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Tue 7th Oct 2008
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Villages on the Front Line

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	Villages on the Frontline - Morocco	Wed 8 Oct 10:30am
	Villages on the Frontline - Niger	Sun 12 Oct 8:00am

A billion people in a million villages live with the threat of their fields and pasture turning to dust. This series of eight programmes goes to the frontline to capture the environmental issues facing these communities.

Episode One: CARIBBEAN

In this half hour program Ecologist Carlos Lopez Alberto displays the contrasting fortunes of two countries on the Caribbean, Haiti and Costa Rica. In the densely populated area of Haiti the once beautiful landscape has slowly become a man made desert as 30 million tones of arable land disappears every year. On the other hand in Costa Rica the Government has sought to protect the land and established a network of reserves to encourage villages to protect the environment. Carlos Alberto Lopez looks at whether this is simply a case of good government vs. bad or a sustainable development that others would do well to follow.

Episode Two: CHINA

In part two of this incredible series presenter Jennifer Wang takes us into the heart of Inner Mongolia to see the devastating effects of the encroaching deserts on the land as an area the size of Greenland is lost.

Destroyed farmland

Here she finds large scale mobilization as the government sets to reclaim a quarter of a million square kilometers of land lost to the desert by 2020. Adopting a top – down method China looks set to have halted the spread, but as Jennifer Wang finds out, in this part of China at least, little process has been made to stop the march of the desert. Villages on the Front Line looks first hand at the dimensions of this problem.

Episode Three: JORDAN

Water wastage in Jordan

In a country that receives less than 25 centimeters of rain a year, Jordans demand for water is at a critical point. At the present moment the only thing keeping the land from becoming a dry agricultural desert is the continuous work of its farmers. However the once sophisticated methods of using water sparingly have lapsed into disrepair. Now faced with the realization of its demise, the demand for water is so great that the Dead Sea itself is predicted to disappear, and with a burgeoning human population swelled by refugees, Jordan faces collapsing inwards. Jordanian TV reporter, Rula Amin goes in search of answers.

Episode Four: INDIA

Dried up Gujarat well

Within India on the coastal regions of Gujarat, the human population has increased by 62% in just 20 years. In a land already consumed by farming and a need for water for domestic consumption the increasing population is putting an unwanted strain upon the land. As well as this the effects of seawater intrusion when the flow of salt water into wells pollutes the water, has risen to affect 1,125 kilometers of coastline and is spreading at an alarming rate of 550 square kilometers a year.

With 85% of the population involved in water-dependant livelihoods this film goes in search of solutions to this silent crisis.

Episode Five: MOROCCO

Moroccan nomad

On average over nine million tourist are attracted to the sparse landscapes of the Moroccan Sahara every year. Brought on by the craze for rallies by the Paris – Dakar race, thousands of vehicles trample the land beneath them, causing serve damage to the fragile eco system. But it is not only the land affected here as Ali Sbai, born to a nomad family, describes how the surviving nomads of Southern Morocco find their livelihoods on the line too. In a long line of problems effecting their way of life, the nomads are forced to take refuge in regions that grow smaller every year. As well as camel theft the nomads’ way of life, so attuned to the desert, faces becoming decertified.

Episode Six: NIGER

Planting trees to save village

Under the threat of being consumed by the desert, Niger, on the fringes of the Sahel displays a classic case of desertification. Such is the situation here that villages around the area such as Limandi have been abandoned to the dunes. However despite these problems there are those who have sought to change the fate of their villages, like the determined women of the Dan Saga Village who have planted trees to protect their fields and crops from the desert. Larwanou Mahaman and Souleymane Mahaman, two men who despite sharing the same name have very opposing views, each give an experts insight into the future of these villages.

Episode Seven: SPAIN

Dried Spanish farmland

In Spain were the one third of the land is considered arid or semi arid desertification is as big a threat to them as in less developed countries. In this land were water is at a minimum the toll of the increasing number of tourists flocking to Spain in the summer months is causing a strain on the land. As more water is given to supplying tourists with fresh showers, pools and golf courses the rise in illegal bore holes watering the semi arid areas to provide fruit crops to supermarkets in Northern Europe have risen. Alfredo Frenandez looks at the Spanish Governments plans to deal with these problems and the possible consequences of these actions on the land.

Episode Eight: TANZANIA

Tanzanian villager finding water

Following a stubborn drought in 2006 Tanzania found its self in the middle of a major water shortage. Local TV reporter Kanky Mwaigomile travels to the forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains in Tanzania, the water towers of the country, to see first hand the effects of illegal logging and charcoal making on the land. For villagers living in the hills of the Eastern Arc Mountains these problems have forced them to fight back, implementing a long dormant law giving them rights to take control over their local resources. Now new enterprises such as butterfly farming and agro-forestry have started, however the question remains, will these be enough to safeguard what is left of the forests of the Eastern Arc?

Last Updated ( Sunday, 11 May 2008 )

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