:26of working with nature,
32:29I don't know exactly
32:30what the future will look like,
32:32but this is the place
32:33where we will find out first.
32:39The ocean draws down one quarter
32:43of the 11 billion tons of carbon
32:46that we emit each year.
32:53Extreme temperatures are compromising
32:56this critical system.
33:02Julio's work models these effects
33:04to help us avoid the worst
33:06and prepare for what is coming.
33:10I actually think
33:11that nature has been trying
33:14really hard to help us.
33:16Now, it can't do that by itself.
33:19It can't solve all of our problems by itself.
33:21We have to stop emitting.
33:24And we have to help nature do what it does.
33:39So the quest here is,
33:41can we transform that nature?
33:44Can we power it up
33:45so that while we stop emitting,
33:47it then helps us draw back down
33:49the stuff that we would up
33:51in the atmosphere in the first place?
33:58Restoring life in our ocean
34:00is a huge task.
34:03It takes collaboration,
34:06determination,
34:08and innovation.
34:11And some brilliant projects
34:14are already underway.
34:2340% of us live along the coastline
34:26for good reason.
34:34On the small island in Kenya,
34:37nature is still abundant.
34:48It's a favorite spot
34:50for local fisher,
34:51Hassan Shiusuf.
34:53Okay.
34:54You can see it?
34:55In the next few days,
34:56we have to take a lake.
34:58The lake is still alive.
35:01What makes the catch
35:03so good here
35:04is the surrounding mangrove forest,
35:08an ecosystem of tangled roots
35:11that only exists
35:12where the land meets the sea.
35:19Working alongside local fishers
35:22is marine biologist
35:23Mwana Rusi Mwafrika.
35:25What I love much
35:27about the mangrove forest
35:28is because this is an ecosystem
35:30that actually provided me
35:32with a job,
35:33like my daily bread.
35:36Yeah.
35:39Mangrove roots
35:40are very essential
35:41because they provide
35:42a safe haven
35:43for juvenile fish
35:45from being carried away
35:46by strong waves.
35:47So the fact of having
35:49more trees,
35:50this means you're going
35:51to have more fish,
35:52more fish in the future.
36:04Mangrove forests
36:05grow along many
36:06tropical coastlines.
36:09And when it comes
36:10to harnessing
36:11carbon dioxide,
36:13they are a superpower.
36:17These are very magical trees
36:19because the services
36:22that they provide
36:23are quite diverse.
36:25Mangroves are very efficient
36:27at drawing down carbon.
36:29When we look at the capacity,
36:31it's almost 7 to 10 times
36:32compared to other
36:34terrestrial trees.
36:38The interaction
36:39between the trees,
36:40the tide,
36:41and the mud
36:42creates a unique environment.
36:46That not only means
36:47mangroves can store
36:48more carbon per acre
36:50than any other type
36:51of forest on Earth.
36:54They keep it locked up
36:56for millennia.
37:14But many mangroves
37:16have been lost
37:17to deforestation
37:18and coastal development,
37:21including here in Kenya.
37:36But the community here
37:38is now turning things around
37:42through a new
37:43business venture.
37:46So Vanga Blue Forest
37:48is part of a
37:49carbon offsetting scheme.
37:50So what happens
37:51is that
37:52individuals,
37:54companies,
37:54businesses
37:55come to offset
37:57with the project
37:58in the essence
38:00that they're promoting
38:01conservation effort
38:02as much as they're
38:03offsetting
38:04their own carbon emissions.
38:09if we fund
38:11nature now,
38:13these ecosystems
38:15will continue
38:16to draw down
38:17carbon
38:17long after
38:19our emissions
38:19have ceased.
38:36since the project started,
38:39over 4,000
38:40mangrove seedlings
38:41have been planted.
38:46carbon drawdowns
38:48of Vanga mangrove forest
38:50are at 6,000 tons
38:52a year.
38:57Carbon sales
38:58are also enriching
39:00the community.
39:03The local school
39:04now has a science lab
39:07and better facilities
39:08have helped
39:09its first student
39:10get to university.
39:12What makes me
39:13to be very proud
39:14working at
39:15Vanga Blue Forest
39:17is the fact
39:18that I'm at
39:19the focal point
39:20of a change.
39:21The focal point
39:23of a movement
39:24that is growing
39:25globally
39:26and that movement
39:27is changing
39:28the narrative
39:28of reversing climate change.
39:35pioneering projects
39:36like this
39:37show how we can
39:38boost nature
39:39and carbon drawdown.
39:43But to really
39:44transform our ocean,
39:46we need to work
39:48at scale,
39:49which requires
39:50even more investment.
40:14I'm Julie Robinson
40:15and I'm the Belize
40:16program director
40:17for the Nature Conservancy.
40:19This story
40:20does not start
40:21in nature.
40:22It actually starts
40:22in a boardroom.
40:28Belize had
40:29a long history
40:30of being indebted.
40:32That actually
40:33became worse
40:35during the COVID-19
40:36pandemic.
40:37And tourism
40:38came to a screeching
40:39halt.
40:40And so,
40:41essentially,
40:42we were in
40:43an economic crisis.
40:44And we also had
40:46a debt payment
40:47looming.
40:49But Julie
40:50and her team
40:51were working
40:52on a plan
40:52that was about
40:53to turn this crisis
40:54into an opportunity
40:56to invest
40:57in nature.
40:58But I've spent
40:59way too much time
41:00in boardrooms
41:01like this
41:01looking over
41:03Excel sheets
41:03and on computer.
41:05What I'd really
41:06like to do
41:06is take you
41:07out on the ocean
41:08and show you
41:08exactly what
41:10we're protecting.
41:23So right now
41:24we're in San Pedro
41:24which is
41:25a really popular
41:27tourist destination.
41:28It is a
41:29biodiversity
41:29hotspot.
41:30Great for diving,
41:31great for snorkeling.
41:35It was actually
41:36my childhood
41:37out here
41:38that led me
41:39to be where
41:39I am today.
41:41Right over here
41:42looks good.
41:42And at six years
41:43old I pretty much
41:44decided that
41:45I was going
41:46to dedicate
41:47my life
41:48to saving
41:49the animals
41:50in the water.
41:58In today's
41:59warming ocean
42:00this beautiful
42:02reef needs
42:03all the help
42:03it can get.
42:11But conservation
42:13at this scale
42:14is expensive.
42:16Hard to prioritize
42:18when you've got
42:18a large national debt.
42:26But Belize
42:27had a plan.
42:31We call it
42:32Blue Bonds
42:33for Ocean Conservation.
42:34You could think
42:35of it as
42:36refinancing
42:37or remortgaging
42:38a home
42:39whereby
42:40a bank
42:41is able
42:41to provide
42:42better terms
42:43and reduce
42:45the overall payments
42:46and then
42:46the savings
42:47from that reduced
42:48payment
42:48is what goes
42:49towards conservation.
42:53In this case
42:54that was a figure
42:55of $180 million
42:56U.S.
42:58to be rolled out
42:59over a 20-year period.
43:03When you borrow
43:04money for your home
43:05it's an investment
43:06right?
43:07You renovate
43:07you look after it
43:09and over time
43:09it adds value.
43:23the challenge
43:24was really coordinating
43:25all the various players
43:27all the partners
43:28because something
43:29of this scale
43:29had just never
43:30been done before.
43:35A big team effort
43:36was needed
43:37for this groundbreaking deal
43:38to protect
43:39mile after mile
43:41to protect mile
43:41of ocean.
43:47And for its part
43:48of the bargain
43:50Belize had to commit
43:52to some serious goals.
43:55Protecting 30%
43:56of waters
43:57would allow nature
43:58to thrive
44:00and better management
44:02would support the people
44:03who rely
44:04on a healthy ocean.
44:09And look at it
44:10when it's working
44:11it is absolutely paradise.
44:15Once a decision
44:16had been made
44:16to move the deal
44:17forwards
44:17it took only 18 months
44:19to get everything
44:20in order
44:20and now
44:21there's a model
44:22for other countries.
44:25Around the world
44:26more projects like this
44:27are in the works
44:29thanks to the success
44:30of this inspirational deal.
44:34During a time
44:35during climate crisis
44:36we need things like this
44:37more than ever before.
44:42When nature wins
44:43we win
44:44and so does
44:46a carbon drawdown.
45:05But two-thirds
45:06of our ocean
45:07known as the high seas
45:09fall outside
45:10of national laws.
45:13Without governance
45:15fishing can be
45:16a free-for-all.
45:20To protect nature
45:22in these unmanaged waters
45:23takes international collaboration
45:28based on accurate
45:30scientific information.
45:34Ecologist Tristan Royer
45:36is hoping to spot
45:37one of the world's
45:38most valuable fish
45:39from the sky.
45:41Buckle up and let's go.
45:571,000 feet
45:59and it's so big
46:01we can see them
46:02from up here
46:02and we're talking about
46:04Atlantic Bluefin tuna.
46:06I'm talking about a fish
46:08that's so gigantic
46:09it can weigh up
46:10to 1,500 pounds
46:12and it's a huge interest
46:13to fishing industry
46:14and of course
46:16to science.
46:19Atlantic Bluefin tuna
46:20have been overexploited
46:21in the 1990s
46:22the number was slowed
46:24and we're considered
46:25to be on the brink
46:25of collapse.
46:26We're not sure
46:27why the numbers
46:28have bounced back
46:30so quickly
46:31but we're sure
46:32by one thing
46:33that we've never seen
46:34so many
46:34as we're seeing
46:35right now.
46:42While we started
46:43this survey
46:44we're seeing
46:45about 60
46:47scores
46:48per season
46:50which is about
46:51like 10-12 flights
46:53now we see
46:54up to 300
46:55scores per flight
46:56which is a
46:58massive increase.
47:13so it's amazing
47:14to see Bluefin tuna
47:15from the air
47:16but now we need
47:16to catch this fish
47:17to get a proper look.
47:28Tristan is joining
47:29Scientific Angler
47:31a fleet
47:32of recreational
47:33fishers
47:33competing
47:34to catch
47:34a tuna
47:35for science.
47:38Our objective
47:38is to tag
47:39tunas
47:39you know
47:40small tunas
47:40that we're going
47:41to fit
47:41with long-term tags
47:42so that we can
47:44see how their migration
47:45is going to evolve
47:46over the years.
47:52The Mediterranean Sea
47:54is home
47:54to one of the most
47:55important Atlantic
47:56Bluefin tuna
47:57fisheries
47:58in the world
48:01making it a prime
48:02spot to monitor
48:03numbers.
48:05The Mediterranean Sea
48:15to one of the most
48:16fisheries in the world
48:16making it a prime spot
48:16okay so now it's
48:17very quiet
48:18like all the fish
48:19went down
48:20but you know
48:21any second
48:22it can start again
48:23the fish can come up
48:24and then we
48:25can catch one
48:26you know.
48:32It's a mess like tuna
48:34I don't know
48:36I don't know if it's me
48:36or if it's the sea
48:40Demand for bluefin
48:42surged in the 1990s
48:43which led to their
48:44rapid demise
48:47but against the odds
48:49these highly prized fish
48:51are making a comeback.
48:53It's a very valuable
48:54species
48:55it's emblematic
48:56because you know
48:57it has recovered
48:58from like very severe
49:01overexploitation
49:02and also because
49:03it's very tasty.
49:08Look in front of the
49:10boats.
49:14The competition is on.
49:51small tuna like this
49:53are the optimum size
49:54for tagging.
49:59The tag has been
50:01programmed to last
50:02for over four years.
50:06It will show Tristan
50:07exactly where the tuna
50:09goes as it heads out
50:10to unprotected waters.
50:22The tagging
50:25The tagging went perfectly.
50:27He went away very quickly
50:28like he swam away
50:29like super fast.
50:30so really good.
50:37The resurgence of bluefin tuna
50:40can't be taken for granted.
50:43Keeping their numbers up
50:45requires collaboration.
50:48And Tristan's data feeds
50:50into an international
50:50coalition of over 50
50:52countries and governments
50:53committed to preventing
50:56overexploitation in the future.
51:01for me what this is teaching us
51:03is that it works.
51:05If you get the science
51:06if you get the policy
51:09right you get the managers
51:11you get the fishermen
51:13and if everyone agrees
51:15about what they want
51:16bluefin tuna is going
51:17to build up again
51:19and be available
51:20for everyone to live on.
51:25If Atlantic bluefin tuna
51:27can come back
51:28from the brink
51:29surely there's hope
51:30we can return
51:31even more nature
51:32to abundance.
51:39In an ocean
51:40bursting with life
51:42carbon can be drawn
51:44away from the atmosphere.
51:48carbon is it.
51:49It's the thing of our time
51:52right?
51:52It's the challenge
51:53that all of us
51:53have to face.
51:57Climate change
51:58it's something
51:58that we have done
51:59but it's also something
52:00that we can fix.
52:04No matter where we live
52:06the nature
52:07that surrounds us
52:08can be restored.
52:10As a project lead
52:12it gives me
52:13the boost
52:14to always look
52:16forward to
52:17every morning
52:18waking up
52:18with an open heart
52:19because it gives me
52:21the determination
52:22that whatever I'm doing
52:24brings change.
52:25But it's not just
52:26down to you and me.
52:27Woohoo!
52:28The world needs to act
52:30and boost
52:31our entire living planet.
52:34There's a race against time
52:35to find solutions
52:36for climate change.
52:39We have a choice
52:41to build the world
52:42we want to live in.
52:45And so if we can find
52:46a way
52:48of investing in nature
52:49of working with nature
52:53I think we'll be able
52:54to overcome
52:56even this
52:56which is the greatest
52:57challenge of this century.
53:18The future I want
53:19is a future
53:20where this sanctuary
53:21is filled with whales
53:22and filled with seabirds
53:23and fish
53:24and just life
53:25and so
53:26I want to make sure
53:27that this sanctuary
53:28stays this way.
53:32I want this place
53:34to be like this
53:34you know
53:35forever.
53:38And forever
53:40depends
53:41on the future
53:43of nature.
53:58for the one
54:13that we do
54:13have to be
54:13going home
54:18before
54:18Tina
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