weekdays on d w ah aah! surging up from the ocean stats in the heart of the south atlantic, lies an otherworldly drop of land that offers a window into the past riches of our planet. located 2000 kilometers from the nearest land mass. midway between africa and south america, the volcanic island of st. helena is unique, not only for its extreme isolation, but also for the diversity of its exceptional flora and fauna. this baffled jewel is home to a multitude of micro ecosystems, each with its own endemic species. but the discovery of the island by europeans in the 16th century resulted in the systematic exploitation of resources and introduction of alien species destabilizing its fragile balance. yet today the people of st. helena have come together to save their natural heritage and achieve what many would consider impossible, ah . shaped by thousands of years of volcanic eruptions, the central ridge of st. helena dominates the horizon. rising more than 800 meters above sea level. it's 3 misty peaks are home to a unique ecosystem. the cloud forest of diana's peak park. this is the beating heart of the island. and the reason why st. helena was so important to european ships, fresh water. within these 81 hector's survived the relics of a tropical rain forest. that once covered the entire island cut off from the rest of the world. the plant life here has evolved over millions of years and simple friends and daisies have become trees. but isolation came at a price in the absence of natural predators. the endemic plants never evolved. the ability to rapidly regenerate leaving them defenseless, against the ravenous appetite of the domestic animals, introduced by passing ships left to rome, the island in just a few short years. the goats had decimated the islands ancient forests. having exhausted their resources, the herbivores seal to their own fate, and the once 1000 strong heads have now disappeared. although cattle are no longer a danger to the endemic flora. invasive plants now pose a serious threat to their survival. st. helena redwoods, ebenezer, and tree funds are struggling to maintain their foot home and their future now lies entirely in human hands. satar vargo, the terrestrial conservation officer is part of the small team dedicated to the ambitious restoration of this exceptional forest. diana's peak park is very unique because it holds quite a high proportion of endemic vegetation anna vertebrates. the word endemic means that it's very unique, it's found nowhere else in the well. so there is quite a large number on st, alina because we have the highest endemic biodiversity off the u. k. and also as its territory the endemic plans, they are really good at intercepting miss. so the island doesn't receive a high proportion of rainfall, but we do get quite a lot of cloud cover coming over this high central ridge. so they actually have their lease adapted to intercept the nurse and then they fall to this water down into the p d soils. and then they trickle out to the catchment areas. and last, where we come back, our drinking water, the parks endemic vegetation provides more than a 3rd of the islands drinking water, making the teams conservation work essential to the local inhabitants. and it all starts here at the foot of diana's peak. ah, propagation in the nursery start from feed. so we go out into the wall and we collect seeds from the last remaining individuals. and then from there we would clean the seed, sought it, then we would plant them. we wait for them to germinate, there's a few stages of putting out until we can actually produce a plant that is very strong and durable and ready for planting back into our fights . after months of care in the nursery, the precious saplings are now strong enough to join the cloud forest. the recently cleared patch of land that will be their new home is at the highest point of the park. and there is only one way to get there. is always go crazy and troy's off or frozen brown. so what booker poses roses and you're a good enough. so what we do and, and pick pockets, habitat restoration. and they're actually involves propagating endemic, supplant, back into sites. but before we can do that, we do quite a lot of in base of clearance. hopefully in the future, i would like to see diana's pick completely vegetated in endemic habitat and supporting very high populations of and elegant vertebrates as well. although there is still a long way to go, the colossal work carried out by the terrestrial conservation team has been a real success tree fans and black cabbage trees now dominate the parks ridge there. canopy shading the forest floor limiting the growth of the invasive plants. many endemic invertebrates, like the blushing snail, find refuge in the newly rehabilitated flora. much to the delight of the entomologists. natasha stevens and liza fowler. selina was quite loving in research on i laboratory because the has been expeditions going back rate from like the 1800s. even charles darwin himself came he, at one point to documenting a lot of i read our breads from spiders to beatles to true bugs. so a wide range of it the cloud, far as of diana's peak, national pop is the highest habitat for invertebrates. so they whole like $100.00 in 20, endemic species on average. so was very unique here. on st, alina, we have over $400.00 endemic species. and although we have all those, we are actually discovering more every time. oh, another spike, e. let's hear another one, there. bristling with bright yellow spines. this tiny armored creature hides in the forests, most inaccessible corners. this is the spiky yellow woodhouse. and it is one of the world's rarest. i suppose. by the yellow wood lace is not like you average with lace because it tend to live in trees underneath the tree fun. we've been quite lucky here to have a dedicated project to the spike yellow with los why are fortunately the spikey, they don't do much. so i think it like a ph. d student or something like that. need to come down and actually like stadium fully for a whole year to know and be out in the field every day. sort of thing to actually see what they really active. but it is nice that we have touched on a little off them the population and a little off the ecology. and it's also helping with the conservation as well. a recent population survey across the spike is known habitat, has identified between 10200 individuals within diana's peak park. due to the research and conservation work for this minuscule creature. the spikey, yellow wood louse, is considered to be an umbrella species. so by protecting it all the flora and fauna with which it says its home are also protected. like walk up a love, a veritable eden for the minute. st. helena is home to $25.00 times more endemic species per square kilometer than the famous galapagos islands. however, as in many places around the world, this unique foreigner faces multiple threats among the most worrying r habitat loss, climate change, and invasive species. in the dry land, south of the park, near high peak, sasha, liza and natasha are setting out to visit a particularly special part of the ridge. at the edge of a steep cliff cling 6 unobtrusive trees. the value of these false gum woods is immeasurable. despite their modest appearance, they are the last wild survivors of their species. here are quite a few and demick invertebrates that is associated with plans. the false gum would leaf harbor is associated with the false gamblers and hence the name is not unique . and it is very sad at the same time, there is habitat has declined to about such trees, the laughing awhile. and if these trees go, the leaf harbours will go there. like it's broke off. on 2 of the 6 trees, the entomologists have made a disturbing discovery. some of the leaf hoppers appear to be covered in a strange whitish film. they have been infected by a fungus that has devoured them from the inside. out invertebrates play a vital role in any ecosystem throughout the well. they help with decompose and plant matha did things really and recycle it back into the as long as the restoration of the heavy to keep going, then it will be safe. gotten in bed. so all that, well, all the effort that everyone is putting into conservation is it will help in the long term and it still needs to continue way off. i go from the striking, spiky yellow wood lice for dazzling golden sail spiders. a cloud covered heart of st. helena is a treasure trove of biodiversity, precious and fragile thanks to the conservation team's work. the cloud forest is gradually being restored to its former glory and one day its borders may once again reach the coastline. the water captured by the cloud forest trickled down from the central ridge, feeding thousands of mango trees as it meanders through sharks valley to the sea. but the island is natural. riches are not confined to its flush peaks. testament to this are the raucous colonies of red build tropic buds that populate the colossal wall of great stone. driven to the fringes of the island by the hungry cats and rats that arrived with the 1st settlers. many sea birds now find refuge on these inaccessible cliffs and the surrounding islets. busy ah ah he had recently, many of the once threatened populations have begun to show signs of recovery and some species like the tropic birds and white very tons have become particularly fond of the rocky slopes that surround the islands, capital, james town. the elegant turns. have even become somewhat of an avenue fixture, and frequently raised their young here for the next 2 months, the young check will need his parents full attention. as they take turns to feed him. he will have to wait for his adult plumage to grow before he can leave the comfort of his balcony and enjoy freshly caught fish. if he survives until in a short distance from the city, knows a small islet reserved that his home to some curious cannon ears flamed egg island, hundreds of brown and black ne saudi turns. madeira and storm petals and topic birds have taken up residence here to lay their eggs, which will once highly prized by the markers. to day the glamorous islet bleat white by centuries of bird droppings is a true sanctuary. so he turns, and brown naughty is nest side by side, and in order to avoid competition for food, the 2 species have separate foraging grounds and hunt different species. but this understanding does nothing to prevent. the incessant quarrelling at home and each parent ferociously defends their offspring's living face. limits to the public. egg island is the ideal place to monitor population health. a project run by the government through its environmental management division. lee and henry, a marine conservation officer managers. this vital alert the abundance of sea birds on the island is evidence to the exceptional richness of its waters. and in 2006, the 200 nautical miles around st. helena were classified as a marine protected area since then, numerous research programs have been put in place, many of which are run by lee ann and her team. in 2012 we started at all. 7 in finer project, it was an habitat and abundance survey, with a view to making a marine managed from them because it had never had a marine manual hair before was something that we were working toward i think are damaged is very important. because if we list them, yes, there is no way of getting back on us back. and because send the news, so oh, we have quite a few and damage. so it's just time and distance that may be safe, special. and if they go, then you know the. 9 well, his last and watch to that congress passed. now this is james and i needed to use some of the think most people up at the see yes just but it's the same that happened on the one of the things that you can see that makes all the different. mm. ah ah ah ah ah, ah ah, with such a striking array of species, st helene as marine life represents a level of ecosystem health, but few other regions in the world still possess from underwater caves to great spies of ancient lava life flourish is here as it has done for centuries. ah ah, this crossroads of the atlantic is a key stump of point for many pelagic species. make the trillion devil re who effortlessly meander through the large coast to show fish before returning to the open ocean. ah ah. every year, new species are discovered and the ongoing scientific research is helping us to understand how to better protect them as the socio so known and demick species that inhabit these crystal clear waters. the st. helena butterfly fish is its undisputed ambassador present in vast numbers all along the coast. they hover in thick clouds over the sunken ships that letter to sea floor scrawled file fish, damsel fish, and st. tilley, no white sea bream. black bar, so to fish and trumpet fish, all take advantage of the haven offered by these steel caucuses. the butterfly fish play a major role in the coastal ecosystem of st. helena. and every year, a sudden and spectacular phenomenon takes over the coast. ah, for just a few days, a magnificent white storm swirled through the sea, millions of juveniles gathering the shallow waters, seeming to fill the entire ocean. the coastline explodes with life. and this impressive bloom attracts numerous predators from the open sea to take advantage of the great bounty. ah ah, ah . a true oasis of life in the vastness of the atlantic st. helena is far from having revealed all its secrets. the islands isolation which allowed its unique wildlife to evolve, has now become a hindrance to its preservation. far from the bar trees and universities, the conservationists often lack the human and financial resources needed to carry out their research. yet, despite these difficulties, they tirelessly push on. sometimes even late into the night ah ah ah, ah. emboldened by the darkness the islands, more cryptic inhabitants begin to imagine amongst the via did fire worms and fung tooth. moray eels. large almond anthropology begin their day. brown, spiny and red slipper lobsters. the latter, endemic to st. helena, take advantage of the dark to move around in safety. gregarious and sedentary species, these pre historic looking creatures are the focus of a new tagging program or by monitoring the population. the research is hoped to shed light on their life cycle and behavior and determine if they can be sustainably faced with only the narrow beam of their torches, each lobster is caught by hand and given a tag, which will identify it if it is recaptured. after carefully recording the information needed that thus i'll crustaceans are released back into the darkness to continue their enigmatic lives. anticipating a dramatic inc. centuries on the island is in a race to obtain baseline information on its natural resources. to understand how much can be taken without compromising the population's health. if this is still possible. when you start from all those pieces together, you look at how many. and then when you look at the, the amount and the quantities and stuff like that. so i mean is when environment these quotes rational and even if you look at like a fishing, you know, we've always had po 9 phishing as one fish. wonderful. and i, so things like that, if you put all that together then yes, if there's the marine capillaries back senate enters small face. thing apartment, larger picture when it comes with it for 4 years, maybe 5 now we've been doing work to mostly gather then weights of the fish. there's been land and we've been doing some tagging where there's been tag in the smaller fish. you release them and, and he did attend saying the fee they grow. and then when you fishermen started catch us do that. then you start to get information back on how they move around the island and fishermen say, lina. they will have more information on what they should or should not catch in order to make their staff more sustainable in order to make sure that they can keep catching fish into the future. st helene as fish stocks are closely monitored and the islanders know how precious they are. but these bountiful waters i'm much more than a well stocked larder. they are of global importance in the field of marine biology and perhaps hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of the world's largest fish, the well shark up to 18 meters long and weighing 20 tons. this colossus leads a discreet and often solitary life. a great nomad, the whale shark, regularly travels to use and deaths, rarely venturing into shallow coastal waters. this makes it a particularly difficult animal to study despite its imposing size and much about its life is still unknown. between its long eyes, this gentle giant sometimes visits the surface to feed on plankton warm up and perhaps even mate. but no one in the world has ever observed well sharks in the full throes of love. no one except here at st. helena, the islands waters are the only known place where adult males and females aggregate in equal numbers as the most likely known breeding ground for well sharks. st. helena plays a vital role in understanding and safeguarding this globally endangered animal. but for the st. the whale shark is also an indicator species, meaning that the population directly reflects the health of the islands waters well known by the locals for their acrobatics. the friendly pan tropical spotted dolphins are not the only species that can be found diving among the waves. after a long fishing trip, this masked ruby is making its way home. this charismatic species has settled on the rocky ledges of sandy bay to mate and raise their offspring ah, preferring to forage in deep waters. they journey far from these barren cliffs to find enough resources for this crucial period. perhaps long every 6 hours, so parents take turns to fish and look after their chick until it is old enough to be independent. no, the parents raise only one infant. the female generally lays 2 eggs in order to strengthen its chances of survival. the eldest shake is strong enough. it pushes its sibling out of the nest. the parents then fail to recognize the asteroid youngster as their own. and it is left to starve. yet despite all efforts to survive, some appetites seem insatiable. ah ah, their parents attention may be constant, but the harsh combination of heat, hunger, and relentless wind is too much for some. ready the masked rubies only returned to saint helena's shores a few years ago once present in large numbers across the island. it 2 suffered with the arrival of the 1st settlers in the 17th century. a disastrous cocktail of hunting habitat, modification and intensive predation by rats. and cat quickly led to the decline of the islands entire bird population. and almost all of st helene is endemic. bird species are now extinct. almost all despite its apparent fragility, or is also survivor, her surprisingly benefited from the islands deforestation. the wire, but a clover are found only on st. helena is particularly fond of the wind, swept grasslands and semi desert plains. yet in spite of its adaptability, this little bird was once on the verge of extinction. dennis leo, a member of the st. helena national trust managers, the conservation project dedicated to this prover. that is the islands emblem. the 1st, why bird nurse, and i was the 1st why by nurses? well actually if i thought the chuck and i was so excited that i thought it should regular like this was the biggest discovery ever. you know, what? from the, on i was hope with a good why, but as a little plumber about 20 same years, he's got a gray coat with a black mas and a white on the body. and quite to think it would go wireless. but he just laughed, run on the ground, you know, he's like, you same pull the birds, he's bomb, he's gone, you know as more so if he pitched you away from the nurse and then he's running back to it. you know, he's on the move his a boat, he's foster boat for the past 15 years during their breeding season. these endearing sprinters have been closely monitored by the trust every january, dennis and his volunteers survey, no fewer than that. he one site to cross the island, binoculars, and notebooks at the ready. they sweep each area on foot to record the size of the fragile po for population. why? but because tragedies, the cat is the furrow cat. you know, we have rats, we're rattle seasonal. i was good range, we got a lot of wraps or we can big white cats as a constant battles, not just in the wire burg routes. and james savage and st. paul, to long would the are too many feral cats and we need to tell it as an allan problem, not just as why we're brother or you can catch up from october to march and do an analysis that will give the birds a chance for the trucks his voice and enjoy the rest of the year. we can create new habitats, which is the plan. in the space of 10 years, dennis and his predecessors have succeeded in doubling the wire bird population. and today the species is no longer classed as endangered. but with only 510 adults counted in 2020, the little clover is still vulnerable. as a result of climate change and habitat modification, st. helena is facing increasingly frequent periods of drought, which is having a devastating impact on the islands flora and fauna. now more than ever support is needed to save this unique bird. but the little insect of all has not had its last word. and recently, it has taken up residence in a very special place. on the north east side of the island, the arid land still bears the scars left by colonial axes, previously known as great wood. this sandy expanse was once covered in a dense forest of endemic plants and home to many insects and birds that are now extinct. it took only a few decades for the newly settled humans to pillage this green paradise down to the last stump. and the fright, our soul of great ward, exposed to the elements was swept away by the trade winds. flood in 2000. the people of saint hilly now launched an ambitious project to re forest. the area every member of the community took part in the planting of 3000 trees, the number of which has now more than tripled. the millennium forest was born among the gum woods and dwarf ebony is a dozen other endemic species classified as endangered, are growing in the nursery under the green fingers of martina peters and her small team. between them they have the monumental task of carrying for all 250 hector's of this young forest. this new habitat is encouraging the return of many insects and invertebrates, much to the delight of the wire birds. the millennium forest is a titanic project that will span across generations, but neither the heart wins nor the arid soil seemed to be able to bend the saints determination and seed by seed. their perseverance brings them closer to the green, eden that was great. wood once neglected, plundered and exploited saint helena's natural. heritage is now being passionately defended by its people. this job is not without its difficulties, and both engineers and the government have to make do with a limited means at their disposal. even with the construction of an airport in 2017, the island still remains largely untouched by mass tourism. but this also means that it has not benefited from the economic boost enjoyed by many other destinations where nature is sometimes treated as an inexhaustible commodity. now open to the rest of the world. the saints have a unique opportunity to protect and preserve their resources. by pre empting, the changes to come and creating the basis for a more responsible form of tourism, respectful of the wildlife with which they share their home they spa, salts, jewel with its hidden riches, is the pride of its people who understand the importance of safeguarding its priceless beauty for generations to come to make st. helena a true bastion of biodiversity for me, for in supporting the communities. pretty good because i know a lot of people in the i get a lot of like, you know, hey, i saw a why but the i so why that he has or which is good. now i think is a gradually increasing awareness of conservation. ah. everything around us, i mean his have us everything his benefit. even if we don't fully understand that the man, the more people understand or, or feel a connection to the scenes, the moist e. c, a b s from to understand why they should not offer for tackle. now it is up to us as conservationists to try to protect what we already have now and expand the heavy tests for the unique life to go on for the future and poor future generations. me ah ah we g escaped but then she went back again and to get the high low pushes has been rescuing women and children from embattled mary and is risky. you see how a ukrainian entrepreneur became a huge focus on europe in 30 minutes on d. w. is the end of the pandemic in site. we show what it could look like will return to normal and we visit those who are finding it difficult with successes and you know, we're weekly coping 19, especially over 910 special 90 minutes on d w. o . ah, please listen carefully. don't know how do you live to do go? ah, feel the magic discover the world around you? ah, subscribe to d w documentary on youtube. ah ah, this is dw news, and these are our top stories. u. s. president joe biden has given his full support to sweden and finland joining nato. he met the 2 countries leaders at the white house. great. they formerly applied to joined the alliance in response to.