All language subtitles for Iron Curtain, Ribbon of Life BBC Natural World 2009 720p HDTV_Subtitles01.ENG

For nearly 40 years,
Europe was divided.

An Iron Curtain separated
communist states in the East

from capitalist countries
in the west.

When this brutal barrier
was ripped down 20 years ago,

it left a paradox.

Along its length, the barbed wire
and minefields had preserved

a thin strip of Europe,
and its wildlife,

from the ravages
of the modern world.

This is the story of how
the Iron Curtain became

one of the biggest conservation
projects in the world...

..turning a death zone
into a sanctuary for life.

The German countryside in the 1970s

appeared to be
a very tranquil place.

Kai Frobel was just a teenager

who spent hours and hours making
detailed observations of wildlife.

But he was doing this
right next to the constant reminder

that his country
had been split in two.

TRANSLATION: I grew up
very close to the border.

My bedroom was about 400 metres away.
Every day, when I woke up,

I could look out of the window
and see the East German border.

The militarised zone was
just part of Kai's life.

He was more concerned about the
rapid disappearance of songbirds

and decided to plot his observations
of one, the whinchat, on a map.

He discovered something remarkable.

The sightings formed a line
around Coburg,

and that line matched
the route of the Iron Curtain.

The whinchats were living in
the no-man's land

dividing East and West Germany.

Back then, Kai could do
nothing about his discovery.

The frontier was off-limits
and, like everyone,

he believed
it would stay that way.

In 1945, at the end of
the Second World War,

the leaders of the Soviet Union,

USA and Britain met
to redraw the map of Europe.

Winston Churchill, the British
war-time Prime Minister,

predicted a bleak future.

CHURCHILL: 'A shadow has
fallen upon the scenes

'so lately lighted
by the Allied victory.

'From Stettin, in the Baltic,
to Trieste in the Adriatic,

'an iron curtain has descended
across the continent.'

Germany itself was brutally
divided into two countries -

communist East and capitalist West.

The fighting had ended
but a new Cold War had begun.

Hundreds of East Germans died
trying to escape to the west.

Many who made it across the frontier
suffered horrific wounds.

TRANSLATION: My father was a doctor.

He had to treat victims
of mines who stood in our surgery,
covered in blood.

It was very depressing to hear
about the fate of families who
were torn apart by this border.

It seemed as if the Iron Curtain
was built for eternity.

Kai understood why such
a dangerous and reviled frontier

had become a sanctuary for
the whinchats and other creatures.

The strip of land that divided East
and West was out of bounds, it never
suffered from intensive agriculture,

or from sprays
that kill pests and weeds.

As a consequence, it was rich in
wild flowers and insects,

many of which had become rare
in the rest of Germany.

It was an ecological time warp.

It remained marooned between
the two conflicting ideologies

until a seismic political shift
threatened its whole existence.

The countries to the east of the
Iron Curtain were controlled by
the might of the Soviet Union,

but in the 1980s there was
a change in its leadership.

Mikhail Gorbachev, facing
severe economic problems,

introduced liberal reforms.

Hungary was the first of the eastern
bloc countries to break away.

The symbolic breach of
the Iron Curtain between Hungary
and Austria opened a floodgate.

At last ordinary people
could cross the divide.

In 1989, thousands of East Germans
left the communist bloc
for West Germany.

After decades of cruel separation,
families were reunited.

But Kai knew that the old border
zone could now be developed.

To save the precious wildlife
within it, he would have to act fast

TRANSLATION: On the first day
after the border opening,

we decided to hold a meeting of
nature conservationists
from West and East.

When we drove to the meeting in Hof,
there were hundreds of Trabis
already in the car park.

We were upset because we thought
they were there just to go shopping.

But no, these were 400 people
from East Germany who had
come to the meeting.

At this very emotional gathering
the idea and name "Gruenes Band",
Green Belt, was born.

Now united, the German
conservationists were determined
to turn the former borderlands

into a linear green belt,
a protected place for nature,

running the length of Germany.

The Iron Curtain was so hated that
within weeks all that was left

were the concrete tracks
that once marched its length.

The border served a uniquely
important function -

it linked different habitats,
dry grassland to wet meadows,
water to woodland.

Running north to south, it allowed
plants and animals to move,

in their different ways,
along this corridor.

So anything interrupting it
might damage its value to wildlife.

And in places it was damaged
before it could be saved.

The concrete tracks were
ripped out and precious meadows
were ploughed up.

Elsewhere, animals were stopped in
their tracks by new motorways that
scythed through the old border.

The Green Belt movement,
led by the conservation group
the BUND, had a race on its hands.

Part of the group campaigned
up in the north where the former
border meets the Baltic Sea.

In the past, the military
protected the coastal area
by keeping people away.

As a consequence, it had become
a vital staging place for one
of Europe's shyest birds.

Each autumn, wild cranes
visited this coastal strip,

but with the military gone,
what would happen to them?

Conservationists lobbied hard.

Within a year of the Iron Curtain
collapsing, they persuaded
the German government

to create a National Park.

It's the largest protected area
on the Baltic coast

and, safe from persecution,
crane numbers have trebled to 45,000

After a few weeks' rest,
the cranes fly to France and Spain
for the winter.

South of the Baltic
were other key areas that,
during the Cold War,

would have been
too dangerous to survey.

Along the strip of prohibited
grassland, members of the BUND
discovered a lost world.

Once, people would have
been shot on sight here.

But nowadays, the only
searchlights are those of
moth collector, Uwe Fischer.

He's made astonishing finds -

many different species of moths,
some of which had not been seen
elsewhere in Germany for decades.

The Iron Curtain had
sheltered insects of all kinds

from pesticide sprays being
used on either side of the border.

Karin Kowol is a biologist
working along the Green Belt
in central Germany,

where, in the 1990s,
scientists discovered an insect
they thought was extinct here.

The bush cricket is a
rather big grasshopper,

with a fat belly which explains
its German name, "Wanstschrecke".

"Wanst" means fat belly,
and "Heuschrecke" is the name
for a grasshopper.

Insects are not as immediately
appealing as elegant cranes,
but they needed to win support

if their meadow was to be
saved from the plough.

I thought about how such
a small insect could be made popular.

I decided to develop
something like a character.

When we saw this cartoon
and we showed it to the people,

everybody started to love it.

Willy Fat-Belly has become
a local hero and, thanks to Karin's
campaign, his future looks assured.

It wasn't just sniper fire that
once made this meadow a no-go area.

Hundreds of mine craters
became tiny reservoirs of life.

All along the green belt, Europe's
disappearing wildlife was being
given a second chance.

But the idea, hatched by Kai Frobel
and his colleagues from the shadows
of the old watchtowers,

had to do more than protect
fat grasshoppers and wild cranes.

It also had to maintain
the border strip if the flowers
and insects were to prosper.

In the past the meadows
were cropped, so the guards
had a clear line of sight.

Ironically, the old regime of mowing
suited the wild grasses and flowers.

The old machinery is long gone,
but the Green Belt movement has
come up with an alternative.

SHEEP BAA

One of the threats the natural
grassland faces is invaders.

Lupins may look lovely
but they don't belong here.

They are aggressive colonisers,
but they're no match for the flock.

The meadow may look down-trodden,
but the sheep have helped restore
its natural balance.

Improvements were also needed
where the old border crossed the
Harz Mountains in central Germany.

A former East German
listening post still dominates
the surrounding forests.

The forests were in good shape,
but they had become
unnaturally quiet.

It wasn't just a no-MAN's land -

the large predators that once
roamed here had been exterminated
long before the Iron Curtain.

The Green Belt faced
a fascinating challenge.

In 1999, local scientists were given
support for an ambitious project,

to reintroduce the lynx -
a first step in bringing these
forests back to life.

Lynx, chosen from wildlife parks
in Germany and Sweden, were
first placed in outdoor pens.

After a few weeks on probation,

the team picked out animals
that looked like they'd thrive
in the wild.

Before release, each was given a
health check and a microchip ID tag.

Then the animal was moved
to a secret location.

In all, 24 lynx were set free.
How well would they fare in the wild

Three years later,
scientists were delighted to see
the first wild-born cub.

Since then, youngsters have
been observed each year.

Even better, lynx have
been sighted further east and
west from the border zone.

The Green Belt has acted
as a refuge from which they've
reclaimed their old haunts.

All these different campaigns
have led to a huge achievement.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain,
the Green Belt movement

has protected almost a third of
Germany's old internal border.

But could Kai Frobel's idea
of a Green Belt work along
the entire length

of the frontier
which once divided Europe?

Die Zukunft des Gruenen Bandes
liegt damit...

In 2002, Kai and his colleagues
invited Mikhail Gorbachev,

the architect of change
in Eastern Europe, to become
the patron of a new initiative.

SPEAKS RUSSIAN

INTERPRETER SPEAKS GERMAN

The Green Belt ideal would
be carried, like a torch,

along 8,000 miles of
national boundaries, from
the Adriatic to the Arctic,

uniting former enemies
and protecting the wildlife
along its length.

But this place would be a challenge.

It's been a tense front line
ever since Finland gained
independence from Russia in 1917.

The old Cold War enemies continue to
face each other across this border.

Since no hunting is allowed,
it's become a refuge for bears,

and for Europe's rarest
large predator, the wolverine.

It's as much a scavenger
as a hunter,

and prepared to defend
a newly discovered carcass.

The Green Belt movement wants
to create and connect reserves on
either side of the border zone

to protect animals
like the wolverine.

But how do you check on the quality
of the forests where there's still
so much forbidden territory?

Alpo Hassinen is a scientist
based close to the border.

He's found a clever way
around the problem.

First he selects which areas
need to be surveyed.

And then he gets
all the hard work done for him.

The plane guides itself across
the landscape, following Alpo's
pre-programmed route.

It takes a series of high-resolution
photos of the forests below.

It even flies 30 miles into Russian
territory. But this is no spy plane.

It's assessing which
areas are best for wildlife.

And when the job is done,
the computer even lands the plane.

Well...
even computers have their limits!

The photographs
are carefully analysed.

Then Finnish and Russian
conservationists together

will propose reserves to protect the
most important and rarest species.

It's an example of how a good idea
can unite former enemies.

But far to the south is evidence of
the long-lasting psychological
impact of the Iron Curtain.

Here there were already
national parks on either side
of the Cold War frontier.

Where the Sumava National Park
in former Czechoslovakia and the
Bavarian Forest National Park meet,

a clearing runs
straight through the woods.

Up until 1989 the border was
reinforced by a line of barbed wire.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain,
managers from the neighbouring parks

have attempted to find out
more about the animals in
the border area.

They put satellite collars on some
red deer to track their movements...

..and discovered a strange
relict from the Cold War.

The deer from either side
moved up to the border-line...

..and then turned back,

even though the barbed wire
and fences

had been ripped down
18 years earlier.

There was nothing to see,
no physical barrier,

nothing to stop them
moving across the clearing.

But the existence of
that terrible boundary appears
to live on in their minds.

The Cold War holds
a ghostly grip on the deer.

No-one knows whether
they'll ever overcome
their phobia of the frontier.

To the south of these forests
where the Iron Curtain twisted

around Austria and
her former eastern neighbours,

there is
very little wilderness left.

So Rainer Raab has had to take the
ideas of the Green Belt movement

and apply them to rich farmland.

At stake is one of Europe's
most spectacular birds,

the great bustard.

I started working with bustards
in 1999,

so 10 years I work
with great bustards

and I spent more than 2,000 hours
per year on great bustard work.

It's my life.

However, it's a job
getting close to them,
because they're so shy of humans,

despite being
Europe's biggest bird.

When the Iron Curtain came down,
20 of these endangered birds

were discovered hanging on
in the prohibited border area
between Austria and Hungary.

But what would happen now they
were exposed to the modern world?

With support from the EU, Rainer
persuaded hunters not to shoot them,

and arranged for subsidies
to be paid to farmers who left
some fields untilled,

areas for the bustards
to court and breed.

Great bustards are
really incredible birds,

and their behaviour
sometimes really unbelievable.

On the set-aside land
the older males strut their stuff.

The younger males, teenagers,
form unruly gangs

and turn their frustrations
on each other.

The males with real status
begin by inflating their necks

and turning up their moustaches.

Then their whole bodies appear
to turn back to front,

and inside out.

It only works for some of
the females, for some of the time!

The concerted efforts of Rainer, the
farmers and hunters have paid off.

There are now over 250 birds
living alongside modern agriculture.

The area close to the border
that Rainer monitors remains a haven

but since the Iron Curtain came
down, new obstacles have sprung up.

Bustards are strong flyers
but not very manoeuvrable.

In some places, cables have been
marked with black-and-white balls

to warn the birds, but elsewhere
there are unmarked wires.

It's always a terrible moment
if you find a dead bird.

In one year I found eight birds.

It was really terrible.

The route west into Austria
is treacherous, but the birds
can still fly east.

The bustards are on the same day
in Austria, Hungary and Slovakia,

and it makes no sense to have special
protection areas only in one country.

It's necessary to protect them
in all three countries.

To check where the birds are going,
Rainer meets colleagues

from Slovakia and Hungary each month
where the three countries meet.

International teamwork
along the green belt

has created a place where people
and bustards can live together.

And when I was here at 8:20 I saw
a male coming from the Hungarian
side to the Austrian side.

Were you able to see this bird too?
No, I think at this time
I was somewhere here...

It's easier to manage wildlife where
farming subsidies are available.

But further south in poorer
Balkan countries, the Green Belt
movement ran into a tricky problem.

The ridge line of
the Karawanken mountains

forms the border between
Austria and the former Yugoslavia.

Border stones and a fallen plaque
used to warn walkers away from
these forbidden heights.

On what is now the Slovenian side,

times were hard after
the Second World War,

there were few opportunities
in the isolated communities
close to the border

and many people
abandoned the region.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain
people returned, and naturally
wanted to improve their lot.

More intensive agriculture
promised a better life,

but that threatened
the huge number of wild daffodils
that carpeted the Alpine meadows.

Daffodils contain toxins
that poison cattle and sheep.

In the past farmers were forced
to wait until they withered before
they could gather their hay.

Few now wanted to wait so long,

so they began ploughing
and reseeding their meadows.

The Green Belt movement had
to come up with an idea that
would save the daffodils,

but offer a decent living.

They persuaded local communities
to promote the daffodils
as a tourist attraction.

Now, visitors from all over Europe
help to support the local economy.

So...

everyone benefits!

Thanks to local self-help and the
support of the Green Belt movement,

the Karawanken Alpine meadows are
returning to their former glory.

And Kai Frobel's original idea,
to preserve as many gems as possible

along the line of
the former Iron Curtain,

has been extended a little further.

To the south of Slovenia,
challenges remain.

Here, there's another spectacular
strip of wild Europe

whose future has
been thrown into doubt, now
the Iron Curtain has come down.

Here, a once mistrustful frontier
between Hungary and Yugoslavia,
now Croatia,

ran along the length
of the Drava River.

It was strictly off-limits and
was therefore left well alone.

Today, with most of Europe's large
rivers straightened and dredged,

the Drava is a precious reminder
of how a wild river behaves.

On the outside of bends,
the current cuts away at the bank
creating cliffs of sand.

These are important
for a bird that's disappearing
from much of Europe -

the sand martin.

The Drava still boasts
a population of over 10,000.

One of Croatia's torchbearers
of the Green Belt ideal
is Darko Grlica.

He's supported by EuroNatur,
their European Nature Heritage Fund.

Five years I give all of my energy
to work on the Drava River.

I love this river.

I remember when I was a young boy,
just dreaming about the river.

All Drava animal is favourite for me!

I like every one, but maybe, maybe...

maybe sand martins held my heart.

The Drava River is
critical to the survival
of Darko's favourite birds,

but they're threatened by supposed
"improvements" to the river.

This was once the site
of a sand martin colony

but it was lost forever when
the banks were stabilised with rocks

And today there is still
illegal dredging for sand and
gravel from the river bed.

This disrupts
the natural flow of the river.

Each year Darko travels
the length of the Drava

to check what's going on
and to survey the birds.

Over time he's made
a fascinating discovery.

In 1919, the border was fixed
along the line of the river,

but the Drava kept changing
its course, making meanders
and then oxbows.

The result is that the twisting
border and the winding river

cross and re-cross.

Parts of Croatia were marooned on
the Hungarian side and vice-versa.

These patches of no-man's land
were left uncultivated,

and forests grew up

where white-tailed eagles prosper,
undisturbed by people.

The eagles can only nest
in mature trees, which are
hard to find elsewhere.

This section of the Drava
boasts over 30 eagle nests.

The hard work of Darko and
his colleagues has brought success.

Recently this river and flood plain
were given protection by law,

adding it to the precious ribbon of
life stretching across Europe.

South of the Drava,
the Green Belt idea is fingering
its way across the Balkans.

Macedonia and Albania
meet on Lake Ohrid.

The town of Ohrid goes back over
2,000 years, boasting a succession
of glorious civilisations.

Roman and Byzantine mosaics provide
a glimpse into the rich wildlife

and bountiful natural resources
of the region.

But during the Cold War, this area
became a forgotten backwater.

Today the European Green Belt
movement is trying to preserve
this area's outstanding diversity.

It's been a home of a huge number
or rare plants and animals
ever since the last ice age.

The lake itself is one of
the most ancient on earth.

It's so deep it's never dried up.

Over the millennia, animals have
evolved within its water that are
found nowhere else.

A freshwater sponge.

The letnica,
a trout unique to the lake.

30 years ago they were
in deep trouble from pollution,

but recent improvements
in water quality and a ban on
fishing have seen numbers increase.

The lake is fed
by underwater springs.

The water percolates underground
from neighbouring Lake Prespa,

which itself lies on the boundary.

Three countries -
Greece, Macedonia and Albania -

can claim the water of this lake,

and their borders meet
close to the island of Golem Grad.

The island is out of bounds.

Left alone, the juniper bushes
have grown into tall trees and
cormorants nest in their tops.

The lake's critically important
for rare Dalmatian pelicans,

and pygmy cormorants,

which thrive on the large number
of fish that live here.

The most startling inhabitants
are water snakes.

They also feed on fish, but they're
here in such large numbers

because they're free
from human persecution.

Like the crickets,
the cranes and trout,

they profit from the many protected
areas created along the line
of the east-west divide.

Beyond Prespa, the Green Belt ideas
are spreading east.

Here the frontier dividing Bulgaria
from Turkey is also the new eastern
border of the European Union.

It's heavily guarded to this day.

The guards look out for
illegal immigrants and smugglers,

but they've also become
unexpected champions of
the Green Belt movement.

For the past 40 years, Bulgaria's
border here has been strictly...

regulated and the access to
the border area has been...

not easy, at least say.

People needed special permission
and special papers

to get into the 30-kilometre area
from the border,

and not anyone was allowed
to get into that area.

So there were very few people
living there and that, yes,

preserved the nature
in its quite pristine state.

The sharp-eyed guards
take note of any birds,

in particular sightings
of Europe's rarest eagle.

With the extra support
from the border police,

the Green Balkans team can better
protect the imperial eagles' nests.

It is the most important area
for the breeding of that species,

and it is one of the species
that was almost extinct

about 20 years ago, from Bulgaria,

but here in the Green Belt area
is the last sanctuary

where about 90%
of Bulgaria's population is hosted.

It's a measure of the Green Belt
movement's success that border
guards have have joined the cause.

But the local Green Balkans
team have other ambitions.

There's little economic investment
along the border zone.

Villages are being slowly abandoned
as young people drift to the cities.

But the area still has much
wildlife, plants and animals that
have vanished elsewhere in Europe.

Could the wonderful wildlife
help the local economy by bringing
tourists to the area?

One novel way might be
so-called vulture restaurants -

dead animals left out
on open hillsides,

which attract
Egyptian and Griffon vultures.

These scavengers are rare in
eastern Europe and the carcasses
help boost their numbers.

In Spain, this practice
has attracted human visitors
to watch the feast.

Might it bring much-needed tourist
Euros to this poor and remote
corner of Europe?

The Green Belt idea
has been applied in many
novel and creative ways,

along an 8,000-mile strip
from the Arctic to the Black Sea.

Out of Kai Frobel's original
vision has emerged

the biggest conservation project
in the world.

TRANSLATION: I think everyone

who has worked for the Green Belt
should be proud.

We may even act as
a kind of a role model.

The Green Belt has two functions.

It is not only extremely valuable
for the conservation of wildlife,

it is also a living ecological symbol
to bring countries together.

It is now a peaceful path
where once was a cruel border.

This desire for
reconciliation and peace has been
enthusiastically taken up

by all the individuals working
along the length of the Green Belt.

It remains a symbol of
what can be achieved when,

out of the ashes of oppression,

an inspirational idea
is allowed to take flight.

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