The risks of private 19 earlier this year but downplayed the threat and public. And wildlife populations are down by 68 percent over the last half century the new report on the devastating effect of humans on animal and plant life. Now the u. S. Of west coast is experiencing an unprecedented wildfire season 5 fires in some states have retreated from uncontrolled fires prompting the evacuation of thousands oregons governor is now warning this could be the states deadliest season on record 5 small towns in Central Oregon have already been destroyed Governor Kate Brown says she anticipates a great deal of loss of structures and human lives more than 80000 people in the city of food have been told to leave their homes while california is already experiencing the most severe wildfire season in its modern. One wildfire is expanding at the size of new yorks central park ever especially minutes and Washington State is experiencing the west finds that over a decade and the town of more than 80 percent of infrastructure has been lost out of there as rob announced as innocent jets and stops have coverage today. From montana to the mexico border huge swaths of the western u. S. Are burning hundreds of thousands of square kilometers have burned in california colorado arizona montana oregon utah and washington the small town of malden in Eastern Washington was almost completely incinerated by a wind driven wildfire authorities are searching the rubble unsure whether all of the towns approximately 300 residents made it out alive in medford oregon a fire swept through of mobile Home Community reducing it to a burned out health scape of an ash and twisted metal resident regina hill lost everything she own and. You know what youre wearing right now this is. Powerful winds are spreading the oregon fires the governor invoked Emergency Powers to marshal more resources in california high winds are also fanning the flames 14000 firefighters are out on the front lines in california where 28 major fires have scorched over 100000 hectors tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from several of the largest fires in the States History a big fire in San Diego County is moving dangerously close to Populated Areas we have a Sleeping Giant that is in the back country California National guard helicopters flew hundreds of stranded campers and back country residents to safety relatives welcomed the rescued after an anxious night long wait. Im super. I know crying but there will be tears the smoke and ash in the atmosphere cast a glow over San Francisco in an eerie orange light air quality in parts of the bay area was labeled hazardous whats behind the many conflagrations bone dry brush and trees following years of intermittent drought low humidity combined with a broiling heat wave in recent days and above all Holly Seasonal winds blowing down from the mountains provide a singular recipe for disaster rob reynolds aljazeera los angeles lets go live now to jennifer clenches in monrovia and from california jennifer i can see the smoke cloud behind you and i know helicopter evacuation koreas in california and saying these have been some of the toughest fights ive ever been deployed on how are things going to how people coping. Now. People are watching here this is this is a very very. Difficult situation because the town is right below this fire that theyve been watching on the mountain for 2 days now with a forecast of wind and theyre also watching to the north whats happening in oregon and i think rob really summed it up very well when he said in that piece that this is a fire for the generator and this is a once in a generation fire quoting the governor up there in oregon we know now that 2 deaths have been confirmed in those oregon fires in the central part of the state south of portland as fire crews are able to go in and look through the neighborhoods that have burned they are finding the residents that didnt get out and so far we know that there are 2 confirmed deaths and as the governor said she fears that there will be so many more not just from these fires but for the rest of this fire season overnight here in california are going to be a our governor has said that 50 new fires bring up in 24 hour period so the fire danger is critical we have 30000000 people in 5 western states who are under red flag warning conditions which is fire crews critical fire weather that means if a fire starts it is very likely to spread is not jennifer we keep hearing the word unprecedented and experts are saying this is now an extra could be linked to Climate Change. Yeah i mean there are so so many things have changed over the last few years and the fire weather has definitely got more intense as as the drought has created ideal conditions and you know were seeing with that with the hurricanes that have been developing and the wind situations here there are many scientists who are pointing to Climate Change as some of the factors that look to make the fire conditions very very ideal there is also a Human Element here in Southern California human spark fires have been a big problem in the southern part of the state in Northern California lightning strikes did the most damage up there in the last month or so with those complex fires that were burning that was dry lightning coming through with storms that are in places where theyve never been before well they continue moving very fast well be watching that very closely indeed here for you jennifer b. Oakland and Southern California thanks so much jennifer. Again burning a migrant and refugee camp in greece which has all but destroyed by overnight blazes its a thousands of people without shelter but locals are blaming them for starting the fire officials believe that refugees who were forced to self isolate after testing positive for the corona virus may have committed arson in protest John Psaropoulos reports from the scene. This was one of europes largest refugee camps morea on the greek island of lesbos fires have torn through tents and dilapidated structures they were thought to have been deliberately lit by people fed up with that desperate existence compounded by corona fires they are out there. Today for parts for. There are. Hundreds of thousands of people became homeless once again precious family belongings hastily bundled together to form a makeshift bedding there were no fatalities but these are lives thrust even deeper now into limbo is very very very unfair to fit in very different cord. Is very broad. Corporate put forward you know has come 3rd where if you dont want to go is living here because this problem but if i may be dead now is you know the camp had housed more than 12000 people in cramped unsanitary conditions designed for a quarter of that number of conditions in which coronavirus could easily flourish we are extremely worried and not only 4 to 40 percent children even muddier who are currently on the street but in particular we need to think also more than 200 people live in the camp who are at particular risk for it either because of their age or because of corbin teams that would mean that if they get infected the it will be much more sick than the rest of the population and so as far as we know right now those 200. 00 are mixed in the big group of 30000. 00 who are basically at loss in the streets in 20152016 hundreds of thousands of people risk to the mediterranean crossing in small boats from turkey to greek islands like lesbos they fled war persecution and poverty the European Union eventually closed its doors but the refugees kept coming many ending their journey here in moria camp a problem the greek government has long said it shouldnt have to. We dont. Believe that a bad experience can quickly turn into an opportunity for a better reality and this will happen in less boss once a damaging maria has been assessed and in consultation with the European Commission we take concrete initiatives our Party Remains the health and safety of both president s and migrants with nowhere else to go there was little to do but sit and wait. The government says that as many as 3 and a half 1000 people will have to be really housed in tents municipal facilities and on board ships but just 24 hours after the fire that destroyed the official morea camp a new fire was lit and the numbers of people in need of shelter are now likely to be far higher sort of loss aljazeera lesbos well we can now again speak to Douglas Hammond hes the cofounder of refocused media labs thats an organization that works with citizen journalists inside maria camp he joins us now from douglas thanks for being with us again i know when we spoke last night those 5 were still burning youve been at the camp all day today talk us through what you saw there. Thank chorus thanks for having me again yes we we were inside the camp all day today surmising the damage which was so extensive. The entire central area of the camp is gone it is totally destroyed and then there are entire sections of the extended area which we call the jungle which is just like wild camp People Living rough and whatever equipment that you know legal things they can build their houses out of. Wood and kind of rags and just. Really just anything they can find and most of those burned away as well there are some sections of the camp that were untouched from the fire from the initial fire but that has changed douglas this was all a spat by anger against coronavirus instructions and division in the camp that we were saying last night presumably one of that hasnt just gone away of course not no and what also hasnt gone away is the animosity with relations to the local population and and the Asylum Seekers and you know theres a game thats being played here on a daily basis where. People are coming in and having an influence on whats happening inside the camp and many many people we spoke with today said that they were able to hear motorbikes and they were able to hear and see presence of people in areas in the northern higher areas of the camp where a lot of these fires were set so they believe that there was some extra nefarious behavior inside inside the camp that these fires get so out of control douglas how have you with our teams been handling all of this on they going off to the people who they think that the hinds. Its no actually nothings really happening inside the camp today we were able to kind of just walk right in and some of the damage there were a lot of other people doing the same many of the the Forest Service didnt return to their areas to see what remained and then some peoples areas were not damaged but then so they were back in their living quarters that they just kind of china clean up a little bit and the smoke and. Just fall of the energy that comes after a fire was was so prevalent everywhere that was very hard to breathe inside the camp and it was really demoralizing to see the place in the conditions that it was and pretty much looked like up close postapocalyptic scene and. You know everyone that was there was just kind of just put up the pieces and of course the restrictions that precipitated this one or put in place because there has been this corona Virus Outbreak that over the last week what does this now mean for potential for the spread especially because weve seen even found the displacement. I mean if you really think about whats happening right now is that any type of precautions any type of measures they were taking that were forcing people to stay in the camp are gone everyone is out almost on the streets if you walk that road that goes some morea towards me its a nice you will end up through some small country roads it is lined with almost people that you know everyone is just sleeping wherever they can find a spot right on the side of the road we spent the rest of the better part of the evening with them because this evening fires were set again. And they were that people were warned in advance that this was going to happen and they were going to finish the job this is what the message was to them today that any of the areas of the camp that were not burned in the 1st night were going to be burned today everyone panicked and started getting all of their of their clothing and their bedding and their gears and pretty much all of the belongings whatever was left and jammed it into whatever they could carry and started making their way out of the camp and then at 7 pm almost like on time the fire started again. Well be watching that situation very closely indeed for you here on out is there a doctoress home in there from a fake us media lab whos been working with people inside the camp thank you for being with us again on aljazeera of course thank you. And weaving on and newly released audio recordings reveal that u. S. President donald trump admitted he downplayed the threat from the 1000. 00 and public even though he knew just how contagious and deadly it was the recordings are from interviews he gave to Janice Bob Woodward back in march woodwards book titled rage is being released next week in a trunk its crazy to saying i wanted to always play it down referring to the coronavirus hes now quoting the book and now that political hit job im not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy we want to Show Confidence we want to show strength we want to show strength as a nation and thats what ive done and weve done very well weve done well from any standard. Well democratic president ial nominee joe biden accused President Trump of betraying the American People saying he knowingly lied about the impact of the virus on the day that we hit 190000 dead in the United States because a covert 90 we just learned from the Washington Post columnist bob woodward that the president United States has admitted on tape in february he knew about covert 90 that it passed through the air he knew how deadly it was it was more its more deadly than the flu he knew and purposely played it down worse he lied to the American People he knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months he had the information he knew how dangerous it was and while this deadly disease ripped through our nation he failed to do its job on purpose thats what the latest from mike hanna hes in washington d. C. For us mike given that there are already a recordings of these interviews its going to be tough the president trying to duck this. Well indeed he interviewed bob woodward on at least 18 occasions or there are 18 audiotapes covering a vast range of issues not just President Trumps knowledge of the coronavirus so as in this case of the corona virus very clear from the president s own voice that he was well aware by the end of january how serious the virus was he was briefed by the chinese president on the 6th of february he told this to woodward on the 7th of february repeating their what you heard that he knew that the virus was carried by you knew that it was many times more deadly than the most serious case of flu and yet he did not inform the American Public and our president continues to insist that he did not want to cause panic and that is the argument that he gave in the course of the day during a News Conference in response to the publication of these audiotapes or some of the audiotapes used now dismissing the whole of their as another political hatchet job but very difficult for the president to deny what is on tape of him actually saying of course and i can see there are also some allegations flying around that trunk appointees of the department of Homeland Security have been trying to muzzle Intelligence Experts as well as Dr Anthony Fauci in order to try to get closer to a white house narrative tell us more about though is. Well the most serious one there is the whistle blower complaint by a department of Homeland Security very senior official counterintelligence official brian murphy now hes for hes. Sent a formal complaint to the Inspector General of that department claiming that he was ordered to change the intelligence about russian meddling in the 2020 election he was told by the acting head of the department of chad wolf to do this to go in sync with what President Trump was saying the acting homeland secretary insisting that he did not want President Trump embarrassed by information that was contrary to what the president was saying publicly now we know that the president has insisted for example that china and iran are involved in the election meddling putting them on a par with russia but now were hearing from this very senior homeland official of that yes russia is actively involved in attempting to disrupt that 2020 election and yes he has been told by senior officials that he must not release that information now brian murphy has been subpoenaed to appear before a House Committee in the coming months so theres going to be more and more details emerging about this attempt to muzzle somebody who has information about russian middling in the 2020 election that does not align with that of President Trumps mike hanna there in washington d. C. For us with all the latest thank you very much mike. Now the Wild Wildlife Fund is warning of the devastating effect humans are having on animal and plant life and a new report says nature is being destroyed at an extraordinary arrays this is a global living planet report says wildlife populations have declined by 68 percent in the last 50 years wildlife and latin america and the caribbean have been hardest hit with numbers theyre dropping on average by 94 percent and freshwater particularly vulnerable their numbers have declined globally by 84 percent the report blames Climate Change and human activity which has led to a loss of habitats and people to make immediate drastic changes to reverse those trends we travel to the last surviving wetlands of mexico city where conservationists are racing to save one endangered species they believe is vital to the regions biodiversity out there as man or palo has more. These are the canals. On the outskirts of mexico city theyre all thats left over once a vast wetland home to early indigenous american settlers and an abundance of driving plant and animal life. Much of that life has disappeared but the wetlands are still home to a rare and 50 found nowhere else on earth at the still mexicana of the mexican salamander and thats what were here to find. These days however spotting the critically endangered in the wild is nearly impossible Scientists Say their perception has declined could be a warning sign of an ecosystem on the brink of collapse. A perfect example its an phoebe in with a pair most skin that can easily pick changes in the environment so these species indicates to us if an ecosystem is healthy or if there is a problem. So that you may go is almost completely surrounded by the urban sprawl of the mexican capital metropolis of 24000000 people and cons. Simply grown. The wetlands of sochi mikal have become a last refuge for dozens of native and migratory species. These ancient waterways also serve to separate the few remaining of precolumbian mexico a form of wetland agriculture developed by the ass take civilization more than 400 years ago. Better one vanessa says hes witnessed as a whole lot of populations have declined over the years he blames pollution and a culture that he says has no respect for the environment that one of the old makes me feel nostalgic how is it possible for the hand of man to become so destructive i grandchildren ask me what will become of us and wonder why it is gone i tell them thats why they need to study because the realities that such mucosa destiny witnessed could disappear in the coming decade finally a closer look at sochi miklos famed a whole lot these these 2 were bred in an aquarium as the introduction of Invasive Species pollution from runoff city water and acid rain are among the factors that have devastated their native breeding grounds. Those are quite easy to reproduce in captivity which is good news for conservationists who are breeding them in pools like this one and reintroducing them into the wild where their populations have all but disappeared. These are just one of more than 2015 species facing extinction according to the world Wildlife Fund latest living planet index report which outlines widespread declines in biodiversity pointing to a loss of wetlands as being among the key drivers of this decline. But there are many in this region. Preserving what remains of the centuries old way of life. Or the aftermath is a cultural emblem of the slow to move and conservation of the species is an important part of their identity and their history. According to the world Wildlife Fund over the past 40 years more than 85 percent of the world went lands have been lost threatening the existence not only of the but of countless plant in animal species madrid up a little aljazeera mexico city well we can now speak to rebecca shaw shes a chief scientist at the world Wildlife Fund and she joins us now from San Francisco rebecca thank you for being with us that the numbers that im looking at in this report are enormous and terrifying youve been working on these issues for years let me ask you for you personally what was the scariest part of this report. The scariest part is even with all our efforts across the world to try to protect habitats and ecosystems were still seeing severe declines that is the scariest part for me and rebecca can you talk us through the biggest drivers here they are shifting yeah the biggest drivers right now are habitat destruction and primarily for expansion of Agricultural Land to feed a growing population on the planet. We also see indicators that Climate Change is shifting populations of species and driving in some species extinct and well see that play a bigger role in the future rebecca reading a report that says we need unprecedented action but weve known this for so many years now in the shifts have been incremental to say the least given the Political Climate that were living in in the shifts now and focus on to other global crises like this pandemic do you think its realistic to expect that things will change. I think its imperative that things change. But the kinds of things were seeing happening on the planet that seem callously cataclysmic many of them have their roots in the destruction of nature what were seeing with these dramatic fire fires in california and australia even covered 19 and its release from the wild has everything to do with the with the way were destroying nature listen we depend on nature for clean air clean water a stable climate and things we dont think about every day like pollination of our most nutritious food crops so we really need to Pay Attention to this and we really we have we know what to do and because of it more people are paying attention we are so were at a turning point and its really time to take action rebecca youve been involved in those big i. P. C. C. Reports that pulled together all the science around Climate Change youre saying that we need to stay optimistic do you feel like people in and policymakers truly understand the extent of whats happening are they actually listening. I think they understand i do think most of them are listening when i work load around the world and people are listening what they need is real concrete tools on how to make a difference and how to move the agenda forward were working hard with our with nations around the world to do just that and i think that were seen this awareness and the brightest part of this whole thing is that the next generations that are coming into leadership positions see this very clearly and are asking for change and i think we owe it to them to lead them on a much Brighter Future than they have in front of them in a business as usual scenario hope still intact there are back i sure from the wild wild life thank you for joining us here on out of there thank you. Now the United States have announced the withdrawal of more u. S. Troops from iraq the head of u. S. Central command says the number of soldiers will be reduced to 3000 this month as withdrawals in keeping with president on a promise to bring troops home in a bid to end what he has called americas endless wars the us has around 5200. 00 troops that were deployed in iraq to fight eisel. Of criticism the Academy Awards have unveiled new strict eligibility rules to promote diversity among nominees for best picture under the new rules films vying for that award will need to comply with at least 2 of 4 criteria designed to improve representation on and off the screen from 2024 all films hoping to win the coveted prize will need to employ a minimum number of cost or crew from underrepresented backgrounds alternatively the film will need to directly tackle themes affecting those communities addressing gender Sexual OrientationRace Ethnicity disability the final 2 measures consent offering in turn chips and training to under represented workers and diversity and the movies marketing and distribution teams well april rain is the creator of the social Media Movement oscars so white which highlighted the lack of diversity in hollywood she now represents ensemble Digital Content studio that advances opportunities for people of color both on and off the camera she says a more ambitious agenda is needed to achieve equality in films. I think that it is great step in the right direction and yet theres still much more work that needs to be done and in fact genes are how receives procedures that the economy could have put in place long ago more than 5 years before i ask her so why when i created it in 2015 and in fact there are several loopholes that will address the fact that were really still not seeing true Diversity Inclusion and reading from the attack you know where we have to wait until 2025 in an obviously were in the middle of a pandemic and so many studios are still shut down but you know the way that the Film Industry works there is no reason why at least some of these issues could not be put in place much sooner you know i have always heard since i created oscar so white in 2015 that it be real push should be who is telling the story and whose story is being told. That again this is al jazeera and these are the headlines fire warnings are in place along the entire west coast of north america from mexico to canada the u. S. States of california oregon and washington the west affected strong winds and unprecedented high temperatures a few in the spread of wild jennifer goaltenders in Southern California she says scientists fear that Climate Change could have made the fires what. So many things have changed over the last few years and the fire weather has definitely gotten more intense as as the drought has created ideal conditions and you know were seeing with that with the hurricanes that have been developing and the wind situations here there are many scientists who are pointing to Climate Change as some of the factors that look to make the fire conditions very very ideal there is also a Human Element here in Southern California human spark fires have been a big problem in the southern part of the state in Northern California lightning strikes did the most damage up there in the last month or so with those complex fires that were burning that was dry lightning coming through with storms that are in places where theyve never been before. Well fires again also been in close to a greek migrant camp that was all but destroyed by an overnight blaze thousands of refugees have been left homeless at moria can locations on the Eastern Island of his boss a 4 month state of emergency has now been declared and. Media released audio recordings reveal that u. S. President admitted he downplayed the threat from covert 1000. 00 and public even though he knew how contagious and how deadly it was the recordings are from interviews he gave to Journalist Bob Woodward back in march woodwards book titled rage is being released next week the u. S. Has announced the withdrawal of more u. S. Troops from iraq the head of u. S. Central command says the number of soldiers will be reduced to 3000 this month the withdrawal is in keeping with President Trumps promise to bring troops home in a bid to end what hes called americas endless walls the u. S. Has around 5200. 00 troops that were deployed in iraq to fight eisel well those are the headlines i will have another bonus and for you here on aljazeera and about 30 minutes after inside story do stay with us. School is the government not taking the necessary action to really address some of the structural issues we listen i still think that travel is the safest mode of travel and to spend that we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter. Is the coronavirus pandemic a chance to tackle Climate ChangeScientists Say we shouldnt forget the dangers of the warming climate for all for Major Economies just small island nations so kind of recovery from the Global Health crisis help heal our environment as well this is inside story. Out of there on that blog welcome to the special edition of inside story in collaboration with the International Federation of red cross and red crescent societies not world sadly well aware of the crisis brought on