Forest fire season. Now, its up to people like enric sapes to prevent outbreaks of large fires. Hes part of a special task force. And he is alarmed. Forests in spain have lost much of their natural powers of defense. Climate change has significantly weakened the countrys tree population. Thats why in well wooded areas like catalonia, much is being done to improve the forests resistance. The roads are dry and dusty, and its hot 35 degrees celcius. Enric sapes is scouting the catalan forests with his special unit on a mission to prevent forest fires. heatwaves are becoming stronger and more frequent. We can only try to stop fires from spreading by observing and responding fast. in the first half of 2023, almost seventy thousand hectares of forest burnt down thats an area greater than all of madrid. Of all the land burnt by wildfires in the eu, over half is in spain. Enric is very concerned. He checks the soil for moisture. And keeps finding the same result its dry down deep into the earth. Meaning fires can break out at any moment. So they have to take action. weve created a strategic protective strip here and cleared all the brush from the forest floor. If a fire does break out, it cant spread and cant reach the treetops. As a comparison, we left everything over there the way it was. the firefighters back at the station are also on high alert. At even the slightest sign of a forest fire, they head out. Emili dalmau is specialized in these kinds of disasters. And he says extreme climatic conditions are straining the forest. the plants are really suffering. Some are dead, others are losing biomass. Which creates better fuel for a forest fire. If a fire starts under those conditions, its all the more violent from the outset. in late june, a fire broke out in the back country around tarragona. Firefighters fought the blaze from the air and ground. Emili monitored the operation from the station. a harvesting machine caught fire and set light to a field. From there, the flames quickly spread to the adjacent forest. the special unit conducts regular aerial suveillance, also to observe harvesting activities. And enric sends fire trucks to the fields just in case. harvesting is dangerous, because it takes place in the hot season when a fire can start at any moment. Thats why we stay close, so we can respond quickly and put out any fires. the farmers are thankful to have the firefighters around. Tomas sarri has been in two dangerous situations but managed to extinguish the fire on his own in the nick of time. there was a sudden bang in the exhaust and a spark flew onto the hay hanging from the machine. Then a fire broke out. the firefighters anticipate things getting tougher in the future. Emili sees Climate Change as the primary culprit. the intense heat is making the atmosphere increasingly unstable. That causes higher wind speeds. And those winds make fires way more destructive than normal. enric and his Prevention Team are also concerned about humanitys climate footprint. They say prevention alone isnt enough, and better policy measures are urgently needed. the world is transforming. Forests are burning everywhere. Countries need to realize we cant leave this kind of heritage for our children a scorched earth. the stressed forest has made it through yet another hot and dry day. Tomorrow, enric and his crew will head out once again, to try and prevent the worst from happening. A few weeks ago, we introduced you to yehor, a ukrainian soldier. Hes been fighting against Russian Occupation on the frontline. He was injured and lost a leg. Then returned to his unit. With a prosthesis. Yehor has no doubts that he is doing the right thing. He accepted an offer from norway for an even better prosthesis. Because it promises to make him quicker on the battlefield. Yehor is currently undergoing treatment near norways capital oslo. Just to make it back to his comrades. Canoeing on a lake in norway, yehor and dima feel very far away from the war in ukraine. But in their thoughts, its still very close even here in their rehab facility. Both lost a leg, fighting at the front in ukraine. Even so, yehor plans to head back to the war soon. After what happened and what ive gone through, im not really afraid. As long as nothing else gets torn off an arm or a leg. Then ill give it some more thought. If yehor shows up here a second time then ill give it some serious thought. Hell sit like this, metal on metal. For 39 yearold dima, jokes are one way to deal with his experiences. Es hes made the decision not to return. Time passes and you get used to civilian life. I have a son to raise. There are a lot of things to do. We have to get away from this war a little. But for 20 yearold yehor, the war is still a decisive factor in his life. We first met him in may in eastern ukraine. It must have been an antipersonnel mine. They were scattered around; i stepped on it, fell and didnt realize what had happened. I looked at my leg, but it wasnt there anymore. His lower leg couldnt be saved. He spent the next seven months in hospital. Yehor had to learn how to walk on his prosthestic. Against the advice of his doctors and wishes of his family, he decided to return to the front. Here in norway, specialists are trying to do more for him. They fitted yehor with a new prosthestic that offers a wider range of movement. the foot on this prosthestic is more flexible. I can do this. The Shock Absorption is better, and it doesnt jolt the bone. Its great. Yehor and dima are spending five weeks in this clinic about one hundred kilometers north of oslo. Despite the language barrier, theyve been warmly received by their norwegian fellow patients. Theyre comfortable here. Its like there are two very different worlds. Theres a war, but here, theres peace. Everythings quiet, while on the other side, theres total chaos. The change does them a world of good. The days in the clinic are jampacked with Strength Training and gymnastics, among other things. The therapists focus on the soldiers particular needs. for an older person, for example, it might be more important to be able to take care of themselves, do simple things like going to the bathroom and climbing stairs or going shopping. For soldiers, its more about how they can move around the battlefield. And so, we picked more advanced exercises. What youre seeing now is not what we do with our regular amputee patients. Yehor is making good progress, but dima isnt satisfied with his new prosthestic. the shaft no longer fits, at all. At first, it was alright. By the time we got to the clinic, my leg was hurting. The ukrainian prosthestic was fitted and it worked. I can spend the whole day in it. the doctors here say another operation could help. But the patient has other plans. He intends to return home, get his official discharge and look for work. For his part, yehor will report straight back to his unit in the donbas. He stays in regular contact with his comrades and his mother. hello hello my son whats new at home . fast i got back from work, picked some cherries, and now im cooking, and tomorrow, ill go back to work. at first, his mother was against her only son returning to the war, but now, the family has accepted the decision. i think hes indomitable. Our entire family sees him that way. Its the mens duty not to hide away. If there were more people like yehor and his friends and brothers, wed win faster. To us, hes a hero. We support him. We have no other choice. her son had a choice. He could choose to stay in norway, study, work and build a new life for himself. But hes returning to the ukrainian lines in his homeland and to his comrades to everyone yehor feels he has a duty to in spite of the sacrifices it cost him. Heavy rioting gripped france at the end of june. It was triggered by the death of nahel, a french teenager with a migrant background. The Police Killed the 17 year old during a Traffic Control in nanterre on the outskirts of paris. The outbursts of fury, especially from people in the suburbs, were directed at the state and its executive authority, the police. Hamid bouhoutas brother also died during a police check. Like many french people, he wonders if the police have a problem with violence and racism. Molotov cocktails directed at the police, burning busses, and looting for days on end, riots spread across france. The unrest started after 17 yearold nahel was shot by police during a traffic stop in nanterre, a suburb of paris. The policeman later claimed that the car was moving towards him. But videos prove him wrong they show that he was not in danger when he shot. This traffic stop was caught on camera, unlike dozens of other cases of Police Violence, primarily directed at inhabitants of the banlieues, or suburbs. Cases like that of mehdi bouhouta from lyon. To his family, he was another victim of Police Violence. Like nahel, he was shot during a police check. Thats him when he was four years old and in preschool. Thats him at six, with our father. Mehdi joined a gang as a teenager. He was convicted of theft and spent time in prison. He never killed anyone. He made mistakes, he stole. But he never used excessive violence, never killed anyone. Mehdis siblings take us to the parking lot where the Police Stopped him in 2015, after spotting him by chance. He had not returned to prison after his day parole. My brother was driving in first gear, he tried to drive past them, but the policeman ran to the side and shot him twice. The policeman changed his testimony five times. In the end, he had to admit to shooting from the side. And that he wasnt acting in selfdefense. The second shot killed him. A verdict in court has yet not been reached. Cases of Police Violence in france have been on the rise since 2017, when a law was passed to give police more power during traffic stops. Studies show the risk of dying during a Police Control is three times higher in france than britain. French interior minister darmanin admits thereve been shortcomings. The police make mistakes too. But we also need to ensure they have better and longer training. Policeman Abdoulaye Kante reaches out to the surburban residents who have have often experienced decades of social deprivation. The suburbs often have higher immigrant populations. He uses videos and comments on social media to bridge the divide and explain the police perspective. No Police Officer gets up in the morning wanting to kill someone. But in some districts, especially where many immigrants live, the crime rates are high. Were not patrolling the streets for no reason. The residents want the police to be present. Some french sociologists argue that certain districts have become ghettos. The state has let down its inhabitants, says michel kokoreff. Theres a colonial context to all of this. Some of the suburbs resemble the french colonies, as the inhabitants are constantly controlled by police, theres racial profiling and humiliation. For eight years, myriam and hamid bouhouta have been fighting for the policeman who killed their brother to be convicted. They oppose the riots though. Peaceful protests are better than burning cars belonging to innocent people. The rift runs deep between the suburbs and the Police Forces of the french state. Violence could seemingly flare up again at any time. Since brexit in 2020, british farmers like tim chambers have faced a big challenge there just arent enough harvest workers. The uks departure from the European Union has led to a shortage of foreign and usually cheaper labor. Many brits would consider this kind of job too strenuous and too poorly paid. While the domestic economy is still struggling with the consequences of brexit, here comes a figure from a recent survey more than 50 of the british people would vote rejoin the eu. Is it really feasible . To harvest the u. K. s strawberries without cheap labor from lowwage countries, as the brexiteers preached, and promised . Brits were supposed to have been picking this fruit for top pay. But farmer tim chambers is something of a stickinthemud. Hes got bulgarians, indonesians and khazakhs out in his fields, for 12 euros an hour. Now, if you want that person to be highly paid, then please pay me more money in the supermarkets, and i will put a 100 thousandpound picker in the field. Impossible. Weve tried for many years for the last ten years to encourage english people back onto farms to work. Farmer tims problem is that he cant find enough laborers from abroad. The British Government would rather let fewer migrants in, not more. Not nearly as many work permits are being approved as are needed, which would be about another 10 thousand. They were not issuing work permits until the season had already started, which is too late. So, we need the flexibility to bring people in earlier. They werent allowing that to happen. They werent telling us as an industry even if there would be the availability of any laborer, at all. Its like hes saying let them find out the hard way. The home secretary responsible, suella braverman, is an aggressive brexit ideologue, seen here at a rally of ultraconservatives from her party. There is no good reason why we cant train up enough truck drivers, butchers, fruit pickers, builders or welders. Brexit enables us to build a highskilled, highwage economy that is less dependent on lowskilled foreign labor. Economists like Jonathan Portes think this labor shortage is prescisely what the British Government wanted. The idea of the new policy is precisely to squeeze sectors that relied upon lowerpaid labor to force them to invest more in technology, to train to upskill. Whether or not thats going to work, of course, its too early to tell. To understand better where the brexit ideologues are coming from, we have to go back to their former head, boris johnson. He promised a golden age dawning after leaving the eu, and a u. K, everbody would soon be far better off economically. And that is our vision for britain a highwage, lowtax, highskill, highproductivity economy with incomes rising fastest for those who are lowestpaid. What we want is to end the situation which you have uncontrolled immigration coming for lowskill jobs, pushing down wages. His successor, rishi sunak, has now become johnsons archnemesis. But sunak is a brexiteer himself, and a Kindred Spirit as regards his economic vision. This country is a beacon for the worlds most successful, talented people. We want to attract the best and the brightest from around the world to come here, to research, to study, to create new businesses, to come and work in your growing companies. What does that mean for the strawberry harvest . That either wellpaid brits have to do the job, or robots. Some british farms are already partly automated. And unlike the British Governments attitude towards work permits, its quite generous on this account, earmarking some 230 Million Euros for developing new ideas in agriculture. Duncan robertson is renting his first prototypes to farmers. And he says, theyre Getting Better all the time. We employ people to work as robot supervisors. We employ people in a support function. They are responsible for deploying robots to customers sites and making sure that theyre working performing as well as they should. Those jobs may be slightly better paid and perhaps slightly more desirable than fruitpicking. That may press all the right buttons for the government, but Duncan Robertson cautions that theyre still in a test phase. Human pickers will be needed alongside machines for some time to come. Tim chambers continues to fume about the government withholding the foreign pickers he needs while brits wont take the jobs. For him, robots are still far off in the future. There are prototypes out there for strawberry harvesting, and some of them show initial signs of potentially, they might be quite good. But wheres the capital going to come from to invest in that machinery . The industry is now on its knees. Its actually not making the money that we need to invest in that kind of machinery. Like many british farmers, he depends on foreign labor. No amount of pressure can change that. No matter how hard the brexiteers may wish otherwise, british farmers cant do without their foreigners. Boxing is not just a sport its an art form. At least according to the creators of an exhibition currently on display in brussels. Theres a boxing ring set up there and everyone is invited to join in. But this isnt a place for uppercuts and knockouts. The aim of the exhibition is to open young peoples eyes to the art of boxing without a black eye in sight. A school trip to a museum might not sound that exciting. But before he knows where he is, 18 yearold emre is fighting in a boxing ring. But this is, in fact, art. And emre is suddenly part of it. its really strange, its like youre an exhibit. But i think its great. Its really motivating. Were in molenbeek, a deprived district of brussels, notorious for being home to the terrorist behind the paris attacks seven years ago. Its also home to the mima museum which wants to transform the reputation of both the area and of boxing. boxing is a sport. It is not a violent street fight. Its like the cliches about our district if you dig a little deeper, you see more. We want to dispel prejudices. The exhibition traces the history of boxing. It celebrates legends like muhammad ali as well as todays local heroes female boxers from molenbeek. The curators say boxing has long been a source of inspiration for artists. And the exhibition can pack an inspiring punch for visitors of all ages. when you see two boxers fighting with each other, its like a dance. These movements you sense a very special energy. For me, its art. The boxing ring is also used by professionals who perform here, and carry out their normal every day training. But anyone whos been through the exhibition may look at it from a whole new perspective, and see the art behind the sport. Thats all from this edition of focus on europe. Thanks for watching, bye
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.