00:00Every year, Gabon's lush rainforests reveal plant species never before documented by science.
00:07With botanist Archange Poupaia, this extraordinary natural world holds vital secrets,
00:13but cataloguing it is key to protecting it before it disappears.
00:19Today in Gabon, it's estimated, and this is very much an estimate,
00:23that there are between 7,000 and 10,000 species every year when we carry out botanical surveys.
00:30We always find new species.
00:32Unlike countries that are well-known botanically, such as European or Asian countries,
00:37Gabon remains very little known.
00:39So every year, through these surveys, we discover an average of 10 new species.
00:46With a team of over 30 botanists, Poupaia aims to turn Singbag Botanical Garden
00:53into a living plant museum in a country still 88% forest-covered.
01:00In Gabon, 85% of the land is covered by forests, and the population only occupies 15%.
01:06So Gabon really is the country with the highest forest-to-human ratio.
01:11A large part of this forest is still unexplored.
01:13As a result, Gabon's biodiversity is extremely rich, especially in relation to its small population.
01:21Just kilometres away, 100,000 preserved plant specimens dating back to 1880 are stored in metal cabinets.
01:28Rescued from a fire during Gabon's 2016 post-election violence,
01:32this archive documents biodiversity increasingly threatened by urbanisation.
01:39It's not just urbanisation.
01:41We face threats such as large oil palm plantations and everything linked to industrialisation.
01:46These are threats to the flora.
01:49Mining activities are a threat, and so are all industry activities.
01:57Boupaia hopes international donors will help relocate rare plant species threatened by major infrastructure projects.
02:08Mining activities are a threat, and so are all industry-based expertise.
