- [Narrator] Our world is
changing, whether it's due to climate change,
earthquakes or tourists, many of the world's most
amazing natural wonders are under threat. So if you wanna catch them
before they disappear, you'd better hurry up. From the Great Barrier Reef
to the Florida Everglades, here are the places you should
visit before they vanish from the face of the earth. - Amazing. - [Narrator] Number 10, rainforests. Rainforests are among the world's
most important ecosystems. They house 50% of the world's
animal and plant life, plants that can both feed and heal us. Ever heard of aspirin? Millions take it every day
to help prevent strokes and soothe headaches. And it's derived from willow trees found in the rainforest. In fact, around 7,000
medical compounds prescribed by our doctors are derived
from the plants found there. In 1985 their estimated retail value was 43 billion US dollars. Even more amazing is that
70% of the 3,000 plants identified by the
National Cancer Institute as having any cancer properties are found in our rainforests. Yet we're destroying what could heal us. Rainforests provide us with
oxygen and regulate our weather by stabilizing the
movement of heat and water. They also trap huge amounts of carbon that is released into the atmosphere when the trees are set ablaze by slash and burn agriculture. Rainforests now only cover 4%
of the surface of the globe. But they once covered 14%. The rainforests of Madagascar
will be the first to go. Home to 27 million
people, Madagascar has a unique ecosystem and
stunning mangrove landscapes. But this ancient forest is being destroyed to provide the western
world with furniture and the locals with
farming land and charcoal. According to Global Forest
Watch, last year Madagascar lost 3%of its rainforests. Since 2010, it's lost over
17% of its rainforest. If that rate continues, its
rainforest will completely disappear in 38 years. So visit them soon if you plan to. Elsewhere in Papa New Guinea, one third of their forests have
already been destroyed either through illegal
logging or their government selling the land to corporate buyers. The land is used primarily
to produce palm oil, a key ingredient in skin
care products and chocolate. According to figures in
the journal Bio Tropica, 24% of the rain forest will
be gone in the next 30 years if current rates are
maintained and the whole lot will disappear in the next 90. The Amazon rainforest,
the largest in the world, is also under serious threat. It covers more than half of Brazil and much of neighboring countries and has been decreasing
at a rate of around 14,000 square kilometers per year over the past 10 years. It alone produces 20 to
40% of the world's oxygen which is why it's nicknamed earth's lung. That's an area the size of Connecticut turned to desert or agricultural
land every 12 months. In general, experts
estimate that we're losing 137 plant, animal and insect
species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. The biggest threat to our rainforest comes from cattle rearing. And while soybean farming also contributes to deforestation, the vast
majority of the soybean crop is used to feed cows. I know how good a steak
tastes and how bitter this pill is to swallow, but that means the biggest thing you
can do to help the planet is stop eating beef. Number nine, glaciers. The globe has increased
in temperature by a degree over the last 40 years. If this seems like nothing,
consider that a rise of only another half
degree will make the planet we live in unrecognizable. As a result the world's 200,000 glaciers have been melting
steadily since the 1960s. A recent study by the US
Geological Survey warned that there won't be any glaciers left in mainland US by the
end of our lifetimes. Of the 160 found in 1910,
there are now only 26 left. The Himalayan mountain
range in Asia that includes Mount Everest and 5,500
glaciers could also barely have any ice left on it by 2100. The European Alps tell a similar story. And they've already lost
90% of their glacial volume. But why should ya care? Because glaciers provide water. The Himalayas for example provide water for local ecosystems
and millions of people in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. When they're gone, so are
these vital water sources. Not only that, when they
melt faster than they should, melting glaciers lead to
huge floods and avalanches such as the 1962 Huascaran
avalanche in Peru that killed 4,000 people. Number eight, Huacachina Oasis. This small town in the
Peruvian desert is home to only 100 people. But it's visited by tens
of thousands of tourists every year. They're attracted by
the picturesque scenery and the chance to ride the sand dunes on boards and in buggies. But this remote oasis town
is being slowly swallowed by the dessert. The oasis was once self sustaining. But water levels have
been decreasing recently. Part of the reason is that
locals have installed wells to access ground water. While a drop in rainfall
and higher evaporation rates from increased summer
temperatures has meant it now needs to have water
artificially pumped in from the city of Ica,
just to keep the town's tourism trade afloat. As budget concerns and
restrictions on pumping have increased, the future
of this South American oasis remains unclear. Number seven, Venice. The historic world-famous
city of Venice is sinking. Because of a combination
of rising sea levels and simple gravity, the
Italian city's buildings and crisscross of canals
join 100 small islands. But they have inadequate foundations and the marsh on which the
city sits is compacting. The buildings are sinking into the mud and the ornate stonework
is slowly crumbling away. The problems faced by
Venice are made worse by mass tourism and cheap
flights now make it available to more and more tourists every year. These problems have been
anticipated for a long time. But what's being done about it? They can't prevent water
from entering the city as water circulation is
needed to clear out sewage. Few of the current proposals
are addressing the problems and the city is at the mercy
of its slowly collapsing architecture and more
modern climate change. The only real solution is the MOSE project which is basically a giant wall
meant to stop the flooding. But even still, the
project has years to go until completion. According to a study by
the scientific journal Quaternary International, without a new and radical solution,
Venice will be completely underwater in around 80 years. Number six, Tuvalu. If you want an even more extreme example of the problems of rising sea levels, just look to the island nation of Tuvalu. The tiny Polynesian state
is only 4-1/2 meters above sea level at its highest point. You may not have heard
of the fourth smallest country in the world, but
you'll hear a lot more about it when it slow disappears
into the Pacific ocean. It will most likely be the first nation to really feel the effects
of sea level rise caused by climate change. The UN predict Tuvalu will
be uninhabitable by 2050, a real tragedy for this
happy, beautiful island and its population of 11,000 people. There's a general
agreement that we could see a sea level rise of up to
34.6 inches this century. This could see the shoreline
retreat around 90 meters which would devastate coastal
cities all around the world, not just vulnerable islands like Tuvalu. Number five, Chan Chan. Chan Chan is a World Heritage site located on the coast of Peru, a seismic hotspot that makes it susceptible to
earthquakes and volcanoes. But that's not the only reason
this place is under threat. The walls of Chan Chan
were once a great city of over 10,000 buildings. The capital of the
Chimor Empire that lasted from 900 AD to the year 1470. In the 1400s it was the
largest city in the Americas spanning 20 square
kilometers across an arid and dry landscape. But today, increased
rainfall and the rising water table are turning the
ancient earthen walls to mud and making them unstable. The Chimor empire ruled a huge stretch of coastal Peru for
centuries and the complexity and scale of the city is a
testament to its people's impressive engineering skills. It also tells us of a
sophisticated culture capable of building ornate palaces and taking on big infrastructure projects. But all this history could
soon be coming to an end because as a city built of hardened mud, rain can literally wash it away. And the changing weather
patterns of recent years have brought a lot more rain. A 2007 report by UNESCO
describes the erosion at Chan Chan as rapid and
seemingly unstoppable. So unless someone comes up
with a good idea quickly, this ancient city could be unrecognizable in a few decades. If you wanna see it for
yourself, you'd better hurry up. Number four, the Maldives. The Maldives is a collection of islands in the Indian ocean,
and the lowest country in the world at little over
one meter above sea level. That's even less than Tuvalu. But unlike Tuvalu, the
Maldives has a population of almost 400,000 people. Rising sea levels and coastal
erosion is such a threat that the World Bank has
said within 30 years many of the islands will be uninhabitable. And those 400,000 people will
need a new place to live. Already the ocean swell
often floods the land and causes damage to property. Trees on the beaches
are being knocked over as sand gets eroded at their roots which in turn only leads
to even more beach erosion. The Maldives are literally
being washed away and the clock is ticking
before the whole place is under water. Number three, the Great Barrier Reef. Just underneath the sea
off the coast of Australia is something so vast it
can be seen from space. The same size as Japan,
the Great Barrier reef is the world's largest coral reef system and the largest structure
built by living organisms including humans. But as huge as it is,
its size has decreased by more than half over the past 30 years. Due to rising sea temperatures,
much of it was killed off in the summers of 2016 and 2017. This map by a professor who led the survey shows the damage from 2016
alone, showing over 81% of northern reefs and 33% of central reefs being severely bleached. Unprecedented high ocean
temperatures killed the coral bleaching it to an eerie bone white color that can't support the
huge network of life that living coral can. Corals may require warm water to thrive, but they're very sensitive to
small changes in temperatures. By making the oceans too warm,
it's made life impossible for fragile tropical
corals and the marine life that depends on it. Figures in the journal, Nature
reflect a very real fear that the entire Great Barrier
Reef may be a graveyard in a couple of decades. Though the Australian
government has implemented Reef 2050 to combat this
destruction by restricting risks like poor development, the
researchers aren't convinced these efforts are enough
to save the reefs. Number two, the Florida Everglades. Another ecosystem not found anywhere else is the Florida Everglades. This coastal swamp soaks up carbon dioxide from the air better than rain forests do. But is now half the size it once was. It's Floridians themselves who have done most of the damage through a combination of water diversion and
agricultural run off which has eaten into the
unique national park. Taking fresh water away
from the Everglades upsets the delicate balance
between the salt water of the sea and fresh water. And this changing ratio
is damaging the ecosystem and threatening animals
like the American crocodile and the Florida panther,
which depend on the glades for their survival. A restoration program has
been backed by congress to return the water to the Everglades. But this is running into more problems because of another familiar
threat, rising sea levels. The mangroves of the Florida
Everglades have been retreating from the rising salt levels
brought in by the sea but are now backed up against a wall. According to monitoring
organization World Heritage Outlook, the Everglades as we know them
are set to become a memory within 30 years, which
just goes to show you, you don't have to travel
halfway across the world to see the terrifying effects of mankind's environmental destruction. Number one, Naples, Italy, Mount Vesuvius. It's been thousands of
years now since this infamous volcano wiped out
Pompeii, the ancient Roman city in a disaster that has
been retold for centuries. Mount Vesuvius is an active
volcano in southern Italy that has erupted 30 times since
the antihalation of Pompeii, the most recent being in
1944 when 26 people died. The Japanese volcano expert Nakada Setsuya believes we're due another
cataclysmic eruption any time now and warns that the next one will almost certainly be much, much worse. Oh, and Naples, the third
largest city in Italy and home to 550,000 people
is right in the danger zone. By constantly monitoring the
volcano's seismic activity 24 hours a day, we
should get some warning, which will hopefully save
lives when the worst hits. But if Vesuvius erupts again like it did in Roman times, the picturesque
seaside city of Naples would be flattened. While seismology is an imprecise science, geological predictions
warn of a serious eruption any day now. So if you wanna relax on the beach or explore the cobbled
backstreets of Naples, you'd best be quick about
it unless you'd rather give it a miss entirely. So which of these places
would you most like to visit? Do you think more should
be done to save these unique habitats and historic sites? Let me know in the
comments section down below and thanks for watching. (light music)
