Original subtitles

This is the Amazon rainforest.

It's breathtaking.

So many people think of the Amazon as this vast natural oasis -

truly wild, unchanged forever...

..dotted with a few isolated tribes...

..but it's a complete myth.

See, a monumental mystery is unfolding out here,

with new evidence of vast societies that thrived along these banks,

and stretched right across the continent -

where, now, there's nothing but dense rainforest.

I'm Ella Al-Shamahi.

I'm an explorer and archaeologist

in some of the world's most dangerous and remote regions.

I've been travelling through the Amazon...

Look at that!

This is real archaeological discovery.

..finding evidence of lost civilisations...

There's handprints!

There's actual handprints.

..and a population of millions...

This isn't supposed to exist.

..that was decimated by disease...

..and exploitation...

..after Europeans arrived 500 years ago.

Now, for the last survivors of those ancient civilisations,

the situation is critical.

And I'm now on a journey to find out whether these people,

with so much past, have any hope of a future

as the modern world threatens to eradicate them

and their way of life forever.

I'm in Peru, on the final leg of my Amazonian adventure...

..and I'm about to join a military operation.

I'm exploring whether the ancient

indigenous people of the Amazon can survive...

CHAINSAWS BUZZ

..while logging destroys the forest around them.

SHE GASPS

Oh, my gosh.

You can see this, right?

Where industry and agriculture threaten land

that's been their home for thousands of years.

THEY SHOUT

And where, even in the modern cities of the Amazon,

their homes and their cultures are being destroyed.

But while logging is one threat we all know...

..there's another hidden killer...

..in the very water of the Amazon's rivers.

I'm starting my investigation in the East of Peru,

and the city of Puerto Maldonado.

It's past 2am in the morning,

and we're about to join the Puerto Maldonado Police Force.

They're planning a raid on an illegal gold mine.

The promise of gold was one of the main things

that drew the first Europeans to South America.

And today, its lure remains as strong as ever...

..with catastrophic effects on the rainforest and its people.

Que tal? Que tal?

Colonel Polo is in charge of the operation.

The Colonel's a no-nonsense guy,

and I feel like I just walked into something

cos, well, he's clearly gearing up to go,

but also I hadn't quite appreciated the absolute scale of the operation.

So they have a backup helicopter, the army's involved,

the police are involved, and the Navy.

Indigenous people have been killed

in clashes with illegal gold miners...

..and the mines destroy rivers and forests.

But there's another massive and deadly consequence.

Because gold is extracted using mercury, a lethal neurotoxin

that's poisoning thousands of miles of Amazonian rivers

and millions of its people.

The plan tonight is to destroy an illegal gold mine.

Just one of an estimated 2,000 that are thought to exist

in gold-rich regions of the Amazon.

After driving through the night...

..deep into the rainforest...

..we head out on foot...

..towards our remote target.

Three hours' sweltering march...

HE WHISTLES

..and a signal's suddenly passed down the line.

Shh!

Something or someone has been spotted.

GUNFIRE ERUPTS

GUNFIRE CEASES

Despite the police's warning shots, the miners escape...

..abandoning their equipment and the mine.

So I guess this is the campsite?

Can you see any mercury or anything like that?

It looks very much like mercury.

So they're around a lot of mercury, it's very dangerous. Si.

These mines cause environmental havoc,

but the huge cartels that mostly operate them

are responding to our global demand for gold.

And the million or so local miners who work these places

certainly aren't the ones getting rich.

They are criminals, don't get me wrong.

They're absolutely criminals, but if you look at this place

and you ask yourself, "Why would anyone put themselves through this?"

You start asking another question, which is, "How desperate are they?"

The mine works by sucking up silt from the river-banks into barrels.

Mixing it with mercury extracts any gold...

..before the left-over toxic sludge is poured back into the river.

It looks like a small operation

but, together, small mines like this across the Amazon

produce up to 60 tonnes of gold every year,

releasing over 150 tonnes of mercury in the process.

Collectively, that makes the Amazon's gold mines

the biggest source of mercury pollution in the entire world.

It's mad, isn't it? It's absolutely mad.

The promise of wealth, from gold and spices, is one of the things that

drew the first European conquestors to the Amazon 500 years ago.

That lust for gold by conquestors hundreds of years ago

was absolutely devastating to indigenous people.

And so it's mad to think that the lust for gold today

is still absolutely devastating to indigenous people.

I mean, you can see the impact of it.

They're turning the rainforest into desert,

and not just that, they're adding mercury into the food chain.

Indigenous people, they need this to be taken seriously,

and so operation Mercurio is probably their only hope.

Even though the Colonel didn't catch any miners,

he's going to make sure there's nothing for them to come back to...

..by blowing up the mine.

I'm embedded with a military task force in Peru...

..on a mission to seek out an illegal gold mine

that's poisoning the river,

destroying the forest

and threatening the lives of indigenous communities,

the last survivors of an ancient, forest civilisation.

All that's left to do...

IN SPANISH: ten, nine...

..is to blow the mine to pieces.

IN SPANISH: ..five, four,

three, two...

THEY LAUGH

My heart's beating, but, um...that's good.

With the mine destroyed,

the local ecosystem has some chance of recovering,

here, at least.

It's the Amazon. It's amazing. Look at this!

But the mercury does its real damage downstream.

The question is, do the local communities

who've relied on the river for centuries

have any idea of the danger its waters now contain.

About 50 miles down river from the mine we've just destroyed,

there's one indigenous community called the Ese'Eja.

Augusto. Augusto?

Like so many indigenous Amazonians,

Augusto Mishaja and his family depend on the river for their food.

The river might look fine here,

but mercury can build up in the food chain for decades

without any visible signs...

..and that includes the fish Augusto depends on for food.

Using knowledge passed down for generations...

..Augusto fishes at night, when the fish swim close to the river banks.

I think there's stuff splashing around down there.

There's definitely stuff splashing around down there.

It's a long wait before suddenly...

There we go!

That's a snappity snappity.

..but it's not a fish.

Augusto, this caiman's probably got all your fish in its stomach.

All right, mate, swim away.

Sorry.

But is Augusto aware that the river could be contaminated?

Are you trying to do something different

because of the mercury problem?

So do you know which fish have more mercury in them than others?

And so, do you still eat catfish?

Building up over years, mercury can cause brain damage,

paralysis and ultimately death...

..unnoticed until it's too late.

As for Augusto, I'm surprised he's not better informed,

because it turns out he once worked in the mines himself.

Life out here is not easy,

and I can completely understand the temptation of working in the mines.

But at what cost?

Do you know what?

I'm getting a real education in the real world, out here, I think.

You kind of come out here and have these really simplistic ideas

about good and bad and the solutions for things.

And it's really complicated

when you see the same individual struggling with all of those issues.

And at the end of the day,

he's got to put food on the table and feed his kids.

Scientific studies in this region

are revealing that mercury poisoning is already having

a terrifying effect.

Experts estimate that across the Amazon,

1.5 million people are affected by mercury poisoning.

And it's the indigenous people, who rely on the rivers,

who are suffering the most.

Augusto's got a really lovely family.

And obviously, you know,

they are quite materially poor, I guess, is the word.

And depressingly, he did say that every other day,

him and those adorable kids are eating fish,

some of which we know is not safe.

Indigenous people throughout the Amazon

have always depended on its great rivers for fresh water,

fish, and transport.

It's no surprise that it was along these banks

that some of the earliest accounts of great Amazonian civilisations...

..described mile upon mile of indigenous urban settlements.

But if it wasn't tragic enough that their rivers are being poisoned...

..now the forests that have been their refuge for generations

are being destroyed at a terrifying rate.

Logging and farming drive economic growth

and trigger rampant development...

..bringing roads and infrastructure

that can be devastating to indigenous people.

For traditional riverside communities,

one of the most devastating threats is flooding

caused by new hydroelectric dams.

But many communities are fighting back.

Almost 200 miles south of the Amazon, in Brazil,

the banks of the Tapajos River are home to the Munduruku people.

Today, like so many indigenous groups,

the Munduruku are battling for their very survival.

Territory they claim to have lived in for generations

has been earmarked by the government

as a prime site for a new hydro-electric power plant.

Its dam will flood much of their land,

obliterating this ancient community forever.

Chief Juarez Munduruku knows that their homes, their history,

and their ancestral lands are all under threat of annihilation.

The Munduruku's best chance of stalling the government's plans

is to demonstrate that the land they claim is rightfully theirs.

The problem is that Munduruku territory,

like much indigenous land, isn't written down in deeds.

Its boundaries have been passed down through centuries of oral tradition.

But now, for the first-time, they are staking out their territory.

All along a 1,000 mile border

new signs proclaim this to be Munduruku land.

With a permanent, physical boundary,

the Munduruku hope to fend off the dam forever.

Only time will tell whether all their efforts have any impact.

In a place as big as the Amazon,

it can be tough to defend huge territories,

even more challenging to protect vast reserves of forest

the size of entire countries.

But back in Peru, one Amazonian community

is turning to cutting edge technology

to help protect their ancient forest.

SAW WHIRS

On my Amazonian mission so far,

I've blown-up a gold mine that was poisoning rivers,

and seen how local communities...

THEY CHEER

..are fighting to protect ancestral lands.

But the most visible impact on indigenous communities is

the destruction of the forest itself.

I mean, this is all really, really fresh.

It feels like turning up to a crime scene.

And we are at the heart of the problem driving

the demand for resources and products that cause deforestation.

Experts are warning that

if this scale of deforestation continues, you are looking

at the Amazon being wiped out in 100 years.

It's completely insane.

But here in Peru, one community is embracing the latest technology

in the battle to protect the ancient forest they depend on.

It's always interesting

and, actually, really exciting to see how indigenous communities

fight back. And the Infierno are not taking it lying down,

because they are using the most innovative, cutting-edge audio

technology I've ever heard of and it seems to be helping.

Ruhiler? Yes. Ella.

Hola, Ella. Hi, guys!

CHILDREN CHATTER

Ruhiler Mishaja is the leader of Peru's Infierno community.

They live in a protected forest reserve,

but it's under constant threat from illegal loggers

who'll turn to violence and even murder

if anyone tries to stop them.

Even so, the Infierno are taking them on using technology.

Ruhiler shows me how he can tap into a network of microphones

hidden in the rainforest.

All right, so this is an app on your phone? Yeah.

So, all this is the different microphones

and different position of sites of our concessions.

Among the usual sounds of the jungle are those that Ruhiler dreads,

and each one triggers an alert to his phone.

Can I hear them?

Yeah, each of these sounds is a chainsaw.

This is a chainsaw sound.

CHAINSAW BUZZES

This is from 19 September.

And so, if there are illegal loggers on your territory, what happens?

First, we have to organise in the community

and then people go to see what happened.

And the official police, they have to go in that place to catch the

people.

It's an incredible system operated by the Infierno, using donated kit

and the expertise of audio engineers from the US.

Topher White is one of them, and an old friend of mine.

He's figured out how to recycle old mobile phones, converting them

into secret weapons to save the forest.

Hi, guys.

How are you? Welcome to the jungle.

I want to find out how it all works,

so I've come to help Topher with his latest installation.

So, basically, you've hacked old mobile phones... Yeah. ..so that

they will, in real time, pick up the sound of illegal logging.

Yeah, well, think about it, I mean, like, an old smartphone,

people throw them away, but they are awesome little computers, they work.

We put them in these boxes with solar panels and microphones

and we put them up in the trees. You get cellphone service up in the

trees here, you can't get them at all on the ground, but up in the

trees you can get it from pretty far away. They listen to all the sounds

of the forest and they stream that up into the cloud, then we use

artificial intelligence to pick out things that matter like chainsaws,

and things like that, and then we send alerts to the Infierno tribe

and other people, so they can actually show up and stop things on

the spot, which the tribe actually has done before.

It's so high up, it's actually...

I've climbed big trees before, but nothing like this one.

All right, let's do this.

Climbing a 60 metre-high tree

is going to give me the best view I'll ever get of the glorious

Amazon rainforest.

Let's go, let's go.

Phew!

It's more tiring than it looks.

Thanks for doing this. Are you kidding me? Thank you for having me.

You're going to like this tree too.

It's beautiful up there.

You're getting close.

Oh, this is incredible!

You like it?

It's insane!

Yeah, it's the forest.

You can hear everything.

There you go.

SHE YELPS

Here we are.

Once in a while you meet some good friends.

Oh, my God, look at that view!

Up here, you can basically see the rainforest.

It's a totally different environment up here, you know.

It is, it is completely different from the view at the bottom.

Stunning as it is up here, we've got a job to do.

Who's phone is that? That's mine.

How have you got a signal?

That's what I'm saying, we've topped the tree.

And in a matter of moments...

How do I help you right now?

Put that microphone on there.

..the whole rig is in place

and already transmitting its signal.

It's hard work, what they do. They're streaming

and they're listening all the time, and they keep going for years.

This is the most incredible thing.

The growing network of detectors monitor over 100 square

miles of logging hot spots in Peru and Brazil.

It's a small start against a ruthless enemy, but at least

it gives indigenous people some hope and a new weapon in the battle

to protect one of the planet's most extraordinary environments.

I thought I was going up a tree to see this incredible technology,

but instead, I got up the tree and I

saw a view of the rainforest which makes me just want to cry.

It was, it was...

I can't put into words.

It was so beautiful.

I've seen the rainforest so much from on the ground

and from really, really way up high, but I've never seen

it from the actual canopy itself, and it was just this moment

where I was like, "Wow, this is what they're trying to protect."

This is all their land.

We've sailed through it and it's extensive

and it's absolutely beautiful, and wouldn't it just be

completely devastating if you look to your right and you look to your

left and the Infierno community's land turns into savannah?

It kind of cuts you up,

cos you see exactly what you're trying to protect.

For many indigenous groups, exploitation of the rainforest is

like a closing net.

Their rivers poisoned,

their forests burnt down

and their homes flooded.

It's overwhelming.

But for many, there's another

increasingly compelling option for a very different future...

..in the city.

Let's go.

And that's where I'm heading next.

I'm entering the biggest city in the Amazon...

..Manaus.

Right in the middle of the rain forest,

it's risen from nothing

to become a huge city with a population of two million people.

Almost everything legal...

..and illegal that leaves the Amazon comes through Manaus

including indigenous people driven from their traditional lands,

desperate to try and make a new life in one of the city's many

shanty towns, the Amazon's favelas.

So we're on our way to a favela called Monte Horebe

and this just happens to be one of the more dangerous favela,

a favela is a bit like a shanty town.

I want to find out if traditional,

indigenous cultures can survive in the heart of the city.

We're on our way there to actually meet an indigenous leader

within that community.

But we are we're definitely a little bit on edge

cos we're not too far out now from where the cartel live.

And there's a motorbike coming.

Which one? This one?

Yeah, they are the people.

They are the people that are going to help us get in. OK?

On a sunny morning, it all looks pretty normal.

But the favela is a lawless place.

Drug cartels call the shots.

And outsiders have to be careful.

Without my guide Flavio,

and some delicate negotiating to get in, I wouldn't stand a chance here.

SPEAKS IN PORTUGEUSE

He's saying you have to keep your windows down.

Keep the windows down, because this is the signal for us

to be able to be allowed to get in.

All right.

Are we doing this?

Very good, let's go.

We have a rendezvous with a community leader here.

We're assured that in daylight, if we stick with her, we're good.

All right, so we're here.

Everything seems fine.

Which is good.

So Bia is the leader of the indigenous people within

this particular favela.

And she's quite strong, she's quite powerful.

Yeah, Ella, Ella. Hi.

Can we come in?

BIA SPEAKS IN PORTUGEUSE

We're causing quite a bit of commotion, there's quite a few of us, there's cameras.

We should get in as quickly as possible.

You may film.

With our minders on guard outside, I can finally relax

and find out more about indigenous life away from the forest.

I'm just kind of really curious to know a bit more about you.

Which of the different indigenous groups are you from?

Was it just you, or was it the whole family,

and what caused the family to move?

Like many who move to the city, Bia came with very little.

But one prized possession speaks volumes about the connections

people here feel for their ancestral roots.

Ah, let's see this.

Is this yours? It is.

Is it OK for women to wear the headdress in the Kokama?

I like that.

Some, gender equality.

LAUGHS: Whether you're from London or Manaus,

that's going to go down well with me.

Ah!

That's quite incredible.

I feel you are standing even taller, and prouder, just being in it.

Like, I'm wanting to stand taller and prouder just being next to you.

She may be surrounded by criminal gangs, but in her headdress,

Bia is a proud chief.

SHE GREETS PEOPLE

And she's earned the respect of her community by fighting for their

rights and their traditions as they build new lives here in Manaus.

They're indigenous from Ticuna. Ticuna? Yes.

Is anyone still in the village?

I guess, do you think life is better here now?

And what are your hopes for the future, for yourselves

and your, well, very, very cute kids?

Professor?

It's been really great meeting Bia

and some of the other indigenous people in this community,

in this favela, and it's actually been quite enlightening, because

the reasons for living in cities and towns seem quite complex.

Some indigenous people are clearly fleeing,

and they are being pushed out their homes.

But others actually want to be in towns and cities.

They're looking for a different and better way of life.

But in the end, it all essentially adds up to the same thing,

which is that traditional way of life, that traditional

indigenous way of life, in the rainforest, that's dying out.

But it seems that escaping to the city to seek a better life

is no guarantee of safety.

Just a few weeks after filming...

..Bia sent a video she'd taken.

She and Irineu and the whole community they've built up

were evicted from the favela.

And with little warning...

..all they had built over years

was bull-dozed to the ground in just a couple of days.

After all I've seen, I'm just appalled.

This persecution goes way beyond the destruction of history

and ancient cultures.

All these people wanted was to build homes

and dream of a future for their kids as doctors and teachers.

Their rivers are being been poisoned,

their forests burned down,

their land taken away.

And finally, after they abandon their traditional lives

and move to the city,

not only are their homes being destroyed,

but their dreams.

It's hard to know what to say.

So many tragedies are still unfolding in the Amazon.

Not just the destruction of the forest,

or the loss of so much ancient history...

..t's the people, the families

and the next generation.

This journey through the Amazon has just been so eye-opening for me.

It's been emotional, it's been stunning and it's been really,

really complicated.

I had not comprehended, and I don't think

most of the world comprehends how much we have misunderstood about

the Amazon, about Amazonian archaeology

and about indigenous people.

And this re-telling of the history of the Amazon is ground-breaking.

My only hope is

now we're discovering the truth about their epic ancient history,

we might finally understand how much is at stake

and make sure what's happening today doesn't become

the final chapter in the story of the great Amazonian civilisations.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media