The Age of Nature

Visiting Bikini Atoll, Panama, Norway, Mozambique and China, we discover the extent of nature’s resilience and how ecosystems devastated by human impact can be revived, how human prosperity is dependent on the natural world and how when working within nature’s limits, resources can be maintained for future generations.

Taking in visits to the USA, China, Scotland and South Africa, this episode explores the connections within and between ecosystems. Discover how a single species can influence a landscape, from tiny fireflies to iconic wolves, and how planting trees can reverse the impact of deforestation, help native wildlife to thrive and aid in mitigating the effects of climate change. The programme also examines the complexity within every ecosystem and shows how the wrong species in the wrong place can have catastrophic impacts.

We visit Bhutan, Poland, Antarctica, Australia and Indonesia to learn just how much carbon can be stored by nature. By restoring forests, mangroves, seagrass meadows, and most importantly biodiversity, we can help nature draw down the excess carbon from the atmosphere and slow climate change. From the tropical island of Borneo to the ice sheets of Antarctica, global warming is changing our planet faster than ever before, but we’re also increasing our understanding of the potential for nature to help us manage it.