GOOD NEWS FROM PLANET EARTH – How can everyone protect animals and plants?

All around us, species are disappearing – they are being hunted, displaced and losing their habitats. But this can be stopped: almost everyone can do something to protect animals and plants. And often this also improves people’s lives.

Residents of the town of Crystal River in the USA are fighting to save the manatees that spend the winter on their coast. In doing so, they are also ensuring that their home remains liveable. The Bavarian ‘Bird-Friendly Garden’ plaque recognises natural private gardens in Bavaria. Every garden can become a small nature reserve in this way. This also applies to vegetable gardens, if you avoid using pesticides and make insects your little helpers. In Normandy, an entrepreneur buys a huge estate with pastures and forests and lets nature take its course. The result: rare species soon return. A priest from Italy once fell in love with the cloud forests of Ecuador. With the help of donations, he bought more and more land to preserve this special habitat – and with it, frogs, birds and mammals threatened with extinction.

TEAM
Head writer: Frank Nischk // Writers: Christian Heynen, Ingo Knopf, Claudia Schmitt, Hendrik S. Schmitt, Tanja Winkler // Camera: Michael Kern, Guilaine Bergeret, Rémi Rappe, Claudia Schmitt, Hendrik S. Schmitt // Motion design: Simon Schnellmann // Editing: Isabelle Albert, Jan Wilm Schmülling, Mathis Hohmann // Music: Thomas Wolter, Ralf Schurbohm // Narrators: Philipp Schepmann, Yvon Jansen // Sound mix: Florian Ebrecht // Research: Maria Siepmann // Production manager: Katja Sträter // Producers: Tanja Winkler, Oskar Köppen // Executive producers: Thomas Weidenbach, Sarah Zierul // Commissioning editors: Doris Fenske (BR), Katja Ferwagner (BR/Arte)

Produced by Längengrad Filmproduktion for BR in co-production with ARTE.