silk could project. the new one east investigates. on al-jazeera. humanity relies heavily on insects to pollinate crops that feed the world that have pesticides intensive farming and climate change role to record damage on the trishul ecosystem some ecologists of want that at least 40 percent of insect species could be facing extinction a potentially catastrophic consequences for life on earth 2 and a half journalist eric campbell has been to find that flight. live in the city definition get over. a long forests over fields and if they're lucky through it stick to. the food to catch people have had a nagging sense that in 6 hour traffic well. now some scientists suggest then numbers crashing we could even be facing insect to get . sun how bad is it and can it be stopped. i'm 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 within 6 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 10 days 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 criminals 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. c 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 is ok over numbers but missing from moore's 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 expand on the 005. 0. and on the horizon but. it's taken extraordinary perseverance and obsessive attention to detail. that's the type does this the father. they've placed identical traps in identical locations after to the insects fly up to the top of the tents and get caught in a plug. in their. oil until there's not a lot of as a positive to help them point out that this does funkenstein is a father look at together the high the brightest high points 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 finding. in the course of 16900 days of standardized sampling flying insect numbers had crashed by 3 quarters. it was a lot of 75 percent during a timeline of 27 years that's shocking. and it shocking because our very existence depends on the healthy in the sick population they keep weights in shake dispose of dead animals pollinate plants and feed birds in frogs and other animals right up the food chain the clans and biodiversity. serious thing and. people are just. so what's been killing so many insects the doctor ruled out changes to weather 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 spraying 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 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 kray 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 that would have concern should be about the economy 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 plant species is one. major part of the insects is being eaten by birds and by other animals being essential in the future so if we are losing all of that we are 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 gravel 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 paw until hello paul you know if you would. be a guest to hear it very much this is your crew pulled on dealing with these mates of retirees or hobby collectors who meet just one evening when hearing oh hang how i. act as i'm going for good yeah excellent. you know that most of the malts. personally everything. with. their technique is simple they set up a screen. 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 1st and sections going down the march about 60 percent by about 70 percent and. comparable. inclination to the same so there's a good test for that just kind of gives you have testified yes sometimes things you hear that's happening he also and it show a study i show you study does afternoon in denmark of a study published this event of mind screens and counting hits in 20 years and you also do you have also the same thing here so it's true that with 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. union see each other so yeah 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 6 the last warning of its sec to get nearly 60 years ago. and $962.00 wildlife biologist great szell constant wrote a global bestseller cold simon spring less food during the course only better control we are so all headed for disaster. she exposed how the pesticide was wiping out insect populations and contamination food. 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 of birds the leaping and facial scream. rachel carson's work led to would be global ban on extra sounds. but since then other potent chemicals have taken its place. regulated speeds some of the new ones have grown. if there is a smoking gun some suspect it's a popular type of exercise called make it over now in 28 days maybe you've gotten the needs overall ban across europe but the trump administrated has overturned the ban to ensure they continue to use in the us some scientists believe that's bad news but they. these new mics are usually broken quite rapidly when they're out in the air when they're in the store or in the salt water or in the 7th ward they can hang around for a long time. for only a very low cost intrusions when these local situations really affect insect law so it's a very special. yes extremely poisonous for instance and there's more and more evidence there they are really affecting the target in sections. 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 make campaign save the baby is of course not only about 20 pounds and take . my nepali 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 b.s. 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 is ecological zone and almost a 3rd of farm land to become are getting it is a target no one will be forced to go organic farmers cannot be forced to do 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 is needed but hope so i hope it will change our landscape it is a massive change but it is doable there's no dog in another 11 they injure me they're talking about 50 percent organic now so it is doable 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 and then monday's this is blood seed muncy disease. post to don's and. you can own kind it. and in. blood some treatment of. floods it's middle of those month. these are flown see the next. should see this movie and from on up preceded notified some transmittal but. ya maybe it's not. even only plants and shoots. you know middle of a really you know it really i didn't mention of that you want me to answer is will smith will only do. movie d.c. . does he mention. france lena says it greenies in the city really want to help to change farming 30 have to do more than 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 families like friends are now leasing their lair and for people in the city to sponsor growing flowers to help babies and other insects rather than what about cut off an order of 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 about it if you're good. good or bad. good. good really. good through the loyalty in the start. none of these diseases that cashing in on the. german and dutch hardware stores and now featuring the friendly flowers and. much more will be needed to help make more sustainable. stories here right here is the flowers return created in the landscape in the dutch border country professor to croon and his team are also starting to tackle the problems of intensive land. with farmers to plant wildflowers on the ages of their fields creating a network of bug friendly cargoes between the nature reserve allowing in 6 to avoid the dangers of farmland connect you know make a nature reserve of that size. make. so these are like highways for highways thinking yes exactly yeah we already hunts to croon says they're already seeing results not just. in 6 but for the birds and from that. it's so much of fighting you can really get it back quite rapidly you know in america hears it here you know you have to help a little bit but it's only partially it's this landscape that makes me optimistic about the change that you can make. some scientists of fun to get harder to muster optimism. across the channel with me in these counties david coulthard has been studying the craig field report with this. new effort and. he's professor of biology at sussex university and he feeds society easy for the silent spring that rachel carson warned off. it's like deja vu you know where we're going wrong in circles here is that she saw what was happening all the time a guy and we bombed a whole bunch of pesticides as a result but then we introduced new ones to replace them many of which then eventually we bound so we introduced even more including the name across roads and 20 years on into their use we're starting to realise 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 wise 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 do creating organic 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 have you don't know that they're going to tidy and grow they 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 beans are struggling in the modern world is there are many flowers. modern farm land 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 the bees in cope with them as well so you know what's not to light. 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 is 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 volunteer you showing the time to say did you get your say. you know you talk. a little but it's a lot of just cabins on the trail if danger studies just go brown banded bumpus hema said they offer di so i'm keeping my fingers crossed for you they say if you have bass these guys have a city to see red bay's. low pressure. their hunting ground is the dungeon its national nature was on the straight up job. for the past decade dr gammons has been monitoring b. for the bumblebee conservation trust. if you just take the u.k. alone we have one free of all the species is actually class israel frightened we've had 2 species go extinct in the u.k. and a further 7 arrived for us and it's just all bumblebees. it's not just the wildlife it's disappearing but the wild land they once depended on over the last 6070 years we've lost over 97 percent of all and. as well as counting days dr gammons is planting be friendly flowers and today there is an unexpected 5 i really believe she was gone for good maybe so. this is one of the case where responsible bass species is actually the 3rd rare spawn bull bay it's called the brown bandit called up for your very beautiful this is a i think sorry one for you yes yes it's really guy 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 quiet however 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 queens of this discovery gives you a look at haiku definitely and when we've been looking at our analysis of our data from last 10 years actually where we've given advice and where we've done actually improvement of the wallflowers some of these rap species have doubled in number and this is one of the 1st experiments is actually showing that because we've had that continuation of 10 years who can i have to monitor them really well so it's lovely to say this species sounds like. the iraq war the 1st challenge will be finding out how big the global problem is. the ground breaking studying cry filled showed the potential scale of an apocalypse or europe. other continents are already starting to wake up to the change of. citizen scientists across europe are helping to build the gaps but it may take a global effort to assignment spring. in russia many cuddy's migrant lack of. grazing. echoing an increasing need for many a global trend. of force left vulnerable to exploitation the. people in power investigate. little pakistan. on al-jazeera. the latest news as it breaks while us is all the while as an honor to pave the way for a wave lesson there is. live with details coverage and feel is generalism anti-riot police have been using the mouth of fear doubt to the earth the crowd from around the world covering the areas affected by it. so far it is a heavenly. time the whole of the still navigating dangerous rapids from the time we depart to the time we finish are scared to the fisherman dicing with death. i'm afraid of falling i'm afraid of dying but if i don't go for a coffee my family need the men who go to the extreme just to make a living but not you have to be a strong swimmer otherwise the surf and risking it all vietnam on al-jazeera. a journey of personal discovery. which is the key of a letter germany addressed ground. 0. traces of family links to the regime of benito mussolini and asks his fascism return to italian poultry freshers in the family. this letter. found. on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. hello i'm adrian finnegan this is the live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes 20000000 people are sealed off into chinese cities public transport is halted to try to stop the spread of a new virus. its national court of justice says that the muslims in myanmar are at serious risk of genocide according from bush and c. measures. lebanon's new government already on.