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00:14Species are vanishing faster than ever and extinction is forever.
00:18But recovery is entirely possible and here on the Gulf of Oman,
00:23coral is being regrown by hand and AI helps protect turtles.
00:27In this episode, we explore how nature, given the chance, can heal from these reefs to conservation in Uzbekistan.
00:36This is one of the world's newest marine research centres, and its scientists are watching the crisis unfold.
00:42The oceans are incredibly important. They represent 90% of the habitable space for life on this planet.
00:49The oceans are in deep trouble. They are facing a multitude of threats,
00:53be that from climate change, from marine pollution, but also from human activities which are driving extinctions and reducing biodiversity.
01:03So here, they're building tomorrow's ocean in a lab to meet the future before it arrives.
01:08As our oceans warm, and their chemistry changes, and the amount of oxygen they have reduces,
01:15what we have here is an insight into the future of what many oceans will look like.
01:20Researchers here are working at the frontier of ocean science, protecting our oceans, while training the scientists of tomorrow.
01:28Two of the species they study tell this story most clearly.
01:32Turtles are important. They are a critical part of the marine ecosystem.
01:36By exploring their health, it tells us about the health of the entire community.
01:40Corals, they provide the complex habitats that many other animals need to survive.
01:45One has survived since the age of the dinosaurs, and still reads the health of the sea like nothing else.
01:52Turtles are not just iconic animals.
01:54They've got a vital role in marine ecosystems, and so they keep the marine ecosystems healthy.
02:02And lately, the numbers of turtles off this coast have begun to turn.
02:0695% of the turtles that I've personally photographed during the last six months, they are juveniles.
02:13So this is already a very good sign of how population is doing.
02:17The other is the coral reef, just offshore.
02:20And across the world, reefs like this are dying.
02:24The world should really pay attention to this,
02:26because if we lose the coral reefs, we will lose a tremendous amount of biodiversity in the ocean.
02:32Up to half a billion people today are directly or indirectly dependent on coral reefs.
02:40The corals that cling on here survive heat that would kill reefs anywhere else.
02:45The studies we do on coral reefs here can, of course, tell us something about future scenarios in other places
02:51of the world
02:52where they don't have the same temperatures as we have here.
02:54But this is not just a place that measures loss.
02:58Here, they are reversing it by hand, one coral at a time.
03:02The coral nurseries that are outside the laboratory here are basically what we use as tables anchored in the seabed.
03:12And on top of these tables, you basically put small mini corals under optimal conditions.
03:18It will grow out and produce a new coral, because a coral is an animal.
03:22But this fight to bring nature back is not unique to the ocean.
03:26Thousands of kilometers from here, in Uzbekistan, the same battle is being fought on land.
03:31For the saiga antelope at the desert plateau, and the mark are high in the mountains.
03:36Behind me stretches the austere plateau.
03:39Somewhere out there, a herd of saiga antelopes is moving.
03:43Thirty years ago, there were a million of them living across the region.
03:47Today, less than 1% of that number survived.
03:51This saiga antelope is Uzbekistan's answer to that collapse.
03:56Here on the austere plateau, the Uzbek part of the saiga antelope has become a test of recovery after collapse.
04:02For saiga antelope, survival depends on movement, water, and protection.
04:07The saiga antelope covers more than 600,000 hectares.
04:11Here, conservation means practical work in extreme conditions.
04:16Here is the одну of the saiga antelope.
04:19In the first time, we have built these plants, they have been bought into the water.
04:25In the nativity, we have the bio-technical experiments of the water.
04:29In the term, we have found thatется done by the wood and the plants.
04:32Our plants were poured into the water.
04:34These plants were poured into the water.
04:35In that regard, we have some natural experiments.
04:37In their eyes, the plants, the plants, the plants, the plants and the plants.
04:41We have only poured into it.
04:43The same desert is part of a wider migration route
04:47As saigas crossborder in search of food and milder weather
04:50Keeping this habitat usable helps keep the species alive
04:56Further west in Kerkal, Pakistan, Sudocchi shows another side of the same story
05:01Once connected to the RLC, this bay became an independent lake as the seer treated
05:06Today, it's a critical stop-over site for migratory birds
05:10That stop-over now depends on water
05:12Birds will come here to feed, rest and gather
05:15But falling lake levels are changing the habitat
05:33For flamingos, the stakes are immediate
05:36In Uzbekistan's areas, only here
05:38If water level keeps falling, Sudocchi may stop being a breeding site
05:42And become only a passage point
05:47Further south, the pressure sheets from water to protection in the Kukitang mountains
05:52Subhan State Nature Reserve protects species that had nearly disappeared from this range
05:58The Marhor and the Bukhara are a year
06:18Those counts are hard-won
06:20Many animals live on steep slopes and are rarely seen
06:24So the reserve combines field patrols with scientific monitoring
06:45Technology helps, but protection still depends on rangers in the field
06:49Their work follows plants, animals and signs of movement across the reserve
07:01In Surhan, the latest counts give the story its clearest sign of recovery
07:06The Marhor population is rising, even as threats around the reserve remain
07:10The global Marhor population is still listed as endangered
07:15The threats, poaching, livestock pressure and fragmented habitat have not gone away
07:21But the population is growing, and this reserve located in one of Uzbekistan's most remote mountain ranges
07:27Is a proof that the sustained effort of wildlife recovery is possible
07:32From the Gulf of Oman to Uzbekistan, this proves that protecting our planet
07:37Isn't just possible, it's already happening
07:39Whenever people choose to act
07:41That's all now for this episode of Earth Now
07:44Join us next time as we uncover more about the work underway across our planet to safeguard it
