earthrise

Reforestation in the Sahara & Six-Legged Meat

As the population booms and demand strains the world’s meat supply, there is a need for alternatives to animal proteins.

Six-legged meat

The methane produced by cattle farming is more noxious to the environment in terms of global warming than the CO2 produced by all the world’s cars.

As the global population booms and demand strains the world’s meat supply, there is a growing need for alternatives to animal proteins.

Russell Beard travels to a research lab in the Netherlands where Marcel Dicke and his team are investigating the nutritional potential of insects, which produce nine times as much protein per kilo of feed than is yielded by livestock.

Russell is treated to his very first mealworm burger, courtesy of forward-thinking chef Johan Verbon at the experimental ‘Restaurant of the Future’.

So is it just a matter of time before we are all tucking into six-legged meat?

The great green wall

The Sahara Desert is slowly extending its reach into the verdant south. Climate change and over-exploitation of resources by humans has opened the way to sandstorms, droughts and deforestation, destroying both environments and livelihoods.

To counter this desertification, the community of the Sahel-Saharan states ha slaunched the Great Green Wall, an ambitious project that aims to plant and nurture a tree belt 15km wide and nearly 8,000km long, crossing Africa coast to coast through 11 countries.

Geraleh Darabi travels to Senegal to meet the people who have begun work on the reforestation project, which could have an incredible impact on both the environment and the lives of the Senegalese.

Saving the pearl Mussel

The freshwater pearl mussel is one of the longest living invertebrates known, with a lifespan of over 100 years. It is also one of the most threatened species on the planet.

In Britain, because of pollution and poaching, it is virtually extinct. But now efforts to save the pearl mussel are finally succeeding.

Mei-Ling McNamara visits a unique captive breeding programme in Northumberland which uses baby sea trout to play host to the pearl mussel larvae.

Thousands of fish are being released in the wild, carrying the fragile mussels with them, and despite all odds – the chances for this fledgling population are looking promising.