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00:00:31Welcome to Europe, Europe in Focus. I'm Zakhar Butyrsky,
00:00:35and today in our digest, we will show the most interesting stories from last
00:00:39summer, according to the editorial board. In
00:00:43May 2025, a glacier collapse in the Swiss
00:00:46Alps wiped out an entire village, Blatten.
00:00:50A timely decision by the authorities to evacuate saved the lives of
00:00:54over 100 residents and tourists. Meanwhile, under
00:00:57masses of rocks, mud, and ice, homes disappeared.
00:01:09What if your home is no longer safe? And as
00:01:12climate change exacerbates geological
00:01:15risks, authorities and residents have to decide what to do with
00:01:18areas that are becoming uninhabitable. This
00:01:22choice could determine the future not only of
00:01:25Switzerland.
00:01:28Mountains are subsiding. Glaciers are melting and collapsing, mudslides, and landslides
00:01:32are destroying entire
00:01:33villages.
00:01:38In the Alps, places that for many decades were considered safe
00:01:42are now turning into dangerous
00:01:44zones.
00:01:46It's not easy, because this is our home, these are our roots. When
00:01:50to evacuate, when to stop construction? Clearly, there's a problem, but
00:01:54maybe it will only manifest in 5 years, or maybe even
00:01:57later. Leave or stay? In Switzerland,
00:02:00this question can be said to be taboo. We're trying to find out
00:02:04why.
00:02:08The village of Blatten in the Swiss Lötschental valley. In 2025,
00:02:11a glacier collapse led to the complete flooding of the village. 300 local
00:02:15residents were successfully evacuated, but one person still died, and the village
00:02:19itself could not be
00:02:20saved.
00:02:26Just 20 km from Blatten is the village of St. Niklaus,
00:02:30also in the
00:02:31mountains.
00:02:34Here, construction is in full swing, investments are being made in the development of the village,
00:02:38the residential sector is actively being built, life, one might say, is bustling,
00:02:42although here too, danger literally looms
00:02:44from the mountains.
00:02:47Andreas Katna knows about such natural threats firsthand.
00:02:50In winter, a piece of rock broke off,
00:02:54most of the rock fell onto a sports
00:02:57field, and one of...
00:03:30if nothing happens, it is immediately forgotten, that's why it's even good when
00:03:33such a shake-up occurs, it reminds us all that nature
00:03:37is stronger than man.
00:03:39St. Niklaus and the narrow valley where it
00:03:44is located are surrounded on all sides by mountains up to 45
00:03:48meters high. Their slopes are jagged rocks, fragile rock
00:03:52that can at any moment slide down the valley for a thousand
00:03:55meters.
00:03:57All landslides are recorded
00:04:00and studied, for two decades geologists have been taking
00:04:04measurements, in accelerated filming you can see how the mountain
00:04:07landscape changes, the reason is the constant movement from the higher located so-called
00:04:10block glaciers, these are icy and scree
00:04:14masses at an altitude of 3,000 meters, which are now melting faster
00:04:18due to rising temperatures, pushing the rock
00:04:21down into the
00:04:23valley.
00:04:27What does this mean for residents directly in the valley?
00:05:01In the case of Blatten, the motto now is: rebuild at all costs, the mayor of the community with a population of
00:05:05300 people even managed to get the Swiss authorities to allocate hundreds of millions of francs
00:05:08for these purposes.
00:05:16The main idea is this: the old Blatten can no longer be restored, but we want
00:05:19and can build a new
00:05:21one.
00:05:25To listen to nature and make, frankly speaking, unpopular decisions,
00:05:28Andreas does not consider the decision a taboo, so he decided to demolish
00:05:31what was left of the destroyed house and build nothing more in its
00:05:35place.
00:05:41A day may come when we simply have to say: we are leaving, this
00:05:45is not easy, because this is our home, these are our roots, but we were also
00:05:49recently witnesses of the landslide in Blatten, and
00:05:52it is also extremely difficult when you lose all your property or are forced
00:05:56to leave it because another danger is approaching
00:05:59from the mountains.
00:06:06Andreas came to the conclusion that resisting climate change at some
00:06:09point reaches its limit, but people like him...
00:06:17hundreds of children in the Republic of Moldova are not raised in
00:06:21families, but in state boarding schools. Summer camps
00:06:24give them the opportunity to temporarily escape from
00:06:27everyday life. Those who are older, like Daniela and
00:06:30Viktor, are taught necessary skills to prepare for
00:06:34adult life. Meanwhile, Moldova is carrying out a large-scale
00:06:37reform of the child care system. It
00:06:41began almost 20 years ago to gradually abandon
00:06:44orphanages in favor of family-based care. By the end
00:06:48of this year, the last orphanages are scheduled to be
00:06:51closed. However, will this harm the children
00:06:54themselves?
00:06:57Moldova plans to close all state orphanages by next
00:07:01year. For this, the EU candidate country
00:07:04is fundamentally restructuring its care
00:07:08system. However, hundreds of children still need a
00:07:12new home, there are not enough foster families, and
00:07:15poverty and social problems remain serious
00:07:18challenges for people in Moldova.
00:07:22In my opinion, by the end of the year, we are not yet ready to place all children who
00:07:26are currently in orphanages or similar
00:07:29institutions into foster families.
00:07:32While politicians discuss reforms, many teenagers cannot find an answer
00:07:36to a very specific question, what future awaits them, and that too in the
00:07:40near future.
00:07:45Going on vacation in the summer, usually for these Moldovan
00:07:48teenagers it's unrealistic, because many of them grow up in orphanages
00:07:52or foster families.
00:07:55Viktor was 9 years old when he was taken from his family and placed under
00:07:59state care.
00:08:02My mom drank every day. We, children of our age, could
00:08:05only do small jobs to earn money
00:08:09and feed ourselves and mom. She didn't want to do anything at all.
00:12:26For Daniela, such changes became a reality: after 2 years in
00:12:30a state institution, she and her brother went to a foster
00:12:33family.
00:12:37In the first years after I was taken to the orphanage, I
00:12:41had many nightmares, I woke up at night, cried and
00:12:45couldn't fall back
00:12:45asleep.
00:12:50There are so many children there, and you understand that people cannot give
00:12:53so much love to everyone.
00:13:25First of all, I don't want to repeat my mother's mistakes, I want to build
00:13:29my own, beautiful and loving
00:13:30family.
00:13:34Moldova is gradually saying goodbye to the enormous orphanages
00:13:38of the past, but it will be crucial whether children on this path
00:13:42receive the support they
00:13:44need.
00:13:47Meet Nima Sherpa, he belongs to
00:13:50a people famous for helping climbers
00:13:54conquer the peaks of the Himalayas, but today his annual
00:13:58journey takes him far from the highest mountains in the world. In western
00:14:01Norway, Nima and a small team of Sherpas use
00:14:05centuries-old stone-building techniques to lay
00:14:09stairways and paths on the steep slopes near the Åkrafjorden
00:14:11fjord. Thanks to their work, more and more travelers
00:14:15are gaining access to some of the most impressive natural landscapes in
00:14:19Norway, where previously only a few could
00:14:22reach.
00:14:25Sherpa is almost 6,000 km from
00:14:28his home in Nepal. Every year he comes to Norway with
00:14:32a team of Sherpas. They manually build stone
00:14:35steps on some of Norway's most famous
00:14:38hiking routes.
00:14:39We are very happy to work in Norway and
00:14:42be part of this project that will exist for many
00:14:46generations.
00:14:48For almost 20
00:14:52years, Sherpas, the indigenous people of the Himalayan highlands,
00:14:56have been manually building these Sherpa stairs or
00:15:00Sherpatrappa, as the Norwegians call them. Today, these
00:15:03stairs to the sky have themselves become attractions,
00:15:07welcoming tourists of all ages and fitness
00:15:10levels. To date, they have built more than
00:15:13200 staircases, ranging from ten to
00:15:16over 4,000 steps.
00:15:19So how did Sherpas from Nepal
00:15:27become builders of stone staircases in Norway? More than
00:15:3120 years ago, carpenters
00:15:34were engaged in restoration. Nima first came to
00:16:40Norway as a teenager, working with his father, and has been
00:16:44returning almost every year since.
00:16:48The staircase that Nima
00:16:50and his team are currently building is on the edge
00:16:53of Åkrafjord in western Norway, next to the
00:16:57legendary Låtefossen waterfall.
00:16:59Stone construction on steep
00:17:02slopes is knowledge passed down from generation
00:17:05to generation in the Himalayas.
00:17:08A little, I need to trim it
00:17:11more so that both stones fit perfectly together.
00:17:15Each section follows the natural shape of the
00:17:18mountain, and the stones, some of which
00:17:22weigh over a ton, are carefully moved into their
00:17:25places. This is slow work by hand.
00:17:29It's easy to get a stone down, but
00:17:33to lift and move it up.
00:17:43So how do they get the stones up the mountain? In some
00:17:47places, by helicopter, one load at a
00:17:50time.
00:17:54Today we're delivering stones, we're delivering stones to their
00:17:58places, so we're communicating with our guys
00:18:01there, where the stones are, they send us what we need
00:18:04here.
00:18:08The team works closely with the pilot, precisely guiding each stone to
00:18:12its correct spot on the mountainside. This work, of course, means
00:18:16living away from family, but it also brings an income almost
00:18:1920 times higher than they would earn in a month at home.
00:18:23This work opens up huge
00:18:26opportunities, not only for us ourselves, but for our entire
00:18:29community, for the entire country.
00:18:32At Låtefossen waterfall, a path
00:18:35winds up the mountainside and leads to
00:18:37a viewing platform. From here, visitors can enjoy
00:18:41views of the Åkrafjord and safely approach the edge of
00:18:45the thundering waterfall to take the perfect
00:18:48photograph. But these steps are not built just for
00:18:51beauty. On steep slopes, traditional paths can be
00:18:54slippery and dangerous, especially for inexperienced
00:18:58hikers. These stone staircases provide a
00:19:01stable, level surface, making them much
00:19:04safer in any weather.
00:19:37that building roads also brings good karma, because
00:19:41after the roads are laid, many people will be able to travel easily
00:19:44on them,
00:19:48and long after they are gone, the paths they laid
00:19:51will remain, forever changing the landscape and how people perceive
00:19:55it.
00:19:58The Bearded Vulture, or Lammergeier, is considered one of Europe's most impressive predatory
00:20:02birds. Its wingspan reaches almost 3
00:20:06meters, and today this bird can still be seen soaring over
00:20:09the Alps, but several centuries ago, bearded vultures inhabited
00:20:13the central part of Spain, from where they subsequently
00:20:15disappeared. Now scientists, like Sergio
00:20:19Couto, are looking for traces that the birds left behind.
00:20:22For this, teams of climbers ascend to
00:20:25hard-to-reach cliffs to abandoned nests in
00:20:29search of unique archaeological finds capable of telling
00:20:32the story of an extinct
00:20:34species.
00:20:37To explore such a vulture nest is simply fantastic
00:20:40for an archaeologist.
00:20:43These are absolutely incredible places of discovery, animals created here,
00:20:46work worthy of a museum.
00:20:51They are not only majestic birds, but creative builders, the Spanish
00:20:55bearded vultures. Sergio Couto is a biologist researching
00:20:58ancient, long-abandoned
00:20:59nests.
00:21:05We are in Spain, in Nerpio, in the region
00:21:07of Castilla-La Mancha.
00:21:12Sergio's group is setting off on a hike at dawn to avoid working in
00:21:15the intense heat. A long day lies ahead for the biologists, archaeologists, and climbers.
00:21:19The main obstacle here is
00:21:53the location of the nests, they are very difficult to reach, as they are located
00:21:56quite high. This risky operation
00:22:12is observed by archaeologist Elisabeth Ortiz, from the other side
00:22:16of the gorge, the girl, like biologist Sergio and... Here in Nerpio, many families
00:23:20of vultures repeatedly occupy the same nests, constantly repairing
00:23:24them, using even winged objects made by people, for example, some braided
00:23:27ribbon. We found a sandal that was
00:23:31700 years old, which means that
00:23:35certainly hundreds of generations of bearded vultures
00:23:39used this nest, that is, after one of their ancestors
00:23:42dragged this sandal into the
00:23:45nest. Sandals, arrow, mask,
00:23:51woven items. Ana Belen Marín Arroyo studies
00:23:54the finds at the University of Cantabria.
00:23:57The mask and sandals are the largest
00:24:02finds we have so far. And which, of course,
00:24:05tell of ancient traditions and culture.
00:24:09The finds caused a great stir in
00:24:13the archaeological community. No wonder, vulture nests as a
00:24:16historical treasure trove. This mask made of sheepskin dates back to
00:24:20the 13th century, no one expected to find something like this in a
00:24:23vulture
00:24:25nest.
00:24:28This opens up a new direction of research for us. We already have more than
00:24:32thirty sandals, made with various techniques
00:24:35and from different materials. This was previously
00:24:39unknown, so this is truly a great
00:24:41discovery.
00:24:49Now they plan. especially
00:25:05towards the end, we had to take off the hooks and carry all
00:25:08the equipment up here, a tough
00:25:10day.
00:25:15Again, many woven items and four
00:25:17sandals were found.
00:25:28And the exhausting work paid off handsomely.
00:25:31To explore such a vulture's nest using such a method is
00:25:35simply fantastic and a unique experience for an archaeologist, it's
00:25:38the best experience of my life so far.
00:25:40This year, a group of scientists plans to explore other nests,
00:25:44but they should hurry. Attempts to return the vultures here are yielding
00:25:48first results, if the bearded vultures
00:25:52indeed return, their nests will become a forbidden zone for
00:25:55everyone.
00:25:57This concludes today's Europe in Focus digest.
00:26:01I was Zakhar Butyrsky, give a like if you enjoyed
00:26:05the broadcast. With that, I wish everyone all the best, bye.
00:26:25what is modern
00:26:27warfare,
00:26:30these are just names that our donors,
00:26:34our angels, rescuers took 17 people out of this
00:26:38house.
00:26:46an attack on our history,
00:26:48I'll take it,
00:26:57this changes the attitude towards the head
00:27:00of the regime, and also,
00:27:32about a small country in Central Asia that became
00:27:35independent 30 years ago, one of the greenest
00:27:38cities of the USSR, Frunze, that's how the Kyrgyz
00:27:41SSR was usually positioned. How did it happen that
00:27:44Bishkek became the leader in global anti-ratings for air
00:27:48pollution? This was such a big
00:27:51discovery, how could such
00:27:54a terrible object be located near the
00:27:58city. A small country.
00:28:05From resources, beauty of mountains, sea, sun, but citizens here so confidently dream of a green
00:28:09energy future, that the government is changing
00:28:13laws, how is this possible,
00:28:16and for you, electricity is now completely
00:28:18free.
00:28:21We wanted to tell you about Croatian folk energy,
00:28:25maybe there is something to learn here, here people are forcing changes
00:28:28in laws, and that is wonderful.