BBC Asia (2024) s01e07 Episode Script

1
Asia is home
to the most extraordinary animals.
But they are under pressure
that is increasing as never before.
All over the continent,
remarkable people are dedicating
their lives to saving them.
Their aim is to ensure a future
where humans and wildlife
can co-exist.
Northeast Borneo
..home to one of Asia's
most elusive mammals
..sun bears.
No-one knows how many
are left in the wild
..but they face tremendous threats
from deforestation and poaching.
All too often,
orphaned cubs are sold as pets.
And those that are rescued
..end up at the Bornean
Sun Bear Conservation Centre
..run by Dr Siew Te Wong
Hey, hey, hey. Be nice, be nice.
..also known as Papa Bear.
People give me that name, Papa Bear,
because all of these are my kids.
But yet, I'm a wildlife biologist.
I want bears to live in the forest
and not in captivity, not even here.
One of the sanctuary's
residents, Sika,
is about to begin her journey
back to the wild.
This will be the culmination
of years of care and rehabilitation.
Sika came to our centre
in March 2017.
When we first got her, she was
about three, four months old.
You see her eyes, she looks
very sad, does not want to interact.
Here, of course, we have to play
the role as a surrogate mother.
And then she is getting
bigger now, you know.
And hey, with that kind of strength,
this is something
that you do not want to mess with.
You need to have a lot of love
and patience.
The process of rehabilitating
and taking care of a bear cub
is a very, very, long process -
it takes years.
Before her release can begin,
Sika must be darted
..to avoid unnecessary stress,
and to protect the team.
Although roughly
the size of a Labrador,
sun bears have
incredibly strong jaws
..and they could easily kill
a human.
Once sedated,
the team have limited time
to move her.
The clock is ticking, definitely.
Fingers crossed
that everything's go well.
She is placed in a metal crate,
specially designed so that
she cannot chew her way out.
OK. There's no going back now.
OK.
One, two, three.
All right, let's go.
The team travel at night to avoid
the searing heat of the day,
which could be fatal for an animal
inside a metal box.
In order for our reintroductions
to be successful,
we need to send them
deep in the jungle,
where they're not going to see
any humans ever again.
The final leg of Sika's journey
..will be by helicopter.
The sedative is wearing off
..and the temperature is rising.
And there's a bigger problem
..the landing site
is under cloud cover.
I'd give it about an hour,
10.30 at least.
10.30? 10.30 we decide,
because it's still very covered
on that side.
It looks kind of blue now,
it's moving that way,
but it's still kind of sitting.
Erm It's not ideal for the bears
to bake under the sun for too long.
So we basically need to do it
before this last trip.
Yes, yes, yeah, yeah.
Working in the forest
or working with the animals,
safety always come first.
It is very dangerous,
but I feel like we still need
to continue the work
because if we don't do it
nobody will,
and the bears would have no future.
Yeah, OK.
News comes through
that there's a break in the weather.
OK.
Oh.
For the team,
there is not a moment to lose.
It's risky.
The crate could spin uncontrollably,
so palm fronds are attached
to steady it.
The only place to land
is a small patch of volcanic mud.
After over 20 hours in the crate
..Sika is now only moments
from freedom.
OK.
OK, OK.
All right, so get ready.
Here. All right, Sika, this is it,
your last journey ends.
So I wish you all the best.
Yeah, I wish you all the best.
Wish you all the best.
Wish you a happy
Wish you a long life.
Yeah, OK.
OK? Pulling. Go!
The moment I open that door and
the bears dash out into the forest,
they are all on their own,
I cannot help them any more.
It's not guaranteed
that we can make sure
that the bears can live
happily ever after.
But I think after all the hard work,
it is still the right thing to do.
The bears deserve a second chance
to be in the wild.
In this protected reserve
..bears like Sika
can still make a home.
But in some
of the continent's forests,
wildlife is being removed
at an alarming rate.
Java, Indonesia.
This rainforest
should provide a habitat
for a multitude of birds
with melodious songs.
But the jungle is falling silent.
In stark contrast, the bird
markets are noisier than ever.
Keeping birds that sing as pets is a
deep-rooted tradition in Indonesia.
And, in recent years,
a new craze has emerged.
Singing competitions take place
all over the country.
The stakes are high.
Big-money prizes are on offer.
Many of these birds
have been taken from the wild
..and the hobby is driving
some species towards extinction.
Panji Gustar Akhbar is determined
that one very special species
isn't going to vanish.
All this security
is here for a reason.
Within these walls is one
of the rarest birds in the world
..the Javan green magpie.
OK, shall we start with
the body condition score?
Three and a half.
Here, a breeding programme
is being run
with the aim of releasing
captive-bred magpies into the wild.
But the team face a huge challenge.
Panji will only release
his captive-bred birds
if he can find a population of wild
magpies with which they can breed.
But with so few left
..it's a near impossible task.
He is deploying new technology -
sound traps -
microphones that pick up
every noise in the jungle.
Software powered
by artificial intelligence
helps Panji analyse
all the recordings.
But it still takes hours
and hours of listening.
We just need to hear one magpie.
This isn't Panji's only problem.
There is no point in releasing birds
if they're then just poached again.
So he must also change
the hearts and minds
of those who make
a living from them.
Panji is meeting with Mr Neo,
who owns several
award-winning singing birds.
Astonishingly,
in Mr Neo's back yard,
Panji finds a bird
he never expected to see here
..a Javan green magpie.
I care about birds a lot,
but also I care about people.
I care about the culture, I care
about the income of these people.
And you can't just forcefully
tell them to stop depending
their daily life on this activity
without giving any solutions.
Panji needs to convince
people like Mr Neo
that there's another way
to appreciate birds.
He wants to show him
a project in Central Java
that might persuade him.
The village of Jatimulyo
was once a hotbed for poaching
but now, instead, the locals
make a living from bird tourism
and photography competitions.
It attracts birders
from across Asia.
And now the poaching has stopped.
Panji is hopeful for the future
..because he now knows
a change of heart is possible.
Mr Neo has donated his bird
to the sanctuary.
And, after months of work,
there is more good news.
Wait. Wait.
This is interesting.
This is interesting.
That's a magpie! That's a magpie!
That's a magpie!
We found it.
We found it!
With Javan green magpies
confirmed at a secret location,
Panji is now a step closer to
releasing his captive-bred birds
and help ensure the survival
of this newly-discovered population.
Okinawa Island, Japan.
Scientists here are developing
techniques that give us a glimpse
of what conservation
could become in the future.
Marine biologists
Mr Tomita and Mr Kaneko
are taking delivery
of some very precious cargo.
There is only limited time
to get the refrigerated unit
back to their laboratory.
Their task is to take
pregnant sharks,
killed accidentally in fishing nets,
and rescue their unborn young.
They have developed
an incubating system
that simulates
the mother shark's womb.
The delicate embryos are fed
by their existing yolk sacs.
But they need to be surrounded
by a special chemical fluid,
similar to that provided
by their mother
..and are kept dark,
as they would be naturally.
The process requires
constant monitoring
and the liquid must be changed
as time passes
..to become gradually
more like sea water.
After several months,
the baby sharks are ready
to be released into a tank
..where their development
will continue.
As we learn more about the animals
with which we share the world,
we also invent new techniques
for conserving them.
And a recent discovery
may prevent rare species of fish
from being caught
in the first place.
Muncar, on the eastern tip
of Java,
is home to one of the region's
largest fishing fleets.
Many rare species that are caught
in drift nets by accident
..end up in the market here.
They are known collectively
as a bycatch
..and Egin Salim and his team at the
Mobula Project Indonesia monitor it.
It's not just small rays
that suffer
..this giant mobula ray was caught
by accident last night.
In the dark depths, it couldn't see
the net and swam straight into it.
Some new research
could help protect the rays.
Egin is working with scientists,
including Betty Laglbauer,
who is an expert on ray eyesight.
I'm good, I'm good.
We think we've finally been able
to basically identify
which wavelengths
the animals can detect.
We're really curious to see
if we could use some lights
that basically shine light
in the specific wavelengths
that these animals can detect,
to try to get them to notice
the nets in the water
before they swim into them.
And if we can
If Betty's theory is correct,
traditional fishermen
like Egin's friend, Pak Usik
..could help conserve the species.
But will he be willing
to adopt the idea?
Tonight, the lights
will be tested on the net.
If the science is accurate, green
lights will be visible to rays
..but not to the fish that Pak Usik
and his crew depend on
to feed their families.
It's the moment of truth.
There are plenty of target fish.
And no rays have been caught
in the net tonight.
Pak Usik is relieved.
This initial trial gives hope
that there might be a way to
safeguard ray species across Asia
..and beyond.
Technology is increasingly being
used in the fight to save wildlife.
And, in Hong Kong,
a small team
are testing a new way
of protecting another of Asia's
most threatened marine creatures.
This city consumes over 800 tonnes
of seafood every day,
including one rare
coral reef species
..the ultimate luxury delicacy -
the Napoleon fish.
Yvonne Sadovy, a marine biologist
from the University of Hong Kong,
is an expert on this species.
These animals are complex,
they're very intelligent
and in the wild
get really, really big -
over one and a half metres.
It lives a very long time.
We're talking about
well over 30 years -
longer than lions,
longer than tigers.
So these big males, they're like
the old men of the reef,
the wise men of the reef.
But nowadays, there aren't
many large ones left.
They're being fished quite heavily
and they're disappearing.
Because of their status,
very few Napoleon fish
are allowed to be imported
and then sold in Hong Kong
under international law.
But only some restaurants
are sticking to the quotas
and too many fish are ending up
on dinner plates.
A number of years ago,
I would go to work every day
past a little restaurant.
And I seemed to be seeing the
same two Napoleons in that tank
every day for weeks
and weeks and weeks.
I started taking photographs
of them every day.
And what I noticed over time
was a change-over in fish,
as I could tell
by the facial markings.
Something like 14 fish
had gone through the tank.
We realised how easy it was
to actually just replace
legally-imported fish
with one that's illegally imported.
How ever would anyone detect that?
Yvonne has gathered together a team
to work on an innovative solution
to this problem.
Every Napoleon fish has unique
markings on the side of its head.
Loby Hau is helping Yvonne
develop a facial-recognition app.
It should allow them
to identify individual fish
and so monitor the number on sale
across the city's restaurants.
We are trying to develop a new
technique to protect the species.
Hi, Loby. Hello. Come in.
We think what we've developed
can really be a breakthrough
in conservation.
Here we have the similarity score,
from 0% to 100%.
We can keep improving it,
with more images. Right.
So you can see
these are different fish.
The app has been
over five years in the making.
Eyes are different, left and right,
and it's quite distant.
And with the prototype
now at an advanced stage,
the team are training it
with as many images of Napoleon fish
as they can gather.
So what's the percentage match,
for example, with this one?
98. 98. Absolutely fantastic.
If the app is to be a success,
it will need the support
of people like Lee Choi-wah,
who represent live seafood traders
throughout Hong Kong.
That's good to know, I tell you.
Yeah.
With the support of organisations
such as Mr Lee's,
widespread take-up of the app
is now a real possibility.
Absolutely the next step
has to be that the government
adopts this approach
in their enforcement work.
There is no other choice.
The technology now exists
to monitor the number
of Napoleon fish being sold
and so control
the illegal trade in the species.
It has the potential
to be a game-changer.
Globally, wildlife is one of the
largest black-market commodities,
alongside drugs and arms.
The trade is worth over $20 billion.
And one country in Asia
sits at its crossroads
..Nepal.
Stretching east-west along the
southern flanks of the Himalaya
..it has a 1,000-mile border
used by smugglers,
who take animals from the wild
in southern Asia
to sell to wealthy buyers in China.
At the border crossing,
many globally-threatened species
are seized,
including red pandas
..and leopards.
Kumar Paudel is working
to stop this criminal activity.
Today, he's teaching
customs officials
how to identify animal products.
Intercepting illegal goods
is a positive step
..but catching the traffickers
who operate inside Nepal is key.
In Kathmandu, Kumar and his team
collect information on smugglers
..and share their findings
with police.
Kumar has some
important intelligence
for his contacts in
the specialist wildlife unit
that is at the front line
in the fight against trafficking.
The police have confirmed
Kumar's information
..and are planning
a sting operation.
An under-cover officer
will go ahead, posing as a buyer.
The rest of the team will follow
and move in once contact is made.
The team close in on the target.
Destined for the black market,
a sack of scales from a pangolin -
a critically-endangered mammal.
And people are risking
their freedom for it.
Across Asia, pangolin numbers
are in serious decline.
And although poaching
is the main threat they face,
there are other issues.
Sunda pangolins are now
being squeezed out
of their remaining forest habitats
by urban development.
In Singapore, the few that remain
are forced to eke out an existence
in the shadow
of the city's skyscrapers.
And pangolins often find
themselves in trouble
..out of place
and in the heart of the city.
Kalai Balakrishnan runs the only
24-hour wildlife
rescue charity here.
And he's a busy man.
Is this where you saw the bat?
Yeah, it's where I last saw it.
He's in the door frame.
Oh, my God!
Is it in the doorframe?
Considering how small we are,
and considering how little
forest cover we have left,
I would say that we are pretty rich
in biodiversity.
Currently, we are averaging
about 1,800 calls a month.
Definitely, there has been
an increase
in wildlife coming into urban areas.
There are more and more species
that are involved
in this conflict with people.
A lot of pangolins that we rescue,
they are in urban areas.
They are obviously coming out
either because of development
or maybe they're looking for a mate.
We have rescued them under flats
..in drains,
in construction sites.
A call has just come in.
A pangolin has been found
in a critical condition.
We don't know
what might have happened.
The pangolin seemed to be
in pretty bad shape
in the middle of a golf course.
A lot of pangolins here
unfortunately die from road kills
because a lot of our roads
are dividing the nature reserves
and the greenery
that we have here - the habitats.
So, yeah, we want to do this
as soon as possible,
so that he has a better chance
of surviving
as a critically-endangered species.
In a lot of the rescues we do,
we often get asked this question
"Where did this animal come from?"
People don't realise
that they were always here.
It's we who moved in
and they are just trying
to survive alongside us.
I think its back legs are broken.
It has a depression
at the side of the abdomen,
which is not a good thing.
Kalai works with specialist vets
..who are world-class pioneers
in caring for pangolins.
The team will do everything they can
for this elderly, fragile male.
He's lost a lot of body condition.
He can't seem to manage
his wounds very well.
He cannot fend for himself.
Sometimes I think all of us
just want to give up.
But I think tenacity
is a very important thing.
You've just got to really believe
that every living thing
has a value and has a place here.
The passion and the wanting
to help animals is very important.
I grew up being like that.
But, as much as you try,
you can't always succeed.
Only a few hours later,
Kalai is called out
to a multistorey car park
to pick up another pangolin.
Right.
It's OK, it's OK.
It's a youngster
..less than six months old
and full of life.
You're fine.
You're going to make it.
You're going to make it.
You're going to make it, OK?
It's OK, it's OK.
Kalai has arrived just in time.
The pangolin is out of harm's way
and can be released
where it won't get run over
So we're just going to pop
this guy in
and, yeah, just let him go.
..giving this precious individual
a second chance.
Kalai's work gives urban wildlife
a much-needed helping hand.
But elsewhere in Asia,
conservationists are attempting
something even more ambitious.
They're trying to break the link
between the destruction
of the natural world and poverty.
The Batang Toru cloud forest
in Sumatra.
This is home to the most
recently-discovered great ape.
But it's already
the most threatened.
The Tapanuli orangutan.
This baby and its mother
are two of only 800 left.
Hotlin Ompusunggu is working to save
them, alongside the local community.
Even though the orangutans'
habitat is remote,
their last stronghold
is under extreme pressure
from human encroachment.
But Hotlin has a unique approach
to conservation -
one that involves
the entire community.
And it all starts
in a most unlikely place.
I am a dentist.
I work in a rural area.
The community are very poor.
Dental care is still very limited.
Health care is expensive.
They believe that the forest
should be protected -
that the forest is important
for their wellbeing,
but when they have
no other option to survive
they have to cut trees for timber.
There is a connection
between poverty and logging.
And poverty bring more poverty.
To reverse deforestation,
Hotlin has come up
with an ingenious solution.
Hello, Enan.
Villagers are encouraged
to grow trees from seeds at home
and then bring the saplings
along to the clinic
as part payment for their treatment.
Chainsaws can also be traded-in.
They can have the treatment.
At the same time, they can also help
to protect and rehabilitate
the forest.
Given time,
Hotlin's work will help
take pressure off the forest
and the orangutan.
Orangutan. Photo?
Ah!
Orangutan is important for us.
It's a mutual relationship.
They are the one
who look after the forest.
They will save the source of water
for the people who live nearby.
It might seem like
a huge leap of faith
..but there is real evidence
this concept works.
Back in 2007, on
the neighbouring island of Borneo,
Hotlin co-founded the world's
first conservation health clinic
with a staff of fewer than ten.
Aah!
Today it has over 90
..and is thriving.
The challenge when we started this,
I said, "If you want to do something
good you have to believe in it,"
and sometimes we don't even know
how it will turn out,
but just believe
and don't compromise
in what you want to achieve.
So I tell them it's like
in a Bollywood movie,
at the end
We will dance at the end.
The ASRI Clinic now has
a huge bank of saplings,
brought in by patients
to help pay for treatment.
These are being used
to re-forest areas
that were once stripped
of vegetation.
And once the trees return
..the animals follow.
From its bustling cities
..to its rich oceans
..across Asia,
individuals are working tirelessly
to bring about positive change.
United by one aim
..to protect the continent's
natural riches
for future generations.
There is a long way to go
and they may not succeed
..but if this region
..home to almost 60%
of the people on the planet,
can find ways to co-exist
with wildlife
..then there is surely hope
for the rest of the world.