0:00:51 > 0:00:52The Suez Canal.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56An immense ditch nearly 100 miles long, cut through the desert,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00linking the eastern end of the Mediterranean with the Red Sea
0:01:00 > 0:01:02and beyond the Indian Ocean.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07It was designed and promoted by a French diplomat, Count Ferdinand de Lesseps,
0:01:07 > 0:01:11in the 19th century, and its advantages were obvious.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14A vessel in the Mediterranean port of Marseilles,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17bound for Bombay and India, for example,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20could cut 5,800 miles off its voyage
0:01:20 > 0:01:24if only it could cross the isthmus of Suez.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26Inevitably, there were doubters.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Some people said that the difference in level between the two seas was such
0:01:30 > 0:01:33that if the canal was cut, one would drain into the other.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36But in the end, it was decided to go ahead
0:01:36 > 0:01:39and the work started in 1859.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Thousands of locally recruited labourers
0:01:43 > 0:01:45set about the job quite straightforwardly
0:01:45 > 0:01:48with picks, shovels and baskets.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Some shallow lakes lay in the middle of the isthmus
0:01:50 > 0:01:53and de Lesseps' plan was to link them
0:01:53 > 0:01:57so that less than half the total length had to be dug from dry land.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Even so, it was ten years before the work was completed
0:02:00 > 0:02:03and the first ships were able to sail through the canal.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Travelling from the ports of western Europe,
0:02:09 > 0:02:11they entered the canal at portside,
0:02:11 > 0:02:15on the far eastern corner of the vast triangular delta of the Nile,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19here in the foreground dark with cultivation.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22They sailed down to the lakes in the centre of the isthmus
0:02:22 > 0:02:24and then on to the Red Sea.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28This is a tropical sea, an arm of the Indian 0cean,
0:02:28 > 0:02:30and it swarms with fish.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46There are far more species of marine organisms here
0:02:46 > 0:02:47than there are in the Mediterranean,
0:02:47 > 0:02:52which by comparison is something of an impoverished backwater.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04There are no locks on the Suez Canal, so when that waterway was opened,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08there was nothing to prevent species from these overcrowded waters
0:03:08 > 0:03:10from swimming into it, and they did.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13First, they established colonies in the canal itself,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17and then, eventually, they began to appear in the Mediterranean.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23This, the red soldier fish, is one of them,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25and it's very good eating.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27And since the cooks of the Mediterranean
0:03:27 > 0:03:32are always ready to welcome something new to the kitchen,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35they provide a very good record of the spread of this fish
0:03:35 > 0:03:37through the Mediterranean.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40In the 19th century, it was unknown here.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45At the beginning of the 20th century, it was being eaten in Suez,
0:03:45 > 0:03:50and by the 1930s, it was on the menu here in the island of Cyprus.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56Now, it's found in Tobruk, 1,000 miles west of Suez.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03The rabbit fish is another of these immigrants.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10And it's not just fish that have made the trip.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14This crab, too, comes from the Red Sea.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17In fact, over 100 species of one kind or another
0:04:17 > 0:04:21have travelled into the Mediterranean by courtesy of the Suez Canal,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23and the number is still growing.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29But while some immigrants in the Mediterranean
0:04:29 > 0:04:31greatly added to the variety of food,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34there was one that very severely damaged
0:04:34 > 0:04:37that other essential for the Mediterranean meal...
0:04:37 > 0:04:39the drink.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Grape vines grow wild in many parts of the world.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49There are several species in North America
0:04:49 > 0:04:53and they are afflicted by a tiny aphid called phylloxera
0:04:53 > 0:04:56whose saliva, when injected into the leaves of a plant,
0:04:56 > 0:04:57induces galls.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Inside each gall sits a female phylloxera,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06with her mouth parts sunk into the leaf tissue, drinking its sap,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10and at the same time laying eggs more or less nonstop.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Without any contribution from a male,
0:05:22 > 0:05:27these eggs hatch into other females, which eventually leave the gall
0:05:27 > 0:05:29and crawl away to create homes of their own.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37But some, instead of crawling to another leaf,
0:05:37 > 0:05:43clamber down the stem into the ground and attach themselves to the roots.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48The galls they produce there kill the rootlets
0:05:48 > 0:05:51and therefore eventually the whole vine.
0:05:51 > 0:05:530ne generation produces another
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and aphids spread to the roots of vines nearby,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59without necessarily returning to the leaves.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04Somehow, in the middle of the 19th century, these insects arrived in France,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07probably on the roots of North American vines
0:06:07 > 0:06:10that were being imported for the breeding of hybrids.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15And in the summer of 1863, French vineyards began to die.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17For some reason, the leaves of the French vines
0:06:17 > 0:06:19were not to phylloxera's taste,
0:06:19 > 0:06:23and the insects concentrated almost entirely on the roots.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26They were so small that for some time they were not even noticed
0:06:26 > 0:06:30and no-one was sure why the vines all over France were dying.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32It was a national disaster.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37Then, a scientific committee found the culprit and the solution.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Some species of American vines were immune to attacks on their roots.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43They should be brought across the Atlantic
0:06:43 > 0:06:46and the stems of French vines, with their immune leaves,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48grafted onto them.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51It was a drastic solution, but it worked.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57So, the situation was saved,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59but there are some connoisseurs who will tell you
0:06:59 > 0:07:04that the taste of the Mediterranean wines has never really recovered.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07So, during the 19th century, there were many invaders
0:07:07 > 0:07:08into the Mediterranean.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11From the east, like the red soldier fish.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13From the west, like the phylloxera aphid.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17But perhaps the most influential and lethal of all
0:07:17 > 0:07:20came down from the north.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24At the beginning of this century, the Mediterranean coasts of France and Italy
0:07:24 > 0:07:28were quiet and sleepy, basking in the warm sun.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30The French painters at the time were among the first
0:07:30 > 0:07:33to recognise and celebrate their charms.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Soon, the fashionable rich began to travel down there for the summer,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48even though the journey from the cloudy, rainy north,
0:07:48 > 0:07:52which for most was by rail, was long and expensive.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05As the popularity of the French Riviera grew,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08the wealthier and the more adventurous
0:08:08 > 0:08:10moved across to the southern side of the Mediterranean
0:08:10 > 0:08:12to Tangier and Morocco
0:08:12 > 0:08:15and there they discovered more romantic villages
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and exotic peoples.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Throughout the '20s and the '30s,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44the popularity of the Mediterranean grew
0:08:44 > 0:08:46and then came a development
0:08:46 > 0:08:49that made it an even more exciting and attractive place
0:08:49 > 0:08:51to a whole new group of holiday-makers.
0:09:02 > 0:09:0440 years ago,
0:09:04 > 0:09:09the Mediterranean world that lies just a few yards beyond the shoreline,
0:09:09 > 0:09:14was about as unknown and unexplored as the remote Amazonian jungles.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17True, men had floated across the surface of the sea
0:09:17 > 0:09:21and dangled lines with hooks on down into it,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25and they'd dragged nets blindly across the bottom of it,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27but that was really about all.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30And then, in the 1940s,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Jacques Cousteau invented this...
0:09:32 > 0:09:34the demander.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37And, suddenly, a whole new world was on our doorstep.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04The sensation of being able to move effortlessly
0:10:04 > 0:10:06in not just two dimensions but in three...
0:10:06 > 0:10:11of being, in effect, weightless... was intoxicating.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14And so was the sight of so many totally new creatures
0:10:14 > 0:10:16that seemed to bear no relation whatever
0:10:16 > 0:10:19to the pallid corpses one might occasionally see
0:10:19 > 0:10:20on a fishmonger's slab.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39To add to the marvel, these creatures had never before seen
0:10:39 > 0:10:43two-legged, two-armed mammals trailing plumes of bubbles
0:10:43 > 0:10:45moving around in their world,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47and many were not in the least alarmed by them.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06As swimmers became braver,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10they dived deeper and found more and more excitements.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Our reaction, considering our past record,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17was only too predictable.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00ALL SHOUT
0:13:09 > 0:13:130f course, the people of the Mediterranean, from prehistoric times,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16have reaped a rich harvest from their sea.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20Fish like these, for many centuries, were caught in great quantities
0:13:20 > 0:13:22by traditional methods.
0:13:22 > 0:13:23Men in small boats,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26relying on their intimate knowledge of their own patch of sea,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and their understanding of the creatures that lived in it,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33would sail out one day and return the next with rich catches.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35The sea seemed inexhaustible.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58But as more people came to settle on the coast,
0:13:58 > 0:13:59as villages grew into towns,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03in order to accommodate the increasing flood of summer visitors,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05so the demand for fish grew greater
0:14:05 > 0:14:08and the number of fishing boats increased.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Gradually, the catches from the inshore waters got smaller.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14They were being badly over-fished.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21So, bigger boats that could go farther out and find fresh grounds
0:14:21 > 0:14:23were introduced-boats like these.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28It's a trawler, which fishes by scraping the bottom of the sea with this board,
0:14:28 > 0:14:29and they're very efficient.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33And for many years, the catches were good.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35But then, again, they began to fail.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38These new grounds were being over-fished.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41So, then, they introduced even bigger boats...
0:14:41 > 0:14:43boats like these.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48These boats can stay out at sea for weeks on end.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52But they are so expensive to run they're not interested in the less valuable fish.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Those are just thrown back into the sea, dead,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58and they can be as much as 70% of the catch,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02so boats like these are devastating indeed.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05But the solution of getting bigger and bigger boats
0:15:05 > 0:15:07to go farther and farther out to sea
0:15:07 > 0:15:11can't work for long in a sea as small as the Mediterranean.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15And these ships, in this harbour in west Sicily,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19are now sailing so far south, they're getting into Tunisian waters.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23100 or so of them are arrested every year,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26so there's a very big problem.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30And this...is another.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40The opening of the Suez Canal
0:15:40 > 0:15:43turned a sea that, in terms of world trade, had been, for 400 years,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47no more than a blind alley leading off the Atlantic 0cean
0:15:47 > 0:15:50into a major international highway.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Then oil was discovered in the Middle East
0:15:52 > 0:15:55and a major new element was added to the traffic.
0:15:55 > 0:16:01Today, a procession of gigantic tankers like this one, over 1,000 feet long,
0:16:01 > 0:16:03ferry oil from the eastern end of the Mediterranean
0:16:03 > 0:16:07to the industrial centres of western Europe.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11An accident to one of these could devastate the seas for miles around
0:16:11 > 0:16:13and accidents happen every year.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25In 1979, one of these huge tankers collided with a freighter
0:16:25 > 0:16:28at the mouth of the Bosphorus, close to Istanbul.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Its cargo of oil, leaking onto the sea, caught fire.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Flames leapt from the water 300 feet into the air.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38For over a month, the cargo continued to burn.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40Eventually, it was put out,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44but oil, even now, is still seeping from the wreck.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46By the beginning of the 1970s,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50800,000 tonnes of oil were being spilled into the sea every year,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53either accidentally from collisions or wrecks
0:16:53 > 0:16:56or deliberately by tankers washing out their tanks at sea,
0:16:56 > 0:17:01and all round the Mediterranean, the rocks were being coated with black, sticky tar.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10This is not oil.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12This is untreated sewage,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16floating in the water just off the French city of Toulon,
0:17:16 > 0:17:2025 miles or so from some of the most fashionable and expensive holiday beaches
0:17:20 > 0:17:22in the world.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45Most living organisms are poisoned by such filth.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Only few can survive.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Among them, mussels.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51They feed on particles, which they filter from the water.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56But they also absorb bacteria that can cause virulent diseases in human beings.
0:17:58 > 0:18:03Elsewhere, on the bare rocks, where no plants or other encrusting organisms grow,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05are other scavengers.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Black sea urchins.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12They too are eaten. But if they're gathered from such a place as this,
0:18:12 > 0:18:13they will poison you.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21A third scavenger typical of these polluted areas
0:18:21 > 0:18:23is perhaps, fortunately, not edible -
0:18:23 > 0:18:24the black brittle star.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26In the filthier parts of this sea,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30it's almost the only large organism that survives in any numbers.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34And with no competitors, it swarms over the sea floor.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45Healthy coastal waters can look like this.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49A rich meadow of sea grass, posidonia, thronged with fish.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01The thickets are even richer than they seem at first sight.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03For these are the nursery grounds
0:19:03 > 0:19:07where the young of many Mediterranean fish can hide from predators
0:19:07 > 0:19:09and find the tiny microorganisms on which they feed.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Some species of fish, like this scorpion fish,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17which is camouflaged to match the sea-grass roots,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20live almost nowhere else.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Scallops lie, with shell agape, filter feeding.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Sea urchins nibble algae.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32The biggest shell to be found in European waters, the pinna, also lives here
0:19:32 > 0:19:34and indeed nowhere else.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Grey mullet prospect and rummage among the vegetable debris,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44looking for edible particles.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47And there's a great deal here that's good to eat.
0:20:04 > 0:20:05And there are sea horses.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10They, too, depend on an abundant and healthy concentration of microorganisms
0:20:10 > 0:20:13such as are generated around the sea-grass thickets,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16which they take in through their pipe-like mouths.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24It's only a few inches long, a pipefish that has elected to swim upright,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28so freeing its tail to be hooked onto twigs of coral
0:20:28 > 0:20:30or twined around posidonia leaves
0:20:30 > 0:20:35so that the sea horse can maintain its position in the swirling currents of the coastal waters.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43The whole meadow is a single, complicated community
0:20:43 > 0:20:47of a multitude of species, all dependent on the posidonia.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59But all round the sea, stretches of posidonia are dying.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01Sewage is only part of the problem.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Sediment, too, can be a killer.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16This was once all green weed.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20But sediment coming down and settling upon it
0:21:20 > 0:21:25is slowly killing it with this blanket of filth...
0:21:27 > 0:21:31..so that, on it, grows algae.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35And everything...
0:21:36 > 0:21:38..disappears.
0:21:44 > 0:21:50By the early 1970s, it was clear that the Mediterranean was dying.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52Something had to be done.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56The United Nations called a conference
0:21:56 > 0:22:00to which all states with a Mediterranean coastline were invited.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02They declared that they would take action.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07Ten years later, in 1985, they reassembled in Genoa.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Here, in one room, brought together by the crisis,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19were gathered capitalists and communists, Muslims and Christians,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21rich and poor.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Conferences can, of course, be nothing more than talking shops.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28What, in practical terms, has this one actually done?
0:22:30 > 0:22:35Well, it's established over 200 research stations right round the Mediterranean,
0:22:35 > 0:22:40which are finding out exactly what the pollution is, where it comes from,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43how it circulates in the sea and how to measure it,
0:22:43 > 0:22:44all of which you have to do
0:22:44 > 0:22:48if you're going to establish international laws and agreements to control it.
0:22:48 > 0:22:54Secondly, it has totally outlawed the dumping of oil or any other waste at sea,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58and thirdly, it has created procedures to deal with a big emergency,
0:22:58 > 0:23:00such as a wrecked oil tanker.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02But there's a lot more that's got to be done yet
0:23:02 > 0:23:05if we're going to control pollution in the Mediterranean.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13And what about the lands around this polluted sea?
0:23:13 > 0:23:15They have been maltreated by man for much longer.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19The Greeks and the Romans began the process 3,000 years ago.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23They built great cities in North Africa from wealth produced by the soil,
0:23:23 > 0:23:27but in seeking more and more, they cut down more and more of the forests.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30The cities fell to ruin, the aqueducts dried
0:23:30 > 0:23:33and the rich farming land was wrecked.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38Today, it can only provide meals of thorns to a few sheep and goats.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44BLEATING
0:23:48 > 0:23:53The waters of the Nile enabled Egypt to escape these misfortunes.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55But now even it is imperilled.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02This beautiful temple of Philae once stood on an island lower down the Nile
0:24:02 > 0:24:04and was brought here, farther upstream,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08and meticulously reconstructed only a few years ago.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11And if it hadn't have been, it would have been submerged.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Because, during this century, engineers have built two great dams across the Nile,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19one just below stream and one five miles upstream,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21which have greatly raised the level of the water.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Indeed, the dam upstream has flooded the valley for 300 miles
0:24:26 > 0:24:32and 100,000 people who lived there have had to abandon their fields and their homes
0:24:32 > 0:24:34and be resettled elsewhere.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38The benefits brought by the high dam have been colossal.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Its turbines provide about half of Egypt's electrical power
0:24:42 > 0:24:44and it does control the extent of the floods,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47which in the past, in some years, were catastrophic.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52But it's not added to the size or the fertility of the cultivated lands
0:24:52 > 0:24:56that lie lower down the valley, in the way its builders promised.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01As the waters of the Nile flow into the lake,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04they drop the sediments which fall onto the lake floor.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07And as they lie in the sun spread over a vast area,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10they evaporate very quickly.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14So when the Nile flows out through the turbines of the dam,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17it has lost nearly a third of its water
0:25:17 > 0:25:18and nearly all of its silt.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Downstream, in lands that were cultivated in the times of the pharaohs,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28there is now less water to irrigate the land.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31And the soil is no longer as well fertilised as it was.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42So artificial fertiliser has now to be used.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Manufacturing it requires electricity
0:25:45 > 0:25:49and that uses a significant part of the power the dam was built to provide.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53The seaward edge of the delta before the dam was built
0:25:53 > 0:25:58used to advance every year as the annual deposit of silt was added to it.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03That growth has now stopped and in places the delta is actually being eroded away.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Nor is that the end of the cost.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14Since the Nile carries so much less sediment into the Mediterranean,
0:26:14 > 0:26:16there is much less there for the fish to feed upon.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20In consequence, Egypt has lost its sardine fishery
0:26:20 > 0:26:25and the country gets less than half the tonnage of fish from the sea
0:26:25 > 0:26:28than it did before the dam was built.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Chemical fertilisers are now being used all round the Mediterranean
0:26:37 > 0:26:39to increase the productivity of the land,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42together with pesticides and insecticides.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45But those poisons are very stable chemically.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48They accumulate in the bodies of birds that feed on the insects
0:26:48 > 0:26:50and eventually poison them.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55The total cost of their use is even now not fully apparent.
0:26:56 > 0:27:02Almost certainly, it will include the death and total extinction of these birds.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18They are bald ibis.
0:27:26 > 0:27:290nce, they lived on cliffs in Germany and Austria,
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Syria and Algeria.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Now, there are only two colonies of them left.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38A pathetic group of eight nesting outside a small village in Turkey
0:27:38 > 0:27:43and this slightly larger colony on remote sea cliffs in Morocco.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53Other birds, the sacred ibis, the imperial eagle, the black vulture,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56are being driven from the Mediterranean by man's activities,
0:27:56 > 0:28:01but these species still survive in wild parts of Africa and central Europe.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06But this bird seems only to thrive in the warm, dry climate of the Mediterranean.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08It has nowhere else to go.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11If it dies here, it's gone for ever.
0:28:22 > 0:28:28The creation of fertility does not necessarily depend on the use of artificial fertilisers.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33Land like this, that bakes beneath a cloudless sky throughout the year,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36may seem irredeemable,
0:28:36 > 0:28:38but even this can be brought to life.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Down by the Dead Sea,
0:28:42 > 0:28:44in the Biblical wilderness of Sodom,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47the Israelis have had spectacular success.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05This kibbutz has been a leader in finding ways to make the desert bloom.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10By irrigating in the right way, by selecting the right kind of plants,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14they produce a succession of rich crops through the year.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17This is a pomelo, a kind of giant grapefruit.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23Beside that plot stands a group of date palms.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Their huge long bunches of fruit,
0:29:32 > 0:29:37bagged with black plastic netting to catch it if it falls and protect it from birds,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40are now being gathered and will fetch excellent prices.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45Young mango trees properly tended also do well
0:29:45 > 0:29:49and will add to the variety of fruit that now comes from a land that was once considered
0:29:49 > 0:29:54the most barren and inhospitable desert anywhere around the Mediterranean.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Mediterranean man has always hunted for meat,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05and the forests around the shores were originally extremely rich
0:30:05 > 0:30:07in game of one sort or another.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12The Romans were great hunters,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16as much for the excitement of the chase as for, one suspects, the meat it produced.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22That tradition continued right through the Middle Ages.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26Hunting was a masculine attribute, a reflection of a man's virility.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31And that attitude persists,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34even though the targets now are rarely eaten.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:30:44 > 0:30:49Every year, honey buzzards migrate north across the Mediterranean to Sicily,
0:30:49 > 0:30:52and as they arrive, guns await them.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00The hills along the coast are lined with bunkers,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03built on sites that have been the jealously guarded possessions
0:31:03 > 0:31:05of particular families for centuries.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17There is little attempt to conceal them.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19The birds have to come this way.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21It's the shortest route across the Mediterranean
0:31:21 > 0:31:23and there are so many shooting platforms
0:31:23 > 0:31:26that avoiding one simply puts them within the range of another.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44Another honey buzzard.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16A dead honey buzzard.
0:32:19 > 0:32:20This hunt is illegal.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25People concerned for the welfare of the birds come up to the hills to monitor their numbers
0:32:25 > 0:32:26and to check their progress.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31The forestry authorities responsible for the upholding of the law
0:32:31 > 0:32:33do their best to stop the shoot
0:32:33 > 0:32:36but this slogan says "Long live the hunt"
0:32:36 > 0:32:38and while local report remains so strong,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42it's nearly impossible to suppress this longstanding tradition.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49Mechanical lures attract songbirds.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05A few hunters maintain that these tiny corpses make a tasty pate,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09but the impulse to kill seems a more likely explanation for their actions.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14The slaughter is at its most intense not in the poorer countries of the Mediterranean
0:33:14 > 0:33:18but in the rich south-west - Spain, France and, worst of all, Italy.
0:33:18 > 0:33:25Each year, several hundred million wild birds die at the hand and the whim of man.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31The forests themselves are now endangered.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33Fires rage through the summer.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35Some are doubtless started by accident -
0:33:35 > 0:33:38a cigarette end, a campfire that got out of control.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42But the authorities say that as much as 80% are started deliberately
0:33:42 > 0:33:46by those who want a legally protected forest destroyed
0:33:46 > 0:33:48so the land can be used for profitable development.
0:33:48 > 0:33:53Even by people who just take pleasure in seeing trees burn.
0:33:59 > 0:34:05Putting them out requires all the ingenuity and technical muscle that man can muster.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07And even then, it may not be enough.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17Seaplanes scoop up sea water 1,000 gallons at a time.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50Some add special fire-extinguishing chemicals to their load.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58In 1986, in the south of France alone,
0:34:58 > 0:35:03170 square miles of land were devastated by these fires.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15We burn the land, we strip it of its forests, we poison it,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17we also drain it.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Wetlands and marshes around the sea
0:35:24 > 0:35:29have been the one place where you could rely on finding an abundance of wildlife.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33They survived that way because people thought they were not worth the cost of reclamation.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36That is no longer the case.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40Modern machinery now makes drainage much easier and cheaper
0:35:40 > 0:35:42and the wetlands are disappearing fast.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Some of the drained land is used for agriculture,
0:35:46 > 0:35:50although the extra crops may not be needed and may even be left to rot.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Other stretches along the coast are being turned into holiday complexes
0:35:54 > 0:35:56to cater for the huge number of us
0:35:56 > 0:36:00who now make the annual migration south to the sea and the sun.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Today, hotels stand beside almost every beach
0:36:04 > 0:36:08and an almost continuous line of buildings runs for 200 miles
0:36:08 > 0:36:11along the coast of southern France and Italy.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14No marshland, no quiet reed bed
0:36:14 > 0:36:17can any longer be considered safe from development.
0:36:37 > 0:36:44At the last detailed census in 1973, 60 million people visited the Mediterranean shores
0:36:44 > 0:36:47during the short few months of the holiday season.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05The figures now are astronomic,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08for every year more and more come
0:37:08 > 0:37:11and more and more facilities are built to accommodate them.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Foundations for yet another jetty,
0:37:16 > 0:37:18yet another marina.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24Sun, it seems, is the prime reason most of us have for coming here,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27yet this is a recently acquired enthusiasm.
0:37:27 > 0:37:300nly a century ago, the wealthy ladies who strolled here
0:37:30 > 0:37:33prided themselves on their milk-white complexions
0:37:33 > 0:37:35and wore clothes of elaborate awkwardness
0:37:35 > 0:37:39to make it clear that they were totally unacquainted with the outdoor life.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Today, just the same kind of people
0:37:42 > 0:37:44strive to get a skin colour that gives the impression
0:37:44 > 0:37:47that their entire lives are spent out of doors,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50even though the process of getting it is often painful,
0:37:50 > 0:37:52certainly runs the risk of skin cancer,
0:37:52 > 0:37:56and even when successful, only lasts for a week or two.
0:38:00 > 0:38:01Amidst all this,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04wildlife strives to maintain a place.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08A loggerhead turtle,
0:38:08 > 0:38:12looking for a nesting site off the beach in one of the Greek islands.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19SPEEDBOAT APPROACHING
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Loggerheads come up to lay under the cover of darkness
0:38:49 > 0:38:53and a few will brave the flashing lights and the near continuous noise
0:38:53 > 0:38:54to dig their nests.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56POP MUSIC PLAYS
0:39:28 > 0:39:30The turtles' needs are no secret.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33The beaches that were once theirs are well known
0:39:33 > 0:39:37and this is the most important of those they still use.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41A notice asks visitors to keep away and give the turtles the privacy they need.
0:39:43 > 0:39:44It's used for target practice.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Many of the turtles that are brave enough to climb up the beach
0:39:49 > 0:39:54turn around, repelled by the noise, and go back to the sea with their eggs unlaid.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58In just a few places,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02the rich wild world of the Mediterranean does still survive.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05The northern coast of Majorca has no beaches
0:40:05 > 0:40:08and remains quiet even during the hubbub of the holiday season
0:40:08 > 0:40:12and a few pairs of black vultures can still nest there.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18It's one of the biggest of all vultures,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21with a wingspan of over seven feet.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23It once lived in many parts of Europe
0:40:23 > 0:40:26but it feeds on carrion, and, apart from anything else,
0:40:26 > 0:40:28the improvement of farming practices
0:40:28 > 0:40:32has deprived it of food over much of its former range.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Now, only a few hundred pairs are left in all western Europe.
0:40:39 > 0:40:45The shallow lakes and lagoons that were once common around the coast have now largely gone.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49But drive west, from Bizerte airport in Tunisia, just before dawn in winter
0:40:49 > 0:40:52and you will find half a million birds.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54SQUAWKING
0:41:01 > 0:41:05They have assembled on a rare stretch of water, Lake Ishkul,
0:41:05 > 0:41:07and are busy feeding in the first light.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21SQUAWKING
0:41:27 > 0:41:32Virtually the entire European population of wild greylag geese
0:41:32 > 0:41:33come down here to feed.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54In the shallower parts, there are waders -
0:41:54 > 0:41:57avocets and redshanks and many other species.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24For many of the geese and ducks,
0:42:24 > 0:42:27this is a vital wintering ground.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29For the waders, an essential staging post
0:42:29 > 0:42:33on their long migration route between southern Africa and Europe.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40But others want the precious waters of Lake Ishkul.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44Local people would like to build dams across the rivers that feed it
0:42:44 > 0:42:46and use the water to irrigate their farms
0:42:46 > 0:42:49and to supply the hotels that are now being built
0:42:49 > 0:42:53in order that Tunisia should get its share of the tourist bonanza.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05But if the lake is starved of water,
0:43:05 > 0:43:07then these birds can no longer feed
0:43:07 > 0:43:11and no-one knows how or if they will survive.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25This is one of the last patches of truly natural forest
0:43:25 > 0:43:28to be found around the sea.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32The southern shores in North Africa were deforested by the Romans,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34the northern shores by later people
0:43:34 > 0:43:36who wanted more farmland and more timber.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42This area, around the Plitvice Lakes in Yugoslavia in the east
0:43:42 > 0:43:44has therefore become specially precious.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49It has spruce and fir growing alongside beaches
0:43:49 > 0:43:52and among the trees wander most of the big animals
0:43:52 > 0:43:56with which man shared the forest during prehistory.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18The rivers flow over limestone and dissolve it away to form deep caverns.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24Then, lower down their course, they deposit the lime again as travertine,
0:44:24 > 0:44:28which dams the streams and forms a series of spectacular waterfalls and lakes.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42Elsewhere in Europe, otters are under threat because, of course, they catch fish
0:44:42 > 0:44:44and men want to do that.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47But here, they are allowed to take their share.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10The deltas of Mediterranean rivers were once tangled wildernesses.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Around the mouth of the River Nestos in Greece,
0:45:13 > 0:45:16you can see what they were originally like.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20It's a place of great fascination, for it was in such swampy woodlands as this
0:45:20 > 0:45:23that men first found the wild grapevine,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25and it grows here still.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28It's also a place of great beauty.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30BIRDSONG
0:45:37 > 0:45:39Damselflies mating.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42The male has seized the female's head with the tip of his tail
0:45:42 > 0:45:44and fertilised her.
0:45:44 > 0:45:45Now, while he still clings to her,
0:45:45 > 0:45:48she will deposit her eggs into the water.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54A striped grass snake, hunting for tadpoles and frogs.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14In these warm waters, terrapins flourish.
0:46:14 > 0:46:19Only two species - the pond terrapin and the stripe-necked - occur in Europe
0:46:19 > 0:46:21and they both live here.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56Islands in the Mediterranean are popular places.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58But a few are so difficult to reach
0:46:58 > 0:47:01that they have remained virtually uninfluenced by man.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05The Sporades stretch eastwards from the Greek mainland
0:47:05 > 0:47:07and this is one of the most remote of them.
0:47:07 > 0:47:12There's no safe anchorage here and severe storms can blow up with little warning.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15There was once a small monastery, but that has now been abandoned
0:47:15 > 0:47:18and the birds have the place almost to themselves.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21Two of them are Mediterranean specialities.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27Audouin's gull, the Mediterranean's unique version of the herring gull,
0:47:27 > 0:47:29so common farther north.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31It differs from it mainly in coloration,
0:47:31 > 0:47:35having greenish legs and a scarlet beak tipped with black and yellow.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46Eleonora's falcon is the other of the island's unique birds.
0:47:50 > 0:47:55Eleonora was a princess who ruled in Sardinia, where this falcon also lives,
0:47:55 > 0:47:56during the 14th century,
0:47:56 > 0:48:01and she passed the law protecting falcons from human interference during the breeding season.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05A law, it must be said, that was made largely for the benefit of falconers,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08rather than a concern for conservation in general.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12This bird was named in her honour when it was first recognised by science
0:48:12 > 0:48:14during the 19th century.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23It winters down in Madagascar but it comes up to the Mediterranean to breed.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25For most of the year, it feeds on insects
0:48:25 > 0:48:28but now it has extra mouths to feed.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32Its nests are strategically placed on migration routes across the sea
0:48:32 > 0:48:35and it catches warblers and other small birds for its chicks.
0:48:43 > 0:48:49But the island's rarest inhabitant lives in the clear seas around its coast.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00The monk seal.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13Fishermen have always regarded it as their enemy.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17It took their fish-worse, it sometimes got entangled in their nets
0:49:17 > 0:49:19and caused expensive damage.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Anyway, its soft skin fetched good prices
0:49:22 > 0:49:25so they killed it whenever they got the chance.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29Today, there are probably less than 350 left,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31but even now, it is still hunted.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39The cliffs of the island are of limestone
0:49:39 > 0:49:43and the pounding waves have tunnelled a few caves deep into them,
0:49:43 > 0:49:44close to the water line.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12And this is one of the last places
0:50:12 > 0:50:17where this rarest of the Mediterranean mammals can find safety.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22Many seal species can go to sea for months on end
0:50:22 > 0:50:26but this animal is very much a coastal animal
0:50:26 > 0:50:31and it needs to have quiet beaches where it can haul itself up for rest.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34But more than that, it needs to have gently shelving beaches
0:50:34 > 0:50:37where it can have its pups.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42This little creature, for the first two weeks of its life,
0:50:42 > 0:50:44can't swim.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48And unless the beach is gently shelving,
0:50:48 > 0:50:51then there's a danger that a big wave may come in
0:50:51 > 0:50:53and sweep it away and drown it.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59The sunny, sandy beaches have now been claimed by others.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02Now the seals must use places like this.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05A tiny cave that can only be reached from the sea
0:51:05 > 0:51:08and only entered by boat in a flat calm
0:51:08 > 0:51:13which is why this little pup has been born in safety
0:51:13 > 0:51:15and survives.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22And now, it's just old enough to play in the break.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31It was in the lands around this sea
0:52:31 > 0:52:34that some 10,000 years ago
0:52:34 > 0:52:38human beings first discovered how to tame animals and cultivate plants.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41Could it be here too
0:52:41 > 0:52:46that they also first learned from the mistakes they made during that process?
0:52:46 > 0:52:52That nations, no matter what their political philosophy or economic circumstance,
0:52:52 > 0:52:54or religious beliefs,
0:52:54 > 0:52:58recognised that they simply had to get together and agree
0:52:58 > 0:53:04if they were to save these wild landscapes and the animals and plants that live in them.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08That that perhaps is just one more lesson
0:53:08 > 0:53:12that the Mediterranean could offer to the world.
0:53:12 > 0:53:17For surely these things are among our most precious possessions,
0:53:17 > 0:53:22the last glimpses we have of mankind's first Eden.