Even today, many people are drawn to urban areas for exactly those reasons. Over half the global population now lives in cities. Thats more than four billion people. And few places have offered greater hopes of success and happiness than new york city. Now, though, the pandemic is laying the dreams of many who live there, to waste. In a few days time, Celine Kaplan will have left new york. She came from paris seemingly a lifetime ago. Saying goodbye to the city is hard. Celine very, very. Ill be back, just now i have to go. But yeah, very difficult. Im moving 30 years, like its emotional. She came for love. Then stayed to build a new life in the city of limitless possibilities, setting up a successful Public Relations company. Celine its a great town, the energy was the energy was amazing, you could meet people from every different background on any day. You could be uptown, downtown, meet from an artists gallery to a banker to whatever. You know the crossfertilization of culture was really, really great. Now shes packing her life into bags and boxes and heading back to paris. Business has dried up, but the bills for rent and healthcare havent stopped coming. Whats more the city that enticed her seems to have vanished. Celine and if you have no restaurant, no theatre, no broadway, no opera, no gallery opening, like, go to the sea and enjoy nature. You know what i mean, like, why do you have to be parked in a a box apartment and do zoom calls all day. Time square were meeting trista moldovan and steve tewksbury. For two decades, they performed in some of broadways biggest productions les miserables, kinky boots and phantom of the opera. Now theyre looking for something new. Trista im trying to look into industries that are actually hiring right now. Perhaps in medical fields. You know amazon, and maybe ups. Im trying to think of anything thats hiring as well. Trading the bright lights for hospitals and logistics. Broadways theatres will be closed till at least the end of january and possibly longer. Some productions have been entirely cancelled. New yorks world famous entertainment boulevard now seems like a surreal film set deserted and unnerving. A third of bars and restaurants have gone out of business. Steve nobodys coming back. So, its scary. Its very scary to think of a lot of these buildings, just having nobodin them, and you start to go down that rabbit hole theres nobody in the buildings, theres no tourists, theres no theaters that are open, and you just start to get concerned and anxious about it. Trista we all have moved to the city which we love so much to pursue our dreams and to pursue the entertainment industry. But if we cant afford rent and there is no industry, theres really no reason to stay in new york. 400,000 people have left the big apple since march. Office occupancy has dropped to about 10 . Most large corporations have switched to home office. The Real Estate Market is on the brink of a crash. The market for luxury apartments has collapsed by 67 percent. The millions of tourists, students and commuters who used to flood into the city every day have vanished leading to massive financial losses. New yorksourism indtry was worth 70 billion dollars last year. Money thats sorely missed especially by those whove chosen to stick it out. Amin honestly right now some 75 percent of our business has died. Before quarantine it was very busy, wed never sit around outside like this. Amin had a thousand customers a month before the coronavirus struck. Now its around 200. He had to fire his 4 staff and get his son in to help. Now they only make enough to cover the 7 thousand dollarsamonth rent. Next door, a Clearance Sale is underway. Sierra robinson is the last employee standing. Sierra i am getting a very small amount comparitive to what i would normally have available not just to survive but to live to not be afraid of where my next meal is coming from. To make matters worse, the contract on her apartment is now expiring. She and her partner cannot afford to rent a new place. Sierra in the absolute worst case i would have to leave new york. Which is the last thing i want to do. I worked really hard to be here. Thousands of businesses ruined, dreams shattered, hundreds of thousands of jobless. Many cant pay their rent any more. Theres a moratorium on evictions, but its only temporary, leaving thousands terrified of ending up on the streets. 200,000 eviction suits were filed here even before the coronavirus arrived. The city already has 100,000 homeless. New york faces potential catastrophe when the eviction ban draws to a close at the end of the year. Thats according to ellen davidson, a Legal Aid Society attorney who represents tenants. Ellen at the moment we have an iction moratorium, but when that Eviction Moratorium lifts, hundreds of thousands of tenants are at risk. Losing their homes, becoming homeless. It would be an unprecedented disaster for this city. The city has withstood many shocks. But Celine Kaplan says this one feels completely different. Theres just too much coming together at once. Celine this time its going to take a bit longer. You have a trifecta effect. You have something similar to the spanish flu, which was a big problem. The Great Depression of 1929. And trump. Its like, how do you survive . That trifecta. I mean, im sorry, like, its just hell. Once again new york faces enormous challenges and once again it may be time to reinvent itself. For many lebanese, the beirut port explosion two months ago was the ultimate proof that their government and Political Class were failing and had been doing so for decades. Lebanon is made up of various religious groups and sects the maronites, several christian groups, the druze, sunni and shiite muslims. Betwn 1975 a 1990 the grou were emiled in a divishiite militant group ehezbollah, has also gradually extended its power in lebanon. Today its considered a state within a state. But in their struggle intain iluence, lenons regional leaders repeatedly block reforms despite angry public protests. Jumeina there is something very special in the port. Theres a very special energy, everything passes through here. Everything transits through here. Its the heart of the city for me. Its like the energy, the movement, the people working. Joumana asseily standing on the roof of her gallery, marfa. The name means harbour in arabic. In two old garages she made her dream come true space for space for contemporary art. The explosion on august 4th destroyed that dream. On that tuesday the gallery was closed, and Joumana Asseily wasnt there. A coincidence to which she owes her life joumana its all physical damages at the end of the day and its going to be reparable but thats not the issue. Whether its someone who has a restaurant, whether its someone, a librarian or anyone, they want to break it. They want to break this idea, these dreams that you have. They are trying to smash it every time and then you have to wait again and to wait again and to wait again and i wonder how long can one really be resilient at this point and do and do and redo. Since august 4, the anger in beirut has grown every day. In the quarters behind the harbor no house was left unscathed. Recent years have seen the emergence of an art scene with international appeal. Many saw it as a hope for a renaissance of old beirut cosmopolitan and liberal. Now thatope is in ruins. The magnificent Sursock Museum was also badly damaged. It was only reopened in 2015 after a long renovation as a place of art for everyone. Entry is free. The last visitors had just left the building, while director zeina arida was still in her office miraculously she was not office. Miraculously she was not injured. Zeina ive already gone through a lot already. I was shot by a sniper in 1978, i was eight years old, i was at the beach. Since then i was an insomniac kid. Its our generation, the war generation, who did not want to forget, who nted to understand and who through these structures, artistic war initiatives. We have been witnessing the nonresponsibility of the government and of course Civil Society that is more and more acting as if its replacing the state which its already been doing for the past 30 years. Although the civil war ended in 1990, it continues to resonate in the present. It dominated the heart of beirut for 15 years. Then came assassinations, bombings, the economic crash in a state where the government is absent. We dont have a government, but a mafia that preys on the state, says writer elias khoury. Elias its a residue of the political system that was created after the war which i called the system of permanent civil war. There is no civil war in lebanon but these mafiosos, these heads of different militias, these different sects, the only way for them to govern was to threaten us with civil war. The explosion was an accident, but it wasnt a coincidence, says khoury. On august 4, the truth that the rulers tried to cover up exploded its not civil war that poses the greatest threat, but the government itself. So what now . Elias i dont like to use the term hope in a hopeless situation. When you are after despair, wh you go rough thisotal deair and th you feel lastou are beyd despair, thenf you want. You can call this determination to survive. The Sursock Museum will be rebuilt. Help is coming from all over the world. But just rebuilding, on the Old Foundation thats not enough this time, says zeina arida. Zeina today you know im 50, im not a kid anymore. Today i rely need tohink aboumy future. Im commted to the museum,m today you know im 50, im not commted, but iont knohow long. I dont know how long. Im committed to my country depending on how it is going to evolve. We areeady to gorn thiscountr at the end of the 1980s, there were almost 800,000 foreign soldiers stationed in both parts of germany, mainly british, french, and u. S. Troops in west germany, soviet soldiers in east germany. Following the end of the cold war and german reunification, the Occupying Powers withdrew most of the troops. They left behind trash, and contaminated sls and driing water. Currently, only u. S. Troops are still stationed in germany in large numbers, like in spangdahlem, where residents are fighting back. Hfeels likee is davidfacin. E 1953, fiter jets he be in his bayard. Moving away from the area is not an option. S family h been livi here r centurie the rainwater i doubt it is ctaminated because we had it checked regularly. But the groundwater, and the water in the rivers and streams there, its a very different picture. The water is highly contaminated. Peluorinatedompounds o rcinogic chempfcsknown a they origite at th nearby andn the ea. Thlocaauthoritiehave warned locals about the problem. As a precaution, we would still advise against using the river water for irrigation purposes. Scientific surveys have heed scientific surveys have helped scntific surys have helped tshed somlight on the matter. Theyve detected toxic chemicals at depths of up to 80 meters in the land surrounng the aiase and inconcentrions thu consers critic. Gunther schneider himself used to work for the American Forces and saw soldiers performing firefighting drills for ailane crashes. Gunther there was a hole in the ground. Theyoured fuel from the planes into that hole,nd then set it alight. And when it was burning fiercely with black fumes, the Fire Fighters put out the fire using foam extinguishing agents, which we now have in our groundwater. That foam contained fluorosurfactants, a chemical that is oilandaterrepelnt, anresistant heat. Itsn effectivmeans of fighting jfuel fire but is prtically nobiodegradable. After decades of using the agent, the americans banned it in 2011, albeit too late to protect the areas water. This fairytale pond is highly contaminated via the surface water, due to pollution straight from the airbase. Its less than 50 meters away. What used to be a paradise is now a chemical cesspit. A cesspit that nobody seems willing to take responsibility for an interview were ignored. On the german sidethe peopsts to talk to are at the federal real estate agency. But they refused to talk on camera, instead sending us a statement that assigned responsibility to the american military. We had better luck after approaching the Regional Environmental protection authory, who didalk to us. Ulri wbut where exactly the sources vels of fluoare . Rftants. On the airport compound is very big, and tre are certain hotspots. Y attempt to clean up will mean taking a very close look at the details. Among those detls is th fact that there are still places in and around the airbase where perfluorated compnds are seeping into the groundwater. Cleaning tm up wouldost miions of eus, assuming anyo is willg to foothe thbill. Whicis a polical ulrh weont be king theecision anon cleanp costs. Othatsometd thbill. Beeen the rman andmerican gov. Thoseegotiatis couldtake yrs. D in theeanguntr e statu wee standi at the tlet of is wer flowsrom herentos sewa. Stream, d from tre a fuher two lometerso one the eifel reon, the ky. I but theres growing opposition to the American Fighting on his own. Kurt saying something against the americans used to be completely taboo. It meant you were a kind of traitor, endangering the prosperity. Fortunately, thats changed a bit. Residents and environmentad environmental activists became more optimistic in the summer when President Trump announced plans to withdraw the fighterjets from spandahlem. They, at least, would have no problem with the americans leaving town altogether. Now its time for global ideas and this week our focus is cocoa farming two years agwe visited a cocoa farmer in ghana whose livelihood was under threat due to increasingly poor harvests. But there was a solution. We returned to see how things have developed. Saplings in full bloom. Some of the pods are already nearly ripe. Orlandu osmanu is expecting a rich cocoa harvest this ar. Orlandu this coc gr. s not likwhat we used to plant. It would te the old coa eds four yrs to bearruit. But with these, its only 2 years. That really fa for us. A it means wcan all eny itt. And make money earlier. It wasnt always ke this. Two years o, the tre were hit by a disease cald ollen shoot virus. Which left harvests ruined. Heres how orlando described the situation back then. Orlando this is a pod that could have matured, but didnt because of the disease. Its no good for harvest. Its spoiled. Radical action was needed. Orlando osmanu followed the advice of experts and felled his trees. It wasnt an easy decision. Orlando initially i wasnture about wt iabout and cut down one and a half acres out of 14. Its been two years now and im very happy. But sick trees werent his only problem. He also had to look on while part of his land was cleared to make way for a path. Orlando all this is part of the farm. I planted plantain, cocoa and everything here just like in the other parts. But the timber contractors cleared it and didnt give me anything. To deal with the problem of illegal felling, locals across the district are being trained up to work as forest monitors. They u an app to report their findings. It only takes a couple of taps. Obed we are not just identify illegalities and saying that it takection togeer with the, fostry commiion to addsse the problem. Are r the clime and thatthey. Ow how imptant theirrees felling trees leads to drier conditions. That in turn leaves the trees more vulnerable to pts, like the ants. Orlando otrick. Orlando th an a if i block it this way, no air gets to e ant and they die inside. The ants. Orlando otrick. Orlando th an a simple and effective. But just as things were starting to look up for him and his family, the coronavirus struck raising fears about how the disee will impt his siness. Orndo its become a problem. Covid has really worried us. If i say it hasnt, id be lying. Before, you could rely on selling all amous at least. But if buyers dont come, you h farmers like orlando often wehave trouble accessing loans because their holdings are too small to use as collateral. Now a local Savings Initiative has been established to help out and assist farmers in weathering the pandemic. Orlando was among those who attended a Training Session on financial management. Eric we know that after t establishment of the new renovated farms, its takes about 3 years or more for the farms starts so snv under the scafproject thght it we to link with financial instutions to e how they can g the post rehabilitation phase before the orlando hoping tose t cloan to expand a developis plantation. He wants to ready f what happens after the pandemic. The improved prospects have evenrompted hison adama fuseing hijob as a tcher to gi farming a himself. Adama w i can sea lot if imprement my father is able get food to feed the family and then some of the food he sale was able to get money to support the faly and now i am even attracted to go into fruit farming. For orlao osnu, thin are supportoking up sig. Now i am thats all from global 3000 this week thanks for joining us andont forg to send us your views, yocan write to global3000 dw. Com and check us out on facebook dw global ideas and dw women. See you next week
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