CANALCATORCE — broadcast
20260914 123000 UTC
414 transcript segments
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[00:00:00] and life,
[00:00:03] they call it the world capital of lightning, over the waters of Lake
[00:00:07] Maracaibo in Venezuela, thousands of electrical discharges
[00:00:10] illuminate the sky every year in a unique phenomenon in the world,
[00:00:14] but beyond that spectacle of lights, the reality is
[00:00:17] worrying, pollution, oil spills and the
[00:00:21] accumulation of trash have turned this emblematic lake into an
[00:00:24] increasingly degraded ecosystem. We traveled to
[00:00:28] Maracaibo.
[00:00:30] The enormous clouds that form in the sky on this hot and
[00:00:34] humid afternoon are a good sign for environmental researcher Eric
[00:00:38] Quiroga.
[00:00:41] Tonight there are the minimum conditions, right, for the formation
[00:00:44] of an excellent lightning spectacle
[00:00:47] tonight will also be the night
[00:00:51] for a symphony of lights.
[00:00:54] He is here to observe one of the most impressive natural phenomena in the
[00:00:58] world, a lightning storm that
[00:01:02] a mining crisis in Argentina. What forms in this very place almost 300 nights a
[00:01:04] year. The expedition travels by boat
[00:01:08] on the Catatumbo River in western Venezuela.
[00:01:11] After more than 3 hours on the route, they arrive at Lake Maracaibo, the
[00:01:15] largest inland body of water in South
[00:01:18] America. Here in this
[00:01:22] lake I have many beautiful memories of my
[00:01:25] childhood. And besides this, this lake, this
[00:01:29] beautiful
[00:01:31] They are sensitive area of Catatumbo, generates one of the most fascinating phenomena on the
[00:01:34] planet, the Catatumbo lightning.
[00:01:38] Around here in these parts lived the Bari
[00:01:41] people who identified the Catatumbo
[00:01:45] lightning as Catatumbari, which means
[00:01:47] fire, or rather,
[00:01:51] permanent light in the sky. Then,
[00:01:54] 1500 years later, the Spanish arrived,
[00:01:57] and the colony began. So the
[00:02:01] travelers who came to the port of Maracaibo guided themselves at
[00:02:04] night by the lights of this beautiful
[00:02:08] phenomenon, and that is why they began to identify it as the
[00:02:11] lighthouse, the lighthouse of
[00:02:13] Maracaibo. When the sun sets over the lake,
[00:02:17] the flashes of the Catatumbo lightning
[00:02:20] begin. We are still at
[00:02:23] dusk, but the most important thing is that now
[00:02:26] they begin in two very well-located
[00:02:30] sites, first towards the southern
[00:02:33] part, right, southeast,
[00:02:37] and then later it will appear in front of a
[00:02:39] This unique lightning storm originates due to the orographic
[00:02:43] effect of its geography. During the
[00:02:46] day, warm and humid air sweeps the surface of Lake
[00:02:49] Maracaibo. The nearby Andes mountains
[00:02:52] push the air mass into the atmosphere,
[00:02:55] the air cools and icy particles descend,
[00:02:59] creating electrically charged clouds that discharge
[00:03:02] into the night sky.
[00:03:05] Storms can last up to 10 hours with dozens of
[00:03:09] already been exceeded and will decrease lightning and thunder every
[00:03:10] isolated at both ends and that for the minute.
[00:03:14] The dazzling display is most intense in September and October
[00:03:18] and decreases during the El Niño weather
[00:03:21] phenomena. But it is more than just a visual
[00:03:24] marvel. Lightning triggers a chemical
[00:03:28] reaction that generates ozone.
[00:03:32] another, another research that was done that has more to do
[00:03:35] with the fact that lightning bolts are like filters, filters
[00:03:39] against climate change, why? Because according to the
[00:03:43] does not expect you to look for information, it University of Pennsylvania, it was shown that high-altitude lightning
[00:03:46] that forms above cumulonimbus
[00:03:49] clouds generates
[00:03:51] hydroxides that are capable of cleaning the
[00:03:55] atmosphere, they eliminate
[00:03:57] methane, they eliminate pollutant
[00:04:00] ozone, and they eliminate even part of the nitrous oxide. Therefore,
[00:04:04] lightning bolts are very important, they are like a
[00:04:09] currently of the use of response from the planet also to climate
[00:04:13] change, especially these greenhouse gas
[00:04:16] effects that are very very
[00:04:19] harmful and that lead us to this
[00:04:25] social media, Electoral Tribunal of project is already beginning to calamity, such as the effects of climate change. While the phenomenon has been dated and
[00:04:29] officially documented for two centuries, it has existed
[00:04:33] for millennia. The indigenous Bari and Wayuu
[00:04:36] peoples revered it as a divine sign.
[00:04:40] Although it can be a marvelous spectacle, for
[00:04:43] fishermen it can be deadly.
[00:04:47] Lightning is not the only danger here; the
[00:04:50] ecosystem is highly contaminated.
[00:04:54] Lake Maracaibo is located over one of the largest proven
[00:04:57] oil reserves in the world. Venezuela's
[00:05:00] oil industry has drastically declined in recent
[00:05:04] At this time we connect with our correspondent in decades. Hundreds of oil platforms and
[00:05:07] pipelines in disrepair are rusting. Fishermen
[00:05:11] say that the sources of oil spills are poisoning their
[00:05:15] catches and damaging their health. Lake
[00:05:18] Maracaibo is something that hurts me and hurts all environmentalists
[00:05:21] in Venezuela, and non-environmentalists too. The
[00:05:24] water is terribly
[00:05:27] contaminated. It has become an
[00:05:30] oil cemetery.
[00:05:34] Eric Quiroga hopes that the Catatumbo lightning
[00:05:37] can be part of the solution. He wants more
[00:05:40] tourists, both Venezuelan and international, to visit.
[00:05:43] This would generate additional income
[00:05:47] for the residents of the town and raise awareness
[00:05:51] about the pollution in Lake Maracaibo. The large
[00:05:55] number of tourists who come will also realize
[00:05:57] the pollution in the lake. They will become, a
[00:06:01] permanent public opinion current will be created on the
[00:06:04] issue that, in one way or another, will sensitize the governments in
[00:06:08] Venezuela to take measures to address
[00:06:11] this issue. The Catatumbo lightning:
[00:06:15] a visual marvel, a unique meteorological phenomenon
[00:06:19] in the world that now sheds light on pressing
[00:06:22] problems and perhaps provides inspiration
[00:06:25] to find solutions.
[00:06:29] For decades, glaciologist Tobias Sauter has traced the
[00:06:32] path of ice from Patagonia to the great mountain ranges of the
[00:06:36] world. His research shows that glaciers are much more than
[00:06:40] spectacular landscapes.
[00:06:43] indicators of the transformations that the planet is experiencing, a sign that helps
[00:06:47] us understand the global dimension of climate
[00:06:50] change.
[00:06:55] It's been 4 days since we put the bar in the ice, and today we measure the distance from
[00:06:59] the surface of the glacier to the mark on the
[00:07:02] bar. It's almost 37
[00:07:05] cm in 4
[00:07:06] days.
[00:07:16] The glaciers of the Austrian Alps are disappearing
[00:07:19] rapidly, and with them a vital resource. High mountain
[00:07:23] regions are vulnerable ecosystems and
[00:07:26] act as water reservoirs, but the retreat
[00:07:29] of glaciers and the melting of the snowpack
[00:07:33] are having dramatic consequences. The
[00:07:36] Glacier Space project, a collaboration between universities in
[00:07:40] Austria and Germany, measures climate changes directly
[00:07:43] on the glacier. A tower equipped with sensors shows
[00:07:47] how much and at what rate the ice is
[00:07:50] melting.
[00:07:55] The melting of glaciers has repercussions on the region's
[00:07:58] climate. That is the point that interests us most. What happens when the
[00:08:02] glacier shrinks? There are feedback effects that
[00:08:06] can further accelerate the melting of glaciers.
[00:08:10] And what does the loss of glaciers mean? Water.
[00:08:13] Glaciers feed our rivers, they are like the water
[00:08:16] towers of the world, but in many regions their maximum flow has
[00:08:22] in the coming decades. The consequences will be serious,
[00:08:25] first floods, then
[00:08:28] droughts.
[00:08:32] Water is a central theme of our research group. We have
[00:08:36] several ongoing projects, one of them is this one. Here it's about
[00:08:40] basic research, understanding how processes work in this
[00:08:43] mountainous region, and then we have projects in Costa Rica and
[00:08:47] Uzbekistan.
[00:08:49] There the question is how to develop adaptation strategies for the
[00:08:53] future when the water problem is even more extreme than it
[00:08:56] already is in some
[00:08:57] regions.
[00:09:02] Almost 5 km away, in the Indian Himalayas,
[00:09:06] a method has been developed to retain water at high altitude
[00:09:10] through an artificial glacier. It was
[00:09:13] created by diverting mountain streams, the water gushes
[00:09:16] out like a geyser through a vertical pipe and freezes,
[00:09:20] forming a cone-shaped ice structure during the cold
[00:09:24] season, what is known as an ice
[00:09:27] stupa, it remains frozen until the spring sun warms the
[00:09:31] fields and plants can absorb the
[00:09:34] water, but time is running out. In the
[00:09:37] Himalayas, with its vast glacier fields, the ice is
[00:09:41] retreating at an alarming rate.
[00:09:44] 26 million tons per year. Up to
[00:09:47] 80% could disappear by the end of the
[00:09:50] century. The glaciers of East Africa by
[00:09:54] 2050, and in Europe, up to 90% of the
[00:09:57] alpine ice could disappear by the end of the century, unless
[00:10:01] we do everything in our power to stop climate
[00:10:05] change and global warming, as agreed at the
[00:10:09] 2015 global climate conference in Paris.
[00:10:13] Of course, we have probably already failed to meet the 1.5 degree
[00:10:17] target, but there is still time to change course and find solutions
[00:10:20] to reduce emissions and stabilize the climate, so that we can
[00:10:24] preserve our glaciers for a few more
[00:10:26] years.
[00:10:35] On the arid slopes surrounding Lima, a project led by an
[00:10:38] Argentinian geologist is demonstrating that even the most hostile
[00:10:42] landscapes can recover life. Thanks to the work of
[00:10:45] neighbors and volunteers, thousands of trees have begun to transform
[00:10:49] the environment, favoring the return of birds, insects and other
[00:10:53] species. Nature can also be born from human
[00:10:57] initiative.
[00:10:57] This is Lima, one of the most
[00:11:05] arid capitals in the
[00:11:08] world, and this is one of its driest hills, Cerro
[00:11:12] La Milla. Here, an Argentinian geologist is trying
[00:11:15] to grow a forest. Behind this reforestation initiative
[00:11:19] is Emiliano Caxiavilani, who arrived in Peru in 2018, after
[00:11:23] losing his job during
[00:11:27] began as a personal passion for nature and
[00:11:30] gardening today seeks to transform this hill into a green lung for San
[00:11:34] Martín de Porres, a district where more than 700 thousand
[00:11:37] people live with very few green
[00:11:40] spaces. There are 42
[00:11:43] hectares to become a super mega green lung
[00:11:46] that would represent 40% of the total green
[00:11:50] areas of the district, which is
[00:11:53] very important. And in addition to that, we have to
[00:11:57] preserve the critically endangered Limean gecko. The diversity of
[00:12:01] plants resistant to arid climates that grow on the hill, ranging from
[00:12:04] trees, succulents, and shrubs, also helps preserve the Limean
[00:12:08] gecko, a small nocturnal, insectivorous reptile,
[00:12:11] endemic to Lima and currently threatened. By attracting more
[00:12:15] insects, reforestation creates new food sources for this
[00:12:18] species that depends on increasingly reduced
[00:12:21] ecosystems within the city. Emiliano
[00:12:25] does the work alone. Since the beginning in 2021, neighbors from the area
[00:12:29] have joined the workdays when there was almost no life
[00:12:32] around the hill. One of the biggest challenges was to adapt
[00:12:35] the rocky and saline soil through a terracing system
[00:12:39] based on the ancient Inca terraces, designed to cultivate
[00:12:43] and make better use of water in arid lands. The
[00:12:46] only way to stabilize the land is with the creation of terraces, it is the
[00:12:50] only way, the slopes here are very
[00:12:52] complicated, very steep. So yes or yes you have to
[00:12:56] form this, this is the structural base
[00:12:59] and then the spaces are created to contain the
[00:13:03] soil, the substrate and then the tree.
[00:13:07] Today, the workdays no longer focus only on adapting the land and
[00:13:10] planting trees, but on keeping the vegetation alive. Each
[00:13:14] month, dozens of volunteers go up to fertilize the soil with organic
[00:13:17] compost and care for the plants that have already taken root. This
[00:13:21] time, a group of schoolchildren visited Cerro La Milla to learn about
[00:13:25] the project and raise awareness about the importance of protecting and recovering
[00:13:29] green areas in a city marked by urban
[00:13:32] inequality. In addition to generating this new ecosystem with new
[00:13:36] animals, it also gives more hope to people that Lima,
[00:13:40] all of Lima can be beautiful and all of Lima deserves to be beautiful, and not just the parts that
[00:13:43] unfortunately people only think about when they think of Lima
[00:13:47] and not exclude the rest. In Lima, the
[00:13:50] higher-income districts concentrate a large part of the green
[00:13:54] areas, while the peripheral areas where most
[00:13:57] of the population lives continue to be dominated by landscapes of earth,
[00:14:00] sand, and treeless spaces. The
[00:14:03] very need to live in a more dignified
[00:14:07] way in these spaces is what
[00:14:11] also puts in my heart the need to create, to create, to
[00:14:14] say, building and little by little
[00:14:17] contributing whether it be a
[00:14:21] small amount of time each week,
[00:14:27] to water, to do something, I feel that I am also contributing in a certain
[00:14:30] way, forming not healing
[00:14:33] precisely that need to have wanted a
[00:14:37] space also to be able to connect with
[00:14:40] nature. Not far from there, in the same
[00:14:44] district, the impact of the
[00:14:47] replicate itself in other spaces, inspired after
[00:14:50] participating.
[00:15:09] Her students discover the importance of caring for green spaces because they are a refuge where many animal species live that
[00:15:12] they can now see daily, the
[00:15:16] leaves give us
[00:15:18] breathing
[00:15:20] as well.
[00:15:24] The bees give
[00:15:27] us honey, you have taught us that because
[00:15:31] if we step on the plant, the plants
[00:15:34] die, if we kill if there is no
[00:15:38] more attempt then this is how he explained it
[00:15:42] to each one of us,
[00:15:45] we understood it. The garden and the bio-garden are still
[00:15:49] under construction, over time they will incorporate new species and more
[00:15:53] spaces for learning. Giovanna dreams
[00:15:56] that initiatives like this will also reach other public schools
[00:15:59] in Lima, where thousands of children study far from daily
[00:16:03] contact with nature. We have come up with very
[00:16:07] interesting educational projects because
[00:16:10] in some way they stimulate children to research
[00:16:14] nature, there is even an environmental brigade
[00:16:17] that 5-year-old children have
[00:16:20] and they know very well that our
[00:16:24] little garden and not only inside the school but
[00:16:27] also outside they have to preserve the environment,
[00:16:30] we always keep this in mind.
[00:16:34] There are more and more initiatives that seek to re-green
[00:16:38] Lima, a city where urban growth advanced faster than
[00:16:41] spaces for nature. Although the change seems small compared to the
[00:16:45] immensity of the Peruvian capital, its first roots are already beginning
[00:16:48] to transform much more than the landscape.
[00:16:52] Flowers, storms, ice and recovered forests,
[00:16:55] signs of a constantly transforming earth. Thus we
[00:16:59] say goodbye until next week. With these stories
[00:17:02] we reach the end of this program, thank you for joining us. Very soon
[00:17:05] we will return with new topics and new tours of our region, we look forward to seeing you.
[00:19:59] France 24
[00:20:00] newscast.
[00:20:06] all the time. We decided that we needed at least a
[00:20:09] break. However, they have no intention of abandoning
[00:20:13] Ukraine. There are many extremely pessimistic people who
[00:20:16] think that if there is a war and bombs fall, everything is lost and it is best to
[00:20:20] leave as soon as possible. I don't see it that way. It is up to us to build
[00:20:24] this country, because who else will? If everyone leaves, who will
[00:20:27] stay to make it a better
[00:20:29] country?
[00:20:34] We continue with direct Mexico.
[00:20:42] the Mexican capital, Jorge Hurtado. Jorge, let's start
[00:20:45] by talking about Operation Eagle Eye, carried out jointly
[00:20:48] between the United States and Mexico to deactivate drones
[00:20:52] used by criminal groups in the border area. This military
[00:20:55] operation is already in its second phase and more details of this
[00:20:59] collaboration were released.
[00:21:03] That's right, and it all comes precisely after
[00:21:06] two weeks ago and even last week there was a lot
[00:21:10] of talk about this presence of drones
[00:21:13] on the border with the United States, the presence of at least
[00:21:17] 300 drones that... have been
[00:21:20] in surveillance actions to
[00:21:23] presumably transport people in this illegal
[00:21:27] trafficking of people to the United States. This information has
[00:21:31] been released by the head of the Mexican
[00:21:34] army, who has highlighted precisely
[00:21:38] this operation and this bilateral
[00:21:41] support from both nations in which they are
[00:21:45] attempting to deploy at least
[00:21:49] 10,000 Mexican army troops
[00:21:52] to contain this new phenomenon that is affecting
[00:21:56] the Mexican Foreign Ministry recalled that cooperation with
[00:21:59] Washington must always be based on this
[00:22:02] respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, because in the United
[00:22:06] States there have been many voices that continue
[00:22:09] to talk about this interference and precisely
[00:22:13] about the issue of
[00:22:16] operations in Mexican territory, something that Trump
[00:22:20] has repeated since his return to the White House. This
[00:22:23] has also been echoed by a News Nation report. The US
[00:22:27] report mentions, for example, the recent
[00:22:30] car bomb attack in front of a police headquarters, a supposed
[00:22:33] poll, which he did not elaborate on,
[00:22:36] in which they claim that many Mexicans would agree with operations in
[00:22:40] Mexican soil and more direct intervention
[00:22:44] by the United States, while Washington continues to talk about
[00:22:47] expanding this margin of action, it must be remembered that... Mexico and the United States
[00:22:51] already have these joint operations, like the one
[00:22:54] you mentioned, precisely to control drones. The Secretary of
[00:22:57] Defense, Ricardo Trevilla, confirmed that there will
[00:23:01] be a new bilateral meeting this week to evaluate
[00:23:05] the operation that is focused on detecting and neutralizing
[00:23:08] these drones and in that operation there are already 800
[00:23:12] elements, let's see what is said this
[00:23:15] week to increase the flow of what is
[00:23:19] happening there. The northern border. Jorge, let's change the subject,
[00:23:22] let's talk about the new oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
[00:23:26] detected last Thursday. What do we know about this new
[00:23:29] incident?
[00:23:32] Well, Pemex assures that it has already advanced 70%
[00:23:35] in the repair of the pipeline that caused a new
[00:23:38] crude oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 3 days after detecting the leak
[00:23:42] off the coast of Campeche. The pipeline belongs to the
[00:23:46] Ecbalán field, which is located about 95 km
[00:23:50] northeast of Ciudad del Carmen and transports hydrocarbons
[00:23:53] that come from at least five platforms. The oil company
[00:23:56] reported that the pipeline is already
[00:24:00] moment no new oil emanations are registered. The work
[00:24:04] is carried out at about 50 meters deep with specialized
[00:24:07] divers. Pemex also assures that despite the
[00:24:11] spill there is currently no risk of the
[00:24:14] hydrocarbon reaching the coasts, but the magnitude of the
[00:24:17] slick is undoubtedly already generating a lot of
[00:24:21] concern. The environmental platform Cerulean, which is
[00:24:24] from Skytroop, estimated this week an affected area of
[00:24:28] about 4 square kilometers, which is what their
[00:24:31] satellites have been able to detect. The organization Green Peace
[00:24:35] Mexico, for example, is asking Pemex for greater
[00:24:37] transparency and to inform all nearby communities in a timely
[00:24:40] manner, and it is not the first time that it was
[00:24:44] registered in this area. For example, in 2023, two
[00:24:47] spills also associated with the Ecbalán complex
[00:24:50] spread over some 467 square kilometers. This
[00:24:54] occurs after in February of this year, we
[00:24:58] here on France 24 reported another spill
[00:25:01] originating from infrastructure linked to the Cantarell field that
[00:25:05] spread to the coasts of Veracruz, Tabasco, and
[00:25:08] Tamaulipas. At that time, Pemex recognized its
[00:25:11] responsibility two months after that leak began,
[00:25:14] and that episode led the Mexican government to implement
[00:25:17] response protocols to create.
[00:25:20] eh this observatory of the Gulf of Mexico with scientists
[00:25:24] in charge of monitoring these incidents and trying to
[00:25:27] model their possible impacts and it is precisely this
[00:25:31] permanent observatory of the Gulf of Mexico who also last week
[00:25:34] issued a statement about this new
[00:25:38] incident and they affirm that they are working to control it,
[00:25:41] well Jorge, thank you very much for this extension, we are undoubtedly very attentive,
[00:25:45] we thank you for your tune-in. We will take a short break and
[00:25:48] be back.
[00:26:23] Well, it affected me a lot because I had invested $1 per
[00:26:26] apple and with the
[00:26:29] drought I have lost and I have only been able to
[00:26:33] sell the hay for 150, yes
[00:26:36] it is a great loss that I have had.
[00:27:14] We try to make ends meet because for the food of the cattle, that is,
[00:27:17] if you can see, the cornfields have dried up, so
[00:27:21] it affects our production, especially of
[00:27:24] milk, there are few cattle, but the drought
[00:27:27] has really affected a lot because there is no grass to feed the
[00:27:31] cattle, so we have no other choice but to go out and make ends meet, to
[00:27:35] buy hay and more dry fodder to give them to barely sustain them.
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