in the same spot definition get over. a long forests over fields and if they're lucky through it stick to. the deck and people have had a nagging sense that in 6 hours travel well. now some scientists suggest then numbers are crashing we could even be facing insect to get. such how bad is it and can it be stopped. time in germany on the trial of disappearing acts. now one of the reasons for the concerns has been dubbed the wind shield phenomenon people remembering that when they were kids and went on family drives across europe or north america the windshield will be literally covered with insects and these days it seems you can drive for days and never have to clean it but how do you prove it well that would have been people spending literally decades collecting and counting millions of insects to see if they really had been wrong and who would have been more become a shouldn't to do that. thank goodness but they sure. i'm hitting the small northwest town of crane hills near the dutch border it's home to a startling discovery that's run alarm bells around the world and. the local entomology society has been quietly collecting and sorting insects for more than a century. to his where you keep all your insane. yes this is part of the room. where the collections are thought. martin's started hanging out here when he was 13 he's now a ph d. in entomology how many in 60 you think you have it all together in this building we don't know of any other numbers but purposing khan was and millions 80000000 insects in this building yeah. in 1989 he and some young colleagues decided to do something extraordinary. they began collecting flying insects from 63 nature reserves and tracked the changing numbers for 30 years. down the record expanded easier by your. own time on the horizon but. it's taken extraordinary perseverance and obsessive attention to detail. that's a tough dozens to follow. they've placed identical traps in identical locations after you to the insects fly up to the top of the tents and get caught in a plug. in that. there's not a lot of as a positive to help them point out that does funkenstein he's a father look at together the higher the price type yeah and he got it on the. back so these are fine for. each sample was brought back drained salted and weighed in exactly the same way. and you know 2017 i was able to report as stunning findings. in the course of 16900 days of standardized sampling flying insect numbers had crashed by 3 quarters. it was a drop of 75 percent during a time line of 27 years that's shocking. and it shocking because our very existence depends on a healthy insect population they keep weights in check dispose of dead animals pollinate plants and feed birds and frogs and other animals right up the food chain the clans and biodiversity. serious thing and. people are just. what's been killing so many insects the doctor ruled out changes to where all vegetation 6. and nature reserves are protected from land clearing and chemicals but they surrounded by family and the enemy territory but with huge stretches of monoculture absolutely no flowers and regular spray pesticides the comment is inside of the daily flight activity of many of the species flying inside of these clubs so could the problem just be modern farming what do you suspect there is a big reason for this. speculation is not his department. i do not suspect. to meet people who do suspect he suggested we drive across the border to the dutch city i mean. the city's research is it right blood university had also been noticing a big drop in wildlife numbers the cray felt study confirmed their worst feeds. all of a sudden we had a percent which is scientifically proven percentage of how much this whole bulk of insects was going down would have to say and should be that kind of just hunts to croon has little doubt that farming is responsible. can have effects on the living conditions in the nature with service and we know for example that very low levels of insecticides can already destruct insect life. and you know these traces have been from spreading. since world war 2 pesticides are being used to kill organisms that are bad for crops like cockroaches grass or. what are their own movies is now threatening in 6 that it rocks like the farmers need pollinators to grow apples onions melons broccoli celery well you must realize he said there are far the pains of insects 4.8 percent of the wild plants pieces as well. a major part of the insects is being eaten by birds and by other animals being essential in the future so if we're losing all of that we're losing the sort of the ecological foundation of our. now some people have questioned the whole idea of an insect apocalypse because the study in credit just looked at some reserves in germany but it's also been going on across the border here in the netherlands and i'm about to meet some other cane entomologists who have been counting in 6 them all lie back in the crate filled crowd but their findings have been almost stunning. i'm looking for pause until hello paul you know if you would. be a guest in a very very much this is your crew pulled on dealing with these mates of retirees or hobby collectors who meet just one evening away hearing how hank how i. act as some of the. experts. he knows a lot of the malts he knows a lot about personally everything. but. their technique is simple they set up a string. turn on the lights. collect the in 6 that turn up and send the results to run food university and it's all bad news all kinds of insects are going down the mulch about 60 percent by about 70 percent and. comparable. in clay fell to the same so this is a test for the just kind of gives you have testified yes sometimes things you hear that's happening he also and it show a study i show a study does afternoon in denmark of a study published with a bit of wind screens and counting hits in 20 years and also do you have also the same thank you so it's true that when screens there are less bugs hitting when yes but. the problem is we don't really know what's happening in the rest of the. year you see each other so. there you go figure. they think count against 6 for more than 20 years but there just aren't enough projects like this internationally . the world has grown rather complacent since the last warning of its sector gave nearly 60 years ago. and $962.00 wildlife biologist break chill constant wrote a global bestseller cold simon spring less food during these chemicals in the better control we are so cool headed for disaster. she exposed how the pesticide was wiping out insect populations and contamination food chain and she envisions silent springs these sprays destine aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms gardens forests and homes nonselective chemicals that have the power to still a song a bird and the leaping and facial scream. rachel carson's work lead to would be global ban on extra sounds. but since then other potent chemicals have taken its place. regulate his speech some of the new ones have run away. if there is a smoking gun some suspect it's a popular type of exercise called make it over now in $28.00 days maybe you've gotten any old ban across europe but the trumpet ministration has overturned the band to ensure they continue to use in the us some time the slaves that's bad news but they. these new nicks are usually broken quite readily when they're out in the air when they're in the sore or in the salt water or in some of those words they can hang around for a long time. broadly a very low cost intrusions when these local situations really affect insect law so it's a very special. yes extremely poisonous for yourselves and there's more and more evidence that they're really affecting non-target insects and. so what can be done to prevent a silent spring i'm heading down to southern germany to see how an entire state is mobilizing. the very 1st usually thought of as the heartland of conservatism and that includes conserving nature it's part of the culture to protect the forests and look after wildlife in the city over the coming of. this is mr brace because they can use force they spotted this nest is actually. dr norbert schaefer is president of the bavarian birch society he and his colleagues here on the idea of a petition demanding in 6 protection and they focused on everyone's favorite insect cooling nick campaign save the baby is of course not only about 20 pounds and take . mine apart it's about insects as a whole but it was a dog as a whole the idea captured the public's imagination the streets of the capital munich was soon packed with campaigners dressed as the ease braving freezing weather to encourage some of the various $9000000.00 voters to come out and sign. that what happened next took everyone by surprise because 1750000 people signed it it was the most popular petition here ever and the government soon promised to sign it into law environmentalists could hardly believe their success families could hardly believe what was about to hit them. the new laws call for 30 percent of the state to be put aside as ecological zone and almost a 3rd of farmland to become getting it is a target no one will be forced to go organic farmers cannot be forced little things the government has to deliver most of the the legislation is really aimed at the government the government has to deliver certain tollgates and all the government has support offers on the table so going 30 percent organic is a massive change isn't it but hope so i hope it will change our landscape it is a massive change but it is doable there's no doubt and other 11 there in germany they're talking about 50 percent organic now so. we know this it is affordable it's good for our environment and it's good for people. away from unique farmers aren't so sanguine maybe like france lay their fear they'll be lumbered with the cost of going to any. we caught up with him if he was spraying his wheat fields with nitrogen fertilizer. he insists chemicals are essential to grow productive crops. you know i'm good on women these days is in the blood seed muncy you see guns can. push through the downs and you can kind it months. and in. london treatment is going to france is middle of those month. these are planned see the next. should this movie and from on a presidency to not have found some transmittal but hi. ya maybe the move is not really. all come to even only plants and shoots. you know middle of a really odd really i didn't mention of that yeti when me to answer should smith will only do. movie d.c. . does it make sense to any fans leader says it greenies in the city really want to help to change farming 30 have to do move and sign petitions they need to open their wallets. he started a program for people to sponsor the friendly crops and get a name on a stick for it this is interesting farmers like france are now leasing their land for people in the city to sponsor growing flowers to help babies and other insects rather than what about cut off robin potatoes or something people have to pay or can pay farmers to grow flowers so instead of just signing a petition they actually give money as well ok a little today here good. good. good. good food. out of this is that cash even the. german and dutch hardware store and now feature. the friendly flowers and the town. but much more will be needed to help make me more sustainable. there is he right here is that flowers retired created in the landscape help in the dutch border country professor to croon and his team are also starting to tackle the problems of his land. they're working with farmers to plant wildflowers on the edges of they feel it's creating a network of bug friendly cargoes between midnight's a reserve allowing in 6 to avoid the dangers of farmland connect you know make a nature reserve of that size. make. so they say like highways for the highways yes exactly yeah we already hunts to croon says they're already seeing results not just for in 6 but for the birds and from that. it's so much fun you can you even get a better quite rough when you know in a matter of years that he you know you have to help a little bit but it's only post. it's this landscape that makes me optimistic about the changes that he can make. for some scientists of fun to get harder to muster optimism. across the channel with me in these counties david coulthard has been studying the crate filled report with dismay. about your progress he's professor of biology at sussex university and he feeds society ease headed for the silent spring that rachel carson warned of. it's like deja vu you know we're going round in circles here is nuts that she saw was happening all that time ago and we banned a whole bunch of pesticides as a result but then we introduce new ones to replace them many of which then eventually we're bound so we introduced even more including the name because you know it's 20 years on into their use we're starting to realize that they too are harming the environment the whole system of having i way of farming which is entirely reliant on choking on bucket loads of chemicals is not sustainable we are going to wipe insect life if we carry on this way but he's not giving up yet he's back garden is a showcase of what individuals can. create habitats for insects and living nature take its course be friendly butterfly friendly better nature friendly it isn't just about the news it's about everything you know birds and. everything else that makes up a kind of natural healthy ecosystem if you know how do you do that then go to tidy and grow don't mow all the time you know grow lots of the right kinds of flowers if you bumble bees over here yeah so one of the reasons bees are struggling in the modern world is there are many flowers. modern farmland is pretty flower free and it's a really nice thing that you can do in your own garden lupin's brilliant lavenders lots of herbes things like margarine and time and sage rosemary they're all really good for. them as well so what's not to like. one thing you won't find is insecticide. just tired is my advice i've got a big garden but i somehow manage to produce lots of fruit and vege lots of pretty flowers and i don't use any pesticides i haven't done for years. and i'm not a lawyer and fronts recently banned pesticides for use in urban areas really completely the whole country so you know paris from now on. is still just as beautiful in the parks and everywhere not going to be overrun with dandelions and cockroaches i'm sure. some cities did this years ago toronto pesticides more than a decade ago and toronto still standing i we could get rid of pesticides completely from our cities and it would be good for babies and butterflies and good for people to. an hour's drive away you could be a power plant and eco volunteers you showing the time to say did you get your say. you got a car. let me buy it's a moment just to keep cabins on the trail if danger studies just go brown banded bumpus hema said they often die so i'm keeping my fingers crossed for you they say if you have bass these guys have a city to see red. light pressure you say. their 100 ground is the dungeon it's national nature reserve on the straight up job. for the past decade dr gammons is be monitoring b. for the bumblebee conservation trust. if you just take the u.k. alone we have one free of all be species actually class israel frightened we've had 2 species go extinct in the u.k. and it's further 7 around for us and it's just all bubble based. it's not just the wildlife it's disappearing but the wild land they once depended on over the last 6070 years have lost over 97 percent of all and. as well as counting days dr gammons is planting be friendly flowers and today there's an unexpected 5 i really believe she was gone for good taste so. this is one of the case where it's probably a species it's actually the 3rd rare spawn bull bay it's called the brown band called up to your very beautiful this is a i think sorry one for you yes yes it's a really cry and i'm really pleased that we found the head it's been a very slow season there shit the weather hasn't been very consistent we had some quite hot weather i faced a period and then it went very cold again and we were concerned how about my facts the emergence of many of all quaint this discovery gives you the creeps definitely and when we've been looking at our analysis of our data can last 10 years actually where we get senate fifes and where we've done actually pretty common of the wallflowers some of these rare species have doubled in number and this is one of the 1st experiments is actually showing that because we've had that continuation 10 years quit then i want to monitor them really well so it's lovely to say this species out fly. to a war the 1st challenge will be finding out how big the global problem is. the groundbreaking study in craig phil showed the potential scale of an apocalypse or your. other continents are already starting to wake up to the changes . citizen scientists across europe are helping to build the gaps but it may take a global effort to voyage as simon spring. business leaders is going to buy no brush palm. trees. business leaders is going to buy no brush paul. the latest news as it breaks while us is all the lies and honor he has paved the way for a wave of mess and there is the joy of the cold the with details coverage and feel as generalism anti-riot police have been using it to her mouth of fear doubt to the birth of the crowd from around the world to call for it all be areas affected by the album it only wraps it and what they have seen so far they say i think that only. it's being dubbed the project of this injury. is the real cost china. project. investigates. a diverse range of stories from across the globe from the perspective of journalists on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. out of there i mean this is a new life coming up in the next 60 minutes you're an expert as the man that investigation into evidence in saudi arabia hacked into the phone of the washington post and jeff bezos. he personally asked the foreign government to investigate his opponent. democratic prosecutor and president trump's impeachment trial makes the case for removing him from office. we have all the material they don't have the material in the president is defiant and brags about withholding evidence.