Huge age-old trees are of vital
importance for our ecosystem. They help to
sustain life on earth. My lifelong goal
is to save big trees. They are probably the most
important bar of gold on the planet. But all over the world, those
big trees are under threat. It’s high time we began saving the
last remaining giants of our forests. The Amazon has been called
South America's "river of life". For a special
group of visitors it's their passageway deep
into the Peruvian rainforest. Meg Lowman has pioneered
research into forest canopies. She’s taking the amateur
researchers on an expedition to see the largest
trees of the rainforest. And they’re only
reachable by water. Why, why, why did any of you come here
and why should you look at the Amazon? You know truly this
ecosystem keeps all of us alive. This Amazon is also called
the lungs of the planet. It’s the highest diversity
in the world here. The American biologist has dedicated
her life to studying the huge trees here that are
hundreds of years old. They help purify the air, safeguard biodiversity
and stabilize our climate. But they are in grave danger - from
global warming and deforestation. New ideas are needed to protect these
giants and their unique habitats. Meg Lowman has
a clear objective: to preserve the trees and make their
unique canopy accessible to others including
ecotourists. Okay, so follow Willie
everybody that’s ready. You go ahead and
find us a cecropia tree. Oh listen, there go parrots,
a whole flock of parrots. They’re
welcoming you. During her expeditions,
tourists become researchers. They begin their study on the ground,
before later taking to the treetops. Together the group examines
the condition of the trees and their leaves and
records the insects they find. Ok, I am coming to
answer any questions. This isn’t leaf
mining, right? This is just
shredding. That’s amazing you asked
that, because it is biting. They go through
the middle. That’s why they’re
called miners. This so cool. There’s a
full-on chase. The spider is
trying to eat the ant. Having extra pairs of
eyes is useful for picking up all that’s going on
in this vibrant world. Amateur researchers
often notice things that a more experienced
scientist might not bother with which is why "citizen science" is
becoming increasingly important in research. It is a
tarantula hole. So I am gonna
respect its space. Meg Lowman is considered a
pioneer in researching treetops. In the late 1970s, she discovered a
world previously unknown to science, 35 meters
above the ground. She coined the
term "arbonaut" for a biologist who
explores the forest canopy. I’m just a girl
from a small town. I didn't have any scientist friends
and my parents were teachers. And I sort of liked nature
and I went to nature. But when I finally
kept studying trees, I realized everybody
always studied the bottom. The only time they saw the top
of the trees - if they cut it down. I called it sort of like if
you went to the doctor and he looked at your big toe
and said you know your brain’s ok, your hearing’s fine,
your eyesight’s great. You would say this is crazy because it
is only the bottom of my whole body. So she made her way to the
very top to study the canopy of these forest
giants in the process, entering a world that no
researcher before her had ever seen. Then I got to the full
canopy and it was full of life. Because so many
species live up there, probably 50% of what
lives on planet earth, I and a few others started
calling it the Eighth continent. She discovered a complex
ecosystem high up in the trees, where there is still a wealth of
species that have yet to be studied. Back to the present:
8 year old Holden is busy discovering
life on the forest floor. Go up my arm. Can someone
take a picture? Leslie Johnson was keen to
show her son more of the world. We live
in the city. And it is really important to us
that he gets in touch with nature. And this sounded like
such a great adventure and to go with a real
scientist, a world class scientist. One visitor, Alex
Smith, is a biologist. So for him, the trip
is also interesting from a professional
viewpoint. A lot of more new leaves are in
the canopy, so that’s the place to be. I guess that is on
our itinerary later. I guess my expectations are kind of
high based on what Meg has told us, calling it the
eighth continent. This is the
real deal. But this ecosystem
is under threat. Over the past 30 years, well
over 400,000 square kilometers of forest have been cleared
throughout the Amazon region. That’s an area roughly the size of
Germany and Denmark combined. In my lifetime over half of
the world’s primary forests have been cut down. Oh that is a terrible track record
for me and my scientific colleagues. So we need to do
things differently. It’s kind of why I’m branching
out on a limb so to speak to go into the world of canopy
walkways instead of just pure research. By having special
walkways built, Meg Lowman makes canopy
areas accessible to everyone with rope bridges
connecting large, old trees. They've become places
of research and education, and the tour group is
about to visit this one at a height of
over 35 meters. Germany was once also
rich in primeval forest. Remnants still existed
into the Middle Ages. Today, commercial forests
with fast-growing conifers dominate the landscape. The Kellerwald-Edersee
National Park is home to one of Europe's
few untouched primeval forests. They now cover just 0.2%
of Europe’s land surface. Forest ecologist Pierre Ibisch and
start-up founder Anselm Schneider want to safeguard
what’s left. They understand the
value of these big, old trees. So the surface temperature is
18.8 degrees, which is interesting. The air temperature towards
the light is 23.2 degrees. So we have 5
degrees less here. Yep, I would have guessed
that by the feel of this... Trees consist of 50% water
and help cool the forest. They also absorb CO2
and release oxygen. The bigger the tree gets,
the more CO2 it can store. Up to half of the carbon that a
tree can sequester is absorbed in the last
quarter of its life. These old trees are
invaluable in a forest ecosystem. That makes it all the sadder that you
only find them now in national parks, or small-scale
reserves. And that’s because
foresters tend to say, if a tree is 120 or 150
years old, it's time for it to go. Pierre Ibisch and Anselm
Schneider are fighting for forests to be allowed to
grow old again. After the Second World
War, large areas of Germany were reforested
with conifers. But these monocultures
can’t withstand climate change. Drought,
forest fires, pests and the timber industry
are decimating their populations. The result is large
areas bereft of trees. And temperatures
in Germany are rising. 43.2 degrees. If we turn it overunderneath
it’s 15.7 degrees. If the forest
canopy is gone, and the trees are no
longer releasing water vapor, the landscape heats up, and conditions
for plants get worse and worse. That’s why
Anselm Schneider and three associates
founded the “woodify” startup. Barren areas like this are to
become a thing of the past. We believe clearing the
land like this is a total disaster. Given everything
we know, we’re convinced it’s totally
wrong to continue clearing trees when our climate
is changing. The start-up has developed a business
model that aims to use the forest in a completely
different way. The idea is that forest owners
now make money not from timber, but from benefiting the climate -
by simply leaving the forest alone. Woodify co-founder Anselm
Schneider is actually a doctor. Now he’s also focusing
on the health of forests. This is how it works: woodify draws
up a contract with forest owners, agreeing that no trees
will be felled for 30 years. In this way, more carbon can be
stored than if the forest continues to be used
commercially. Certificates are issued for
this carbon sequestration, which Woodify then sells to companies that want to reduce
their CO2 footprint. When we start with these projects,
something really interesting happens. The forest
gets messy! That's what people
actually tell us. They can’t believe that we just
leave fallen trees where they are. People have this image
of forests having to be tidy. A natural
forest is not tidy. It's a forest with dead wood,
dying trees and new life. And deadwood in particular
has an important function This one’s been
lying here for a while. The process of decay
is quite advanced. And a trunk like
this is wet inside. Look at
that. It's still wood. But squeeze it,
and water drips out. Look how much liquid there
is in just one handful: amazing. And this wouldn't be the
cause or fuel for a forest fire it's a water tank lying
on the ground here. It would slow
down a fire, right? Forests like these
help cool the air. as is reflected in the
measurements taken by Pierre Ibisch and Caroline Meier. She’s another forest ecologist
from the Eberswalde University for Sustainable
Development. What’s it saying? It peaked on June 6th, so a few
days ago. It’s now gone down a bit. So we’re not seeing the extremely high
temperatures that we get elsewhere. We’re measuring
a microclimate here. We have data loggers for
humidity and temperature, and they measure and record
the data roughly every 10 minutes. And we've been at it
for about a year now. This is confirming our
expectation that on days when the temperatures are really high,
the forest stays relatively cool. And that gives it
a certain stability. The university’s experts are
also measuring the increase in the biomass
of the forest. That’s important information
for the start-up's activities. They study the areas that we’ve
removed from commercial use. We want to understand
what’s happening there and be able to prove that
this change is taking place. One third of
Germany is forested. If our idea
works out, we’ll be able to turn a lot
of that back to natural forest. But for his work
to really take off, he and his team need to find
companies that are willing to invest. Meanwhile, more than
10,000 kilometers away, Meg Lowman also relies on
help from others to save the giants of the Amazon
rainforest. The indigenous
Maijuna community operate and maintain
her treetop walkways. We're so grateful to come here
and see a community using nature, saving nature
because it's, you know, our hope that we can just
help make that process. It's all about
local communities and it's really their land
and their biodiversity. It’s now time for the visitors
to experience that biodiversity up in the treetops There it is! Wow, it's
way up there. Yeah, it's high up. It’s higher up than I
thought it was going to be. Looks cool. Awesome! It is super
exciting. This was kind of like the highlight
of the trip in the first place. So it definitely feels like
we are hitting a climax. Each step to the top was
financed by donations. In total the walkway
cost 750,000 US dollars. I'm kind of scared. So who wants
to go first? Me! Oh, it’s wobbling. Finally, the travelers are about to
experience Meg Lowman’s world at first hand the
“eighth continent”, as she calls it, 35
meters above the ground. The canopy of the rainforest
is bright, loud and humid. The treetop walk is one
of the longest in the world. It stretches
half a kilometer and connects 14 of the
largest trees in the area. They grow down,
yes. Exactly. That was fun,
well this is fun. Here we are in the
Amazon canopy. So full of activity and life and
action and productivity from the sun through the leaves and oxygen
and millions of species buzzing around our heads. It’s just an
extraordinary place to be. It almost
makes me dizzy. The walkway is maintained
by local indigenous families. They also work as field
guides and provide catering and accommodation
for the visitors. This generates income
for the local communities in ways that don’t
harm the rainforest. And the visitors come away
with plenty of food for thought. I think it is really important
to bring non-scientists here because right now
they are the voters, they are the consumers of products
that are cutting the forest down. They are the people
that need educating. The forest canopy is
an impressive classroom. Meg Lowman wants to implement
her vision in the 10 most biodiverse and endangered
forests worldwide. After walkways in Peru,
Malaysia and the United States, she’s now working on a
new one in Madagascar. The conservationist will
need 10 million dollars to complete
her life’s work. If I can save big trees by
building ten canopy walkways in the ten most important and
endangered forests of the world, I will go to the grave
feeling at peace and know that I’ve done the best
I can for my children. Now aged 70, Meg Lowman has
long been an inspiration to others. And that’s important, because a
strong network of supporters is needed if she’s to complete
her mission. She’s also inspiring the
next generation of researchers to keep up
the good work. Just being a
biologist myself, like to come somewhere
like the Amazon Rainforest. It is really, really cool
to be able to come, and see everything
that is down here. And be here for scientific
reasons too, to meet Dr Lowman, see the research facility,
participate in some the research. That's just really,
really cool stuff. By coming here, people like Alex Smith
are helping to secure the livelihoods of up to 110
local families. Sebastián Rios Ochoa is
one of the local field guides. He leads the visitors
along the walkway. We’re using the forest
in a sustainable way. We’re now
protecting our land. And over the years, we’ve noticed that
the wildlife is starting to return. The 70-year-old belongs to
the indigenous Maijuna group. They’re a remote community who live
deep inside the Amazon rainforest. Their village can only
be reached by boat. Sebastián Rios Ochoa
is the village elder. He understands the forest
and how to live from it. Knowledge passed
down from his ancestors that he now
shares with visitors. If I'm standing here and my
friends or family can't find me, I can get in touch
with them this way. It's a very interesting
method of communication. We used to cut
down the whole tree... Now, we only take
the good leaves. How many leaves do you
need to make a roof for a home? The good leaves last
up to a hundred years. We use between 100 and 200,
depending on how wide the house is. He learned the art of weaving
the leaves from his mother. Thank you. Incredible. Yes The treetop walk is not the end of
the road for the amateur explorers. There’s another highlight
still awaiting the group. But first, back
to Germany. The “woodify” start-up has
also recognized the importance of raising public
awareness of the impact that natural
forests have on our climate. In the Loreley valley on
Germany’s River Rhine, woodify founder Anselm Schneider
is meeting with Judith Stülen from “Forest Gum”. The chewing gum manufacturer
wants to purchase carbon certificates and invest in
a new forest. This is the loop of
the Moselle River. This is our latest project -
with the areas outlined in green. It includes mixed forests, but
also spruce forests that are dying, like in your
project. Yes, we also have one plot
that’s larger and contiguous, but otherwise
small plots. Protecting forests is part
of the company’s concept. The ingredients for their product
come from trees in Mexico. Instead of using a
substance made of plastic, like with conventional chewing gum,
we use a substance made of chicle. Chicle is the sap
from the sapodilla tree. It’s harvested by
carefully tapping the tree. It’s a very sustainable way
of harvesting this tree sap. So that's one form of forest
conservation that we do but now, thanks to woodify, we can
also do something locally here in Germany to
protect forests. The company has already
invested in a number of areas. Today, Judith Stülen wants to see
how a forest recovers if left alone. Here in the Loreley Valley,
the changes are very visible. If we can leave
the trees standing, thanks to the contribution
of companies like yours, there’s far more shade. And that increases
year by year. Woodify's vision
is catching on. Companies from telecoms giants
to management consultancies have already
bought certificates. Judith Stülen and her team also
made a conscious decision in favor of the start-up. We spent a really long
time doing research because we wanted
to invest in a project where we could measure its impact and
we wanted to do that here in Germany. And with woodify we can measure how
the forest ecosystem is performing, thanks to the cooperation with
the University of Eberswalde, and with
Pierre Ibisch. We can track it over the years
and show others what happens if we just leave
the forest alone. A mixed deciduous forest
is what really belongs here. I've seen lots of
oaks and birches. Oaks. Beech trees. Birches. The odd pine tree. A few of the pines
are dying now. Climate change is happening so fast,
and we’re really behind the curve. This is a time to
think big, and be bold. Finding companies willing to
buy carbon certificates is one thing. But Woodify first needs
to gain access to the forest. In Germany, forests are either private
property or belong to local authorities. One community on the River Moselle has agreed to set
aside some of its forest, where no wood will be
harvested for 30 years. In return, woodify gives
them financial compensation. We need to rethink. As a forest owner, you need to
consider how you can generate new sources
of income. The pinewood will be
gone in a few years. When I look at the forest here, it's
not one 100% healthy, it's ailing
everywhere. But with this project I can see
the forest recovering in future. If you look at it in
terms of value creation, the authorities are harvesting
the forest's climate performance instead of wood. And that’s a
change of mindset.
10:24:22.600,10:24:22.080
Harvesting wood involves
chopping down trees. Whereas for the climate, the
more trees left standing, the better. Today, Anselm Schneider
is signing a contract with two local
authorities here. It applies to an area of forest
covering almost 300 hectares that will be left to its
own devices until 2053. To our future
cooperation! For the next
thirty years! There’s still a long way to go to
re-naturalize Germany's forests. But every new area that is left
to recover is another step forward. Meg Lowman also
has a big vision: to leave a functioning and flourishing
planet for future generations. Educating citizen scientists
is another step along the way. Together they go through the
leaves they found on their field trip and learn why each
one is important. Pick up that
one darling. Hold that up. That baby is one
of my favorites. That's called Inga. It's a very sturdy hardwood tree that
supports a lot of the canopy walkway. Look at the
stems on that. Look at this stem. Can you see something funny
about the stem of that leaf? It's like, thick. Yeah, it's
got leaf on it. It's a stem
with leaf on it. Isn't that wild? So
it's like maximizing its opportunity to make
energy from the sun. And that’s why citizen science
and Bio Blitz as in volunteering in science is actually emerging
as a very important part of getting better science
than just the scientists alone. Just before the end
of their expedition, there’s another special
highlight awaiting the group. They’re about to
return to the treetops but this time without the walkway. Biologist Alex Smith is bowled
over by what he’s experienced so far. So now being in the jungle,
seeing entirely new country, an entirely new place, an
entirely new people group, an entirely new way of life, it really
just drives home that idea like, hey, there is something
larger than just yourself, worth protecting
and worth working for. Meg Lowman was
one of the first scientists to explore
tree-tops in this way. Now others are
following in her footsteps. We really need the next generation
involved to become arbonauts. So the next generation has an
opportunity for amazing discoveries and they need to do it quickly
before so many more trees disappear. I'm gonna climb
trees like Meg! When Meg Lowman began
her career 45 years ago, the giants of the forest
were still everywhere, huge kapok trees
over 400 years old. Since then, many
have been cut down. But the tree where it all
began is still standing tall. Oh my gosh. I’m looking at that branch we climbed
and thinking, how did we ever do that. It's really tough to be the only
big tree in the neighborhood. You need
other big trees. But my hope is that this tree
someday will be joined by others and that all the rest of the
big trees along the Amazon will be spared
from the chainsaw. Protecting the old trees, and
helping the young ones to grow old, is the only way forests can
remain vibrant and healthy and continue
protecting our climate.
