Main content

The ground beneath our feet

Standing up for the land in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest; water woes in Central Asia's Fergana Valley; a German row over coal and women footballers push forward in Argentina

Satellite images show that the rate of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon is growing - and there's increasing more pressure than ever on land reserved for the country's indigenous people. David Shukman has been spending time with the Uru-eu-wau-wau group in Brazil's far west, to see how they're organising to defend their territory.

Pascale Harter introduces dispatches from reporters around the world on this story - and others reflecting different kinds of turf war.

In Central Asia's Fergana Valley, the tensions are rising over access to water - as average summer temperatures are also climbing ever higher. Katie Arnold has seen how shrivelling crops are causing tempers to fray, and setting some Uzbek and Kyrgyz neighbours against each other.

Tim Mansel's in the German village of Mannheim, which is known for two main reasons: being the hometown of Formula One driver Michael Schumacher, and the nearby deposits of lignite - the strip-mined brown coal which is still keeping much of the German economy running. But as the mine rolls out, Mannheim will soon be no more, and it's become a flashpoint for climate change protests. What do the local people make of it all?

And Aude Villiers Moriame meets a woman who's changed the game in Argentina - the game of football, that is - by pressing for the first full-time professional club contracts for female players. For a soccer-crazy nation, there's still a lot of work to do on ensuring fair play for women and girls.

Photo: A member of the Uru-eu-wau-wau indigenous group, western Brazil, adorned for a patrol of the group's traditional land. (c) 麻豆社

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Jul 2019 16:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 6 Jul 2019 21:06GMT
  • Sun 7 Jul 2019 03:06GMT
  • Sun 7 Jul 2019 08:06GMT
  • Sun 7 Jul 2019 16:06GMT