Original subtitles

(upbeat music)

Oh, to be a bird.

To be able to soar over the Earth's surface.

If we could look down on our world from above,

what would we see?

The incredible diversity of textures

and colors of landscapes.

The opportunities they create for wildlife.

How incredibly interconnected all life is.

And how easily human activity can threaten it.

From mountains to the ocean,

the beautifully complex relationships

all over the Earth can really be appreciated

when we look at "The World From Above".

There's a phrase, you can't see the wood for the trees.

We humans are pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

From where we stand, trees,

hills or modern cityscapes can obstruct our view.

It's hard to see to the horizon and really get

a sense of scale of a landscape.

But thanks to aircraft and drones,

we are able to follow the birds,

pulling back to realize just how tiny we are.

(upbeat music)

Drifting in the skies above,

landscapes take on a whole new dramatic beauty.

We've all seen maps of the Earth

that seemed banded with colors from

the white ice caps at either pole

to the lush green center.

Bands of color signal the latitude,

the distance between the cold poles

and sweltering equator.

Seen from the air,

the Arctic and Antarctic

are mostly whitewashed with snow and ice.

In winter, the sea freezes over, meters thick of sea ice,

creating an intimidating winter Wonderland

where only the hardiest species can survive.

Here, the polar bear is king.

One of the few animals that can weather

the cold year round.

The poles are mostly snow and ice.

There are some mountains and glaciers,

but gradually moving south,

the Arctic's ice is replaced with a band of tundra.

More or less desert,

because most of its water is frozen in the ground.

Low light,

frozen soil and howling winds

prevent trees from taking hold.

(light music)

Tough plants eke out a living huddled close to the ground.

This is a very seasonal landscape where animals

like caribou must migrate over huge distances

to find enough food and shelter from the elements.

Or have ice age adaptations to weather the cold.

Like the shaggy muskox.

Further from the polar regions

the hardiest of trees start to make their appearance.

A dark green band of conifers circles

the Northern Hemisphere.

This is the boreal forest.

Also known as tiger, a swath the green across Canada,

Northern Europe and Russia.

The tough trees with their narrow needle leaves manage

to survive the cold conditions and provide food

and shelter for hardy animals.

Bear,

moose, even tigers.

(upbeat music)

The climate is less extreme a little further South

where forests become mixed with deciduous trees.

This is the temperate zone where winters

can still be tough and clear seasons

can transform the landscape.

The deciduous trees deal with the coming and going of winter

by dropping their leaves each year.

But before they do,

they put on one of the greatest shows in nature.

As they're dying leaves flash

with the colors of the rainbow.

(light music)

Forests of the temperate zone are broken by meadows,

even huge grasslands,

like the Great Prairie of North America.

And the open Plains of East Africa,

the world's last great stronghold for big game animals.

The soils here are productive.

Animal life is abundant, and it's the best region to farm.

And so where most humans live.

(birds singing)

(light music)

But things change again, closer to the Equator.

The ground is dryer, the greens yellow.

A Mediterranean climate at first,

where people can still graze livestock,

plant orchards and harvest the Sun's energy

to ripen grapes for wine.

Gradually replaced by desert.

A sandy, yellow band, either side of the equator.

Animals and plants here are tough,

adapted to one of the planet's harshest environments,

like the Sahara that engulfs much of Northern Africa.

And the iron-rich, red sands of the Kalahari.

Then just before the equator, a surprise,

the lush green belt through the center of the Earth,

the rain forest.

The densest concentration of life.

Of course, the bands of color are not solid.

They're punctuated by mountain ranges.

They can be shoved aside by volcanoes.

Or sliced by rivers.

And all of it surrounded by blue.

(light music)

The seas and oceans make up 70% of the Earth's surface.

Whether it's the deep abyss,

shallow coastal waters, or the famously rich coral reefs,

the sea is a diverse of habitats that team with life.

All these regions combined,

(upbeat music)

make the world a pretty colorful place.

(animal calls)

Are they all separate chapters of life on Earth?

When you are on the ground,

it's easy to see them all as separate entities,

you can stand in the middle and not even see

the distant changes in landscape.

But a bird's eye view can reveal

a different story of interconnectivity.

The continents are huge, vast land masses.

From the blue ocean lapping at their shores

it can seem an impossibly long way inland,

but marine life around the world has a connection to

activities in mountains, thousands of kilometers away.

Though they might be on different continents

and in different climates,

all rivers tell the same story,

one that starts on high.

Because of their high altitude,

some mountains remain snow-capped all year round,

but for all of them, there is at least some spring thaw.

A skier's paradise in winter,

represents thousands of tons of water.

And slowly, thanks to spring sunshine,

some is released.

Drip, drip, drip becomes a trickle.

And soon, a torrent.

Streams flow together as they cascade downhill,

they bring water to the forest below

that has for months been locked in ice.

Right from the get go,

the water starts to dissolve

and carry minerals from the soil.

The streams make it past the pine and into the mixed forest.

Still small and narrow, trees can form a canopy overhead.

Meaning the stream's barely visible from above.

The shading keeps the water cool and clear

and leaves that fall will rot in the stream,

enriching the water.

Streams guided by the shape of valleys that they have carved

over millions of years, gradually meet tributaries,

combining to form rivers.

Now they become more powerful.

The bigger volume of water carves great river beds,

wide enough that trees can no longer block out the sky.

The speed of flow is fast as they had downhill,

but gradually the ground levels and the gushing water slows.

Now rivers can meander through low lying plains.

With more light penetrating the surface,

the rivers become richer in plant and animal life.

Fish abound.

(light music)

The flow stirs up sediment on the bottom,

rich in organic matter,

food for animal communities around the world.

(animal calls)

The rivers not only deliver water to regions that need it,

but also take it away.

Draining areas after heavy rain, reducing floods.

As they snake through landscapes,

rivers are joined by evermore tributaries,

gathering water from far and wide into a single flow.

Sometimes the flow is too big,

and in lowland areas, overflow.

Water can be damaging,

but in these areas it's vital.

The flood meadows depend on the annual drenching and soak up

the water fueling plant life and the rich animal community

that depends on it.

They are especially rich,

thanks to nutrient rich spill from the river,

and play a vital role in storing and filtering water

as it journeys through our landscape.

Slowly flowing rivers are known as meanders,

and on some of their bigger twists and turns,

they can score out the bank making bigger,

deeper bodies of water, the birth of lakes.

The mighty rivers leave these pockets of still water in

their wake and march on.

To get as low as possible, usually sea level.

But before they can greet the ocean,

they go through another change of pace.

As they churned and flow, rivers carry rocks and gravel,

tumbling and polishing it as they go.

When the rivers slow on flat, low lying country,

gravel can be deposited and gradually builds up the bed

until water spills out.

Now, forming deltas.

Nutrients are dumped with the sediment,

creating rich plains all around.

It was the richness of the Nile Delta that fueled the growth

of the great Egypt empire.

As they flow, the changing faces of rivers

carve down or build up landscapes.

They're a monumental force altering the Earth's surface

even more than volcanic forces.

Finally,

sometimes thousands of kilometers from where they began,

the rivers can flow into the ocean.

And though their origins are very different.

This is where the journey of the water began.

As the sun heats the surface of water,

some of it vaporizes, rising as steam,

as it climbs through the atmosphere,

it condenses, the steam droplets merging together.

They form clouds,

wind moves the clouds through the atmosphere,

and it's often where they are pushed up

the underlying mountain ranges that they are high and cold

enough to freeze, the snowflakes falling

and beginning the cycle again.

Every step of the way,

the water supports, nourishes and builds life.

(dramatic music)

Even in the ocean,

the impact of that mountain snowfall is felt.

The nutrient rich fresh water mingles with salty shorelines,

fertilizing them and making them some of the most productive

and wildlife-rich places on Earth.

It's not just essential nutrients, it's salt too.

Rivers bring three and a half billion

tons of salt to the sea every year.

All of these landscapes are linked.

And if something happens to the rivers at any stage,

there will be cascading effects.

(engine roaring)

For example, if trees are cut in the mountains,

their roots will no longer bind the soil together.

More of it will be washed off by rainfall and into rivers.

It turns the water cloudy

and can lead to waterways silting up,

or it could be swept right out to see where it falls

and smothers, reefs and sea grass meadows,

killing off unique plants and animals.

In farming areas,

artificial fertilizers can wash into rivers.

It enriches the water, but not in a good way.

Algae blooms, sometimes creating toxins,

but also blanketing the water blocking out light,

so that the plants of the riverbed die off.

When people try to clear river banks or straighten rivers

to use the land for farming and development,

they change its flow.

Instead of slowly meandering

and gradually feeding water to the landscape,

it's flushed through, washing everything with it,

and reaching lowlands at speed,

often flooding human settlements,

and our waste from far inland

will be transported to the sea.

In a famous example,

Californian sea otters have been dying because of a parasite

found in domestic cats.

The cats leave it behind in their litter trays,

which are flushed away or chucked out

and find their way into water courses.

All actions up river have an impact further down the stream.

(light music)

Humans aren't the only species

to alter their environment,

flying over the Central African Rainforests.

There are seemingly endless kilometers

of dense unbroken tree canopy.

But then a hole.

This not a sign of humans chopping trees.

This clearing is the work of elephants.

Rainforest plants are high in toxins and low in salts.

So elephants have favorite spots

where the water leaches minerals from deep underground.

It's like a sports drink full

of the elements needed for a healthy body.

The giants use their tusks and trunks to dig deep

and keep the well open so they can slurp up the smoothies.

It's such an important ritual to the herds that it's even

become a site for social gatherings,

with herds getting together,

taking turns to drink and enjoying the chance to interact.

The comings and goings of generations of pachyderms,

trample tree saplings,

stopping the forest from clawing back its piece of land.

Preserving it as an open meadow.

Because sunlight can reach the ground.

There is greater diversity in small plants and the green

growth attracts parrots, antelope, buffalo,

and even gorillas lured out of the forest by fresh salad.

(upbeat music)

And as the elephants move,

they carry nutrients inside them

and in the mud covering their skin,

spreading it around and helping to fertilize the forest.

In fact, as they travel,

all animals around the world are gathering

nutrients and transporting them,

depositing them elsewhere in their dung.

Migrations in particular,

see vast quantities of organic material on the move.

Seen from the air,

the never ending marches can make the planes look like

a city center in rush hour.

Each story of an animal living out its life and each

distinct landscape around it all fit together

like pieces of a mosaic.

Each dependent on the next,

a patchwork quilt that covers the globe.

(crows cawing)

There's a natural order,

a chain-link that's sometimes easy to miss.

(light music)

An aerial view reveals coral reefs lying off shore,

and mangroves lining the coast.

And the arrangement is no coincidence.

Mangroves are nature's sea defense.

Their tangle of roots holds the soft sands

of the coastline together, preventing erosion.

When tropical storms batter the shores,

the mangroves absorb the impact of waves

and halt swells preventing inland flooding

and damage to the coast.

Because of their calm, protected waters,

many fish from the open ocean and the coral reef

use the mangroves as a nursery,

the young fish can grow up protected

by the playpen of roots.

When they're mature, they swim out to the reef.

And if the mangrove forests are cleared by people,

the coasts are eroded quickly and sediment is washed out,

landing on the coral,

blocking the light and choking them out.

Each system needs the next.

It's not surprising we envy the birds.

They get to soar over the land.

Their views must be spectacular.

(upbeat music)

Nature, vast, boundless.

Beautiful, no sign of humans

as far as the eye can see.

But sadly, such views are increasingly rare.

The human population is rapidly increasing and expanding.

40%, nearly half of the land surface

has been converted to agriculture,

usually monocultures, huge areas of single crop species,

a disaster of biodiversity.

We've dammed and drained rivers,

changed their courses,

and diverted water to reservoirs manipulating

the natural movement of water to suit our needs.

60% of all rivers have been dammed,

altering the flow of more than 90%

of the planet's fresh water.

And by building on riverbanks,

we've sped up the flow leading

to more severe flooding across the world.

A staggering 75% of the world's land surface

has been altered by humans.

The ocean seemed boundless and uniform.

We don't see the complex and varied landscapes beneath,

but these regions are feeling the pinch

from human exploitation even more than the land.

Only 13% of the world's oceans

are now officially classified as pristine wilderness.

We build romantic little homesteads tucked away in villages,

out of sight of each other.

It's easy to mistake it for low impact.

It's only really when we look down from above that we can

see the changing world.

Infrastructure is the tip of a spear, piercing landscapes.

Roads, and other means of transportation break up habitats

and allow for the extraction

and removal of natural resources.

36 million kilometers of road have divided the Earth's land

into 600,000 patches.

Half of these patches are less than a kilometer from a road.

Roads are obstacles to wildlife.

Some animals avoid them losing freedom of movement

and access to new feeding grounds and breeding populations.

Others follow their instincts

to roam and cross roads at their peril.

(suspenseful music)

Dam construction and roads often lead to deforestation,

making it easier to access and extract timber.

And the three things combined radically alter the ecology of

whole river basins, especially in the Amazon.

The changes here have been devastating to wildlife,

but also for farming and fishing,

the income for entire communities destroyed.

Mangroves are cut and cleared for development,

cleared as land for farming and industry,

and because the wealthy wants sea front homes.

But this impacts the health coral reefs off shore,

decreasing the abundance and variety of fish.

And leaves the coastline and humans living there much more

at risk from the devastating effects of tropical storms.

The sea is three dimensional.

We can talk about different areas, the coastline,

the seabed, coral reefs,

but the same water flows through all of them.

They really are directly linked.

Here, even nature reserves aren't much use

because there is no way

to contain and to protect what's inside them from things

impacting the surrounding seas.

Human activities are tearing up the natural order.

The connection between habitats.

Landscapes naturally change all the time,

but slowly and in succession.

For example, gradually woodland can colonize wetland.

It means a loss of habitat for some creatures

and new homes for others,

animals cope by moving to be in the best habitats.

But when people fragment a landscape,

there is nowhere to go.

Animal and plant populations

become separated from one another.

Gene pools are isolated.

Without the flow of genes,

fueling evolution and adaptation,

species are more at risk of extinction.

In isolation, there is a greater chance

for a buildup of illness,

and with species concentrated sickness can jump,

laying the foundations for pandemics.

The buzz phrase we should all know

is connectivity conservation.

Joining the dots to make a richer, healthier world.

(light music)

We just need to release tiny pockets of land to nature,

land that links reserves and good habitat.

It's a small change,

something we really can achieve

to keep the world wild,

and birds soaring in the skies,

making us forever envious of their view

of our beautiful world from above.

(upbeat music)

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