seasonal flu. in public stuff and more dangerous than seasonalflu. in public he stuff and more dangerous than seasonal flu. in public he was saying something different. covid—i9 may have crippled economies and industries worldwide, but it hasn't slowed down the illegal wildlife trade. experts say the trade in illegal bush meat has exploded and believe poachers are stockpiling ivory until sea cargo returns to normal levels. so the launch of a new wildlife centre in singapore has come at a good time. authorities there seized nine tonnes of ivory worth more than $13 million us in 2019. the haul was recently crushed and the process live—streamed on the internet. but before they destroyed it, researchers carried out dna testing on the ivory in a new facility designed to help wildlife detectives track down those responsible. part of that project is sam wohser, the director of the center for conservation biology at the university of washington in seattle. speaking a little earlier he explained how covid—i9 has affected the illegal wildlife trade. covid—i9 has essentially eliminated tourist dollars among protected areas across africa and one of the things that has resulted in is there are very few salaries left for rangers to patrol areas. so poaching has increased in some areas, but the biggest increase that we have been seeing is increases in bushmeat, this may be due to the need for extra income, orjust for food to feed your families, but there is a dramatic increase in bushmeat poaching that we are seeing across the continent. let's get some of the day's other news. the us has revoked more than 1,000 visas of chinese graduate students and researchers deemed to be a security risk. the acting head of the department of homeland security said that washington was blocking visas forthose with ties to china's military in order to prevent them from stealing sensitive research. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has called for an inquiry into the investigators who brought corruption charges against him, following a news report that suggested police and prosecutors had failed to disclose alleged conflicts of interest. israel's justice ministry says the claim made in the report is not true. meanwhile, mr netanyahu's critics claim he is trying to distract attention away from his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. top south african human rights lawyer george bizos, who famously defended nelson mandela, has died aged 92. mr bizos represented some of the country's best known political activists during the apartheid years and became one of the architects of the country's new constitution. president cyril ramaphosa announced his death, saying mr bizos had "contributed immensely to our democracy". now on bbc news, coronavirus: your stories. philippa thomas hears from people about how covid—19 has changed their lives. welcome to coronavirus: your stories, a programme about how covid—19 is changing lives around the world. i'm thomas and this week we are looking at nature and climate. how our natural environment can help us as individuals in times like this and also the personal story of two of us who want the global pandemic to throw more light on the global climate emergency. later we will hear from ireland about one way of turning to nature in stressful times with growing interest in the traditional practices of forest medicine like a forest bathing. and from sweden, how health —based architecture can help us now to redesign the spaces around us, help us now to redesign the spaces around us, try to stay healthy and be more resilient to infection. but first, how is the covid—19 pandemic changing climate activism? we have the personal story of two campaigners on either side of the atlantic. shunt a is the national field director for sunrise, a youth led movement in the united states fighting to tackle the environmental crisis. she says the pandemic has shone a light on the most vulnerable in society who are most at risk from the effect of climate change dig in london, todd is an airline pilot turned frontline activist with extinction rebellion. he feels the pandemic makes it more urgent than ever to rethink the world's climate policies and at before it is too late but what bought these campaigners to the climate cause and how have they been changed by the covid—19 pandemic? we spoke first to shine today in birmingham, alabama. she said, surprisingly, she does not the pandemic shifted attention away from the global climate emergency. honestly i think the issue of millions on unemployment searching forjobs and losing health insurance and the height of terrible fire seasons in california and a terrible hurricane season the in south has made the emphasis on climate change now more than everin climate change now more than ever in the pandemic. we've been trying to figure out how to we can accommodate the most vulnerable of our population in this pandemic, for example did most of the time in the summer everywhere you go in the united states there are cooling shelters that people can go to. how can you have a cooling shelter and adhere to cdc guidelines so people don't catch the virus because they are congregated together? on the flipside you have hurricane season where louisiana, constituents there are suffering from a category for hurricane that just suffering from a category for hurricane thatjust hit you have thousands of people who are displaced in the middle of are displaced in the middle of a pandemic and that causes us to ask yourself how can we treat those who are suffering? you may have seen several times the essential workers in our country have been held up as heroes but how can we move past reference to justice for those who are there any vulnerable in these moments now more than ever. the issue of climate in this pandemic is important. is that what you thought when we first went into lockdown, when the pandemic first hit?|j first went into lockdown, when the pandemic first hit? i don't think so and i think that lack of engagement in how serious this was prompted both a sense of panic to hunker down a little harder and enforced the hand of collaboration and activism in a way we have never seen activism in a way we have never seen because activism in a way we have never seen because now activism in a way we have never seen because now that we are suffering from outstanding rates of death and positive cases, we have had to figure out how we can make sure that the show goes on because we also have an important election season in the middle of this pandemic. i think we were all, we all underestimated it to a certain degree, i will admit that, yes. when you had to figure out how the show goes on, how have you had to change your tactics? what many of us associate with climate activism is huge mass gatherings and making your presence felt by the numbers. that is more dangerous now. it absolutely is more dangerous. however, what we found out is that at the height of the uprising, in the middle of the pandemic we also saw, you know, people taking to the streets for various causes because there is a lot going on in america right now, for better orfor in america right now, for better or for worse. in america right now, for better orfor worse. so in america right now, for better or for worse. so what we decided to do is create multiple tiers of engagement so people could feel comfortable engaging in our actions safely. for example, a barrier we had to participation was that before the pandemic we had planned for large—scale outdoor earth day actions. on the other people are in lockdown we have to figure out how to create socially distanced options for people to engage in and we came up people to engage in and we came up with this idea called wide—awakes this is one tear where if you want to still go out we provide ppe and the necessary things for feeling safe and people go to their respective legislator or senators home at the crack of sunrise to alert them that, hey, millions of people in this world right now are currently having to decide between insulin or paying their bills. they have to decide between going outside or being displaced due to other things outside of their control that the pandemic has coerced. let me bring this back to the personal. on this programme we are looking at how covid—19 has changed things for us. when you talk to your own family and friends about what you do, it must have been more challenging ina time must have been more challenging in a time of covid. i think there are two truths to that. it is challenging to talk about claimant in an time when my family wakes up in the first thing is how are we going to provide and put food on the table for my mom, for my sister, for my little sister's baby who was brought into this world in the middle of a pandemic and an uprising. these are the things that people are thinking about so, like i said earlier, it was up to me to talk to my mom on how these things are connect it, how was claimant and things are connect it, how was claimantand a things are connect it, how was claimant and a better quality of life and property all connected? and of life and property all connected ? and we of life and property all connected? and we have seen exa m ples of connected? and we have seen examples of that without hurricane season i have family members and friends in louisiana right now who are displaced and currently forced out of quarantine because their homes were ransacked by the latest hurricane that came through. so we talk about climate and we talk about it from a sense of environmental justice because true climate activism does achieve justice for everyone and when we talk about it from that lens, my family isa about it from that lens, my family is a lot more receptive on calls on the weekend and my mum always tells me i'm a tree hugger but she now says i am someone hugger but she now says i am someone who is actually fighting on behalf of something that can drastically change the course of our next decade. like shun tei, todd smith, of extinction rebellion says his own experience pushed him towards climate activism. but his personal story is rather different. as a former airline pilot for thomas cook i spent seven pilot for thomas cook i spent seve n yea rs pilot for thomas cook i spent seven years learning to be a pilot and grew up in a working class family. my dad told me to doa class family. my dad told me to do a job class family. my dad told me to doajobi class family. my dad told me to do a job i would enjoy and a few years into the industry, u nfortu nately few years into the industry, unfortunately that 2.5 years ago i had my license revoked due to a diagnosis of lyme disease which has become prevalent in the uk due to warm summers and milder winters. that was a wake—up call for me and gave me a moment to reflect and gave me a moment to reflect and during the time i had off work we saw the rise of extinction rebellion in london andi extinction rebellion in london and i was compelled to try and understand why people were taking to the streets in masses, people from all walks of society and i made it my mission to understand the scientific i want to get involved in extinction rebellion, i was fully behind the cause but i was conflicted about my career choice and the implications of me joining about my career choice and the implications of mejoining a movement like eggs are. so four months ago with the covid—19 lockdown, that was the final straw for me. we realise our human vulnerabilities and i began my journey and human vulnerabilities and i began myjourney and the last four months or so i have now made this my life's work, really. how do people within the climate action movement react to you as a former airline pilot. you spent years with an industry that contributes a lot to emissions. absolutely. from day one when i first joined absolutely. from day one when i firstjoined and absolutely. from day one when i first joined and xr absolutely. from day one when i firstjoined and xr meeting i was welcomed from the beginning. i was not flying as well and we welcome people from all sectors. there is no blaming and shaming in extinction rebellion and we really need to be working with the departments and heavy industries and women have need from the government to transition. we really need those lower carbon sectorjobs to be created. workers in: heavy industry should be re— educated to transition to lower carbon. in the air force alone that make airlines alone the economic foundation of covid has resulted in jobs economic foundation of covid has resulted injobs being lost so we has resulted injobs being lost so we need support to create jobs in the green sector. if i can come back to you on how you are campaigning. you are there and there are crowds campaigning and protesting about the urgency of climate action and yet this is a time when we are not meant to gathering crowds to changing tactics? we are taking all the recommended precautions, social distancing, use of masks and we feel the time to act is now. our governments own advice says that there will be a rise of four degrees in the world and that will mean deviance of people will lose their lives. vast parts of africa will be uninhabitable. we have 6 months to act and that was two months ago. so we're focusing on a green recovery from this and we could see a high spike of co2 emissions moving forward. i just felt as if i had to be out here, we have delayed our action in spring already and taking necessary precautions in that sense. so this is just the time to act, the time to act is now and we need to support and do everything we can to see the next bigger wave. when the pandemic again, even now, it is the thing that has grabbed the attention of all of us around the world. has it shifted energy away from the climate emergency? it isa it is a great question. this is probably the first time in human history when the whole of the planets population have been under a common thread and i really feel it has exposed our human vulnerabilities and it has given people a lot of time for reflection that such tragedy that we needed a global pandemic for a moment to realise that we do need to take the natural world seriously and we have to look to the scientists. it has been crucial to listen to the sides now to listen to the climate emergency which affects all of humanity and a decision to return to passengers just should be and a decision to return to passengersjust should be made to lead by example. —— jets. one flight from london to bangkok would be 3.5 tons of c02 bangkok would be 3.5 tons of co2 alone stop i am hearing a lot of conviction about the way you change your life. you come from a working—class background and being a pilot for something you wanted to be. how have family and friends reacted to this dramatic change? if you had to have some pretty frank discussions? i could not have become a pilot without the support of my mum and dad who remortgage their house and i still owe them £100,000. initially they did not really understand why i wanted to leave this fantastic career which i spent so long trying to do. iam passionate which i spent so long trying to do. i am passionate about flying but, as pilots, we want to fly passengers to the original planned destination but if we encounter adverse weather en route, without hesitation we would divert and change trajectory. i generally can see we need to make a systemic change to deal with this successfully. todd smith in london. this week, we are thinking about how the pandemic has made reassess our natural environment. next, getting out into nature and bringing nature home to us. how to link the great outdoors with our personal health and peace of mind. from sweden, the man seen many years a godfather of health —based architecture about what that means and how it can help us write now. and from ireland, the founder of the forest therapy institute. the concept came from japan in the 19805 so you are engaging your five senses in the natural environment. listening to the bird songs, the sounds of the forest, smelling the different aromas, maybe from the forest floor, your booking mindfully and slowing down, you are watching what is moving. you're taking your environment with all your five senses. it is mindfulness in nature and engaging in experiences and getting them to slow down and reflect. we have always known that a walk in the woods is good for us. what does it tell us about exposure to nature? exposure to nature, even viewing nature, even a realistic video sound of nature can produce significant reduction of stress. the kind of effects roger is talking about, do you see that when you are out in the forest? yes, we would see that all the time in the forest. people report feeling calmer, the cells in their heads would reduce and slow down. when people could not leave their homes, we were running sessions online and bring nature to them. the evidence based around viewing nature scenes or hearing nature recordings is quite strong. even when they cannot leave their homes, it is possible to have a forest based experience. people in hospitals, people in nursing homes, people in prisons that really get access to nature, that is when you can bring nature into them to help them with their well—being. have you had more demand because of the covered back pandemic? yes, there has been a huge demand for the huge increase in stress and anxiety people are experiencing and there is so much uncertainty around but also we have found that now people have at a time, may be out of the workforce for a while, they have reconnected with that nearby nature so they are with that nearby nature so they a re really with that nearby nature so they are really seeing the value and importance of the nature that surrounds them. roger, you are telling us about the evidence you publish. a ground breaking paper in 1984 showing the help the benefits for patients and medical staff? the study found that if hospital patients recovering from abdominal surgery recovering from abdominal surgery and spent a week in the hospital after surgery, if they we re hospital after surgery, if they were more or less randomly assigned to rooms with bedside window views of nature, trees, in this case, they had significantly better post operative recovery is than the equivalent patient aside to the same types of room, with the same types of room, with the same staff, except they had bedside window views of a brick wall for the week. those with the nature view had lower levels of emotional stress, they experienced significantly less pain. if you fast forward to today and busy covid prices and so many of us thinking about hospitals, the possibility of a hospital, are you seeing the environment and clinical settings make a difference to patients, to the recovery? i know of no study yet published, quality study, thatis yet published, quality study, that is examined the effects of nature on patients who are hospitalised or homebound with. probably it is a matter of time and probably such studies are in progress. i do think however that we have some good research, quite pertinent to and staff stress. it is not whether that a study published a few months before coronavirus heat, showed that, if nurses we re heat, showed that, if nurses were assigned to take a daily break for 25 minutes a day over six work weeks, in contrast to being assigned randomly to take an equivalent break in an attractive indoor break room, those with the break in the garden have significantly, substantially reduced burnout and if that is good news. in terms of burnout, that is a real concern from a mental health and physical health perspective. a number of health professionals that are experiencing extreme burnout, they do not know how they are going to manage and we need to look at alternatives to what is currently there. that is where the work and nature comes in. eco— therapy, forest bathing, that provides an alternative to the current health offerings. we're saying it is better but it is an adjunctive to current treatment and i think that is what is going to be needed, investment needed in nature —based interventions in care to look at innovative solutions for mental health. we focus a lot on personal stories and i think you heard from a nurse or a clinical petitioner in denmark? that's right. one of our trainers has ransom interventions in denmark and a nurse who worked in cardiology in denmark was experiencing work—related stress difficulties sleeping so what she said, after the six week forest therapy intervention, her sleep had really improved, she could gain greater clarity and the stress symptoms had really reduced. the green outdoor or nature as a resource. do not have equal access to it. in many countries there is no great green outdoor. you're looking at architecture and public health. that is a concern, this unequal access ? that is a concern, this unequal access? yes. i am american—born, my wife is swedish and it is no accident that we targeted an area of sweden to live in and retire some years ago. here nature is ubiquitous in the cities, even in larger cities. and regarding the equity question, anyone, you do not have to be wealthy to have access to nature or even forests. this is really an open planning issue, a political issue and clearly, in many countries, we need a lot more green space. many countries, we need a lot more green space. roger and shirley ending this addition on covered climate and nature. thank you for watching. hello. for many, wednesday was a reasonable day but for some, and this was the scene and st ives round about the sort of the lunch time period, it was notjust a sparkly as it might‘ve been. that is because there was quite a mild flow coming in from the atlantic, and you have the weather front just to thickened up the clouds there to be enough of a spot of rain. now, thankfully, that front moves away, and thursday, after a fairly cool start — and we haven't seen that for a wee while — that is looking like a half reasonable day. it does turns a wee bit cloudier later, as you will see, but for many, certainly across the greater part of england and wales, eastern side of scotland, it is a get—out and get—on with it sort of day. best of the sunshine perhaps early in the morning, through eastern scotland, certainly through eastern and southern parts of england too. northern ireland, always really rather cloudy throughout the day. it may, come the afternoon, just see a passing shower, but the obvious place where the weather really changes, is across the north and west of scotland. and it's notjust as warm as we've had it of late for sure. tops round about 19 or 20. and through the evening and overnight, the rainjust keeps on coming, into this north—western quarter of scotland. not a cold night here but, further south, if your skies stay clear for any length of time, you could be down into single figures. so what happens to the front on friday? well, its a real player all over the northern half of the british isles. the isobars quite tightly packed. it's an unfortunate mix, to say the least, of pretty wet and windy weather. the front eventually staggers its way through scotland, through northern ireland, and the remnants of that rain move down to the north of england and the north of wales. further south, it's never a bother — 20 degrees is the high. and eventually, after that wet and windy start, things brighten up across scotland and northern ireland, to finish off the day. but that is not the end of the wet story for northern areas because the weekend sees, not one, but in fact a couple of pulses of really quite wet weather piling into the north and west of scotland and, at times, though northern ireland as well. the remnants on friday's weather, well, that'sjust a band of cloud pulling down towards the south and, again, much of england and wales in for a pretty dry day on saturday. again, if you've got plans for the outdoors, the weather won't get in the way. that won't be the case though for northern ireland and scotland, where saturday night is a really wet one, and quite widely and, come sunday, we are still talking about more rain coming into the western side of scotland, northern ireland but, further south, at this stage, things really are beginning to warm up quite nicely. take care. bye— bye. he welcome to bbc news — my name is mike embley. our top stories: a second fire breaks out a camp in lesbos — as greek officials blame migrants for the blaze that's left thousands homeless. donald trump is accused of deliberately downplaying the dangers of coronavirus. he says he didn't want to panic the american people. and i don't want people to be frightened, i don't want to create panic as you say. the us speaker of the house warns britain — there'll be no trade deal if the uk undermines the good friday agreement. and san francisco glows orange as devastating wildfires rage across the western united states.

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