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Thousands Of Migrants At Border Hoping To Get Into E.U.; European Countries Consider New Restrictions Amid Surge; Watchdog: Global Temperatures Set To Rise 2.4 Degree Celsius; How Cannabis Industry Could Lift Up Lebanon's Economy. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 10, 2021 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[00:00:50]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: Hell, everyone. I'm John Vause.

Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, the gangster approach. The E.U. accuses Belarus of weaponizing thousands of migrants, for the Belarusian President raises the possibility of a nuclear escalation.

How did it all go so wrong? For some European countries vaccination rates were high, infections have plummeted only to be back at the epicenter of the global pandemic.

And why there is a world of difference between 1.5 and 2.4? Our best efforts to reduce carbon emissions and slow global warming are coming up way short.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Right now, it's Belarus and Russia are accused of waging a hybrid war on Poland and the E.U. and they in turn are accused of violating human rights. The weapons being used are people. They're stuck in a no man's land with few supplies and little shelter. Thousands of people, including families with children, whose hope for a better life has been exploited in a dispute they had nothing to do with.

Poland's Prime Minister accused the President of Belarus of luring the migrants from places like Iraq and Syria with a false promise of easy entry into Europe. But the mastermind of it all, he said, was in Moscow.

The European Commission described the government in Belarus of acting like a gangster regime, creating a crisis on Europe's doorstep to retaliate for sanctions imposed earlier this year. Poland has warned its military stands ready for any scenario on the border.

And right now, the focus is on Belarus and Poland. But Lithuania has also declared a month-long state of emergency on its south eastern border. And Latvia is reportedly increasing the number of troops on standby.

We get details now from CNN's senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A migrant crisis on NATO's eastern flank that's threatening to destabilize this region. The European Union accuses Putin ally Belarusian strongman, Alexander Lukashenko, of unleashing a massive rush on Poland's border. The country's Prime Minister calling on Polish troops to get ready.

Lukashenko's regime uses civilians as weapons of a hybrid war, he said, what we can see today are new methods and you are a key bastion against them.

Poland says Around 4,000 people, mostly from Iraq and Syria, have amassed at its border with Belarus, squatting under inhumane conditions repeatedly trying to push across.

The E.U. says, the Belarusian regime has lured them here falsely promising they could enter new territory. Poland calls it state- sponsored human trafficking and says it will not allow the migrants to enter.

It's a matter of fulfilling our duties as member states of the European Union as well as ensuring the safety of Polish citizens and the Polish Republic, Poland's president said.

Alexander Lukashenko denies the allegations and accuses Poland of escalating the situation. Lukashenko spoke to his biggest backer, Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone and later seem to indicate the situation which could lead to war.

In the modern world, taking up arms is like death, it's suicide, you must agree, he said. And even more so here in the center of Europe, and even more so with Belarus. After all here on this piece of land in the center, all wars have always unfolded. From here, everything began. Does history teach you nothing?

Most of the migrants who have made it across want to go to Germany, German authorities say, we were on hand that several new arrivals were being processed after arriving in Germany.

The German police has drastically stepped up checks here at the border with Poland and they say they are increasingly coming across people looking to claim asylum in this country, and that the vast majority of those people came into the European Union via Belarus.

Caught in the middle of this standoff, the thousands of desperate people stranded at the border as winter fast approaches.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[00:05:10]

VAUSE: Dominic Thomas joins us now, he's CNN European affairs commentator. Dominic, thanks for your time. During an interview on Belarusian state-run television, Alexander Lukashenko, he claimed he wanted to avoid a military escalation, but then sort of indirectly warned a possible military escalation involving Russia and nuclear weapons. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, PRESIDENT OF BELARUS (through translator): If God forbid we make any mistake, if we take a wrong step, then it will instantly drag Russia into this maelstrom, and it's the largest nuclear armed power. I am not a madman. I understand very well what this could lead to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: During a crisis like this dropping the world's largest nuclear armed power seems to be done with intent. The question is, what is the intention?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes, and I think that then his use of the word, you know, madman doesn't really help him here. I think that it's very difficult to attribute any real kind of rationale here to him. He's clearly destabilizing the region by fear mongering with the European border, the Baltics, Ukraine, Russia, and so on, and arguing, ultimately, by mentioning Russia that he's not alone here.

But arguably, what one could say is that there could be a strategy here that the thing that is really destabilizing and threatening him at home are these -- are these sanctions. And by ratcheting up these tensions by escalating this, there's a hope that he can ultimately deescalate this, achieve his goal, which is to get these sanctions reduced or lifted, and perhaps survive to live another day as the leader of his country.

VAUSE: It's a big to-do list and Lukashenko played the nuclear card out of Poland's Prime Ministers in Tuesday making it clear that he believes his country's under attack. Listen to him while he's visiting with troops on the border on Tuesday. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI, POLISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We know that this is a fully planned operation, which aims to disrupt the sovereignty of our country. That's absolutely clear to us. We know for sure that there is a search for weak spots happening on the border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: He went to an emergency session of parliament and made it very clear that he believes the mastermind of all of this is in Moscow. And while this all seems to be directly from Putin's playbook, is there any evidence to prove the suspicion? And again, how does this benefit Russia?

THOMAS: Well, I think there are a couple of things here. I think, first of all, there's a precedent. And there was earlier reporting, going back to August, where Belarus was engaged in similar kind of instrumentalization of migrants along the Lithuanian border.

And I think it's absolutely crucial to underscore that Lukashenko essentially serves at the pleasure of the Russian President Putin. So, it's hard to think of anything that he does and without this having been cleared by Moscow.

In terms of the benefit to Russia, I think it's quite clear. On the one hand, it's weakening the European Union further with this tension over migration and so on, and exacerbating existing tensions with Poland's law and justice and party, while at the same time giving this region additional credence and importance in Putin's playbook around Ukraine, around the Baltics, and around Belarus in this particular case. So, there's a lot at stake for Russia here and a lot for it to sort of to lead us to think that they are actively involved at this stage in this crisis.

VAUSE: Well, Belarus, I guess, and Russia are basically accused of a hybrid war strategy which got into NATO. These sorts of attacks have dramatically increased in recent years in speed, scale, and intensity facilitated by rapid technological change and global interconnectivity. NATO website goes on to say that it stands ready to defend allies against any threat, whether conventional or hybrid.

But here's where it gets difficult. In this instance, the immediate threat is from thousands of civilians, people stuck in this sort of no man's land. So, how does this get resolved without the pain being inflicted on them?

THOMAS: Yes, absolutely. And they're pawns in the game. The absolute number one crucial thing here and the pressure is going to mount as the days goes on, is that this has developed already into humanitarian crisis. These people need food, they need water, they need shelter. The climate is terrible, and it's getting worse.

I think the second aspect is that they've got to get to Lukashenko. And I think paradoxically that mean, might mean going through Putin. Lukashenko here is becoming a problem for Russia, and this has to stop. And they've got to get to Lukashenko to stem, of course, the flow, the incentives that are being presented by him to bring these migrants to this region, to take them to these border crossings.

And the third aspect is that the European Union is then going to have to step up, process these migrants and bring them into the E.U. space and at a moment when they can still manage these numbers that are growing exponentially as time goes on.

VAUSE: The big fear we're now seeing amongst European officials, even though they've had strained relations with Poland, you know, before this crisis, there is a real fear of a repeat of the migrant crisis of 2015. Are they even talking about building a fence -- a border fence paid for by the E.U. funds?

[00:10:03] THOMAS: Yes. Well, when it comes to Poland, let's face it, the law and justice party that is in power was elected because it ran on an anti- immigration campaign, a campaign that it felt was necessary to so- called protect Polish identity. We know how incredibly sensitive and vulnerable the European Union is around the issue of migration.

In the 2017 German elections, we saw the alternative for Germany, far right party, essentially make that the issue of the -- of the election. And by 2021, that had gone away. The last thing that European wants is to resuscitate a problem and a debate around migration that will further fuel the agendas of far right populist parties and so on, and thereby further disrupt the day to day operations of the European Union.

VAUSE: Dominic, thank you. Dominic Thomas there in Los Angeles with some very good analysis. We appreciate that. Thank you.

THOMAS: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: Europe's COVID surge appears to be going from bad to worse. According to a new report from the World Health Organization, Europe is now the only region where COVID cases and deaths are trending upward. This map shows just how high case numbers jumped last week compared to the week before. And the region now accounts for more than 60 percent of all new cases, more than half of all new deaths.

The situation has some countries considering new restrictions or bringing back old ones. In Denmark, the government has proposed bringing back COVID health passes. Remember, just two months ago, Denmark lifted the last of its restrictions, saying COVID was no longer a critical threat.

You'd have Austria has now banned unvaccinated people from restaurants hotels, large events. Officials say the new rules will likely remain in place through Christmas.

England is planning to require vaccinations for National Health Service Workers starting April. They refuse to get a vaccination, they will probably lose their jobs. The British Health Secretary made the announcement in parliament on Tuesday. He says around 90 percent of NHS workers are already fully vaccinated. But he added that around 100,000 employees still have not gotten both shots. He says that puts their colleagues and their patients at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAJID JAVID, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: I have concluded that all those working in the NHS and social care will have to be vaccinated. We must avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS, protect colleagues in the NHS, and of course protect the NHS itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But there will be an exemption. This mandate does not apply to employees with medical conditions or who do not have face to face contact with patients. France is also ramping up vaccine requirements starting next month. Anyone older than 65 will be required to have a COVID booster shot before they can revalidate their health pass. It's one of several announcements France's president made during national address on Tuesday.

We have details from CNN Cyril Vanier reporting in from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As we head into winter and temperatures drop, France has seen a slow but steady rise in COVID infections in recent weeks, prompting the president to address the nation on Tuesday. Emmanuel Macron warning that the pandemic isn't over.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We have not finished because short term, the WHO says that the fifth wave has started in Europe, a 40 percent increase in a week of the incidence rate and an increase in hospitalizations are warning signs.

VANIER: To limit the increase in infections, the President is betting on booster doses and a little bit of coercion. Over 65 will have to get a third dose of COVID vaccine by mid-December or face losing their health pass. The pass grants access to restaurants, cinemas, museums, entertainment venues, sports, train stations, even airports. So life becomes a lot more difficult without one and over 65s find themselves highly incentivized to book their booster appointment soon.

Now, boosters will also be made available to over 50s next month. Under 50s are for the moment not required to get a third dose. But that may be only a matter of time. The President's acknowledging in his speech that vaccine immunity wanes after a mere six months

Cyril Vanier, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Wednesday is transportation day at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, and a new promise to increase the use of electric vehicles is anticipated. But analysis by the watchdog, Climate Action Tracker, finds all this talk about protecting the environment is not backed up by concrete plans.

The group warns the world is on track for a 2.4 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures, that is well above the 1.5 degree target to avoid climate catastrophe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKLAS HOHNE, NEWCLIMATE INSTITUTE FOUNDING PARTNER: Not a single country has short-term policies in place to put itself on track towards its own net zero targets. Right now, the net zero targets are good vision imagination, but they have to be backed by action by short-term action, otherwise, they are simply not credible. And that's where the big problem is. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:15:22]

VAUSE: Let's bring in CNN meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri. This is one of those cases where near enough just isn't good enough, right?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You know, John, you and I have talked about this many times when it comes to these reports, and we get so many plans, so many goals, but the action is what is necessary. And time of course is of the essence when you look at how things are projected to play out.

And we know the Climate Action Tracker, the watchdog group here that says essentially of these net zero goals, 40 countries within these net zero goals here account for about 85 percent of our world's emissions. So, it's really a significant player here as far as how these countries act within the next decade that dictates what happens when it comes to emissions.

And only about six percent of these actual goals have any sort of concrete plan, six percent of the emissions have been kind of accounted for, but remaining 79 percent of that 85 total is essentially just verbal agreements, handshake agreements that were going to try to make a difference here in reducing emissions.

In fact, you take a look at this, we know that based on the current action plans versus the pledge goals by 2030, our emissions, estimated to be sometime -- somewhere around two times higher than where it's necessary to keep below that 1.5 degree threshold. Johnny talked about this 2.4 degree be more in line with what things are kind of going to play out if things don't change.

And an example here that Climate Action Tracker kind of gives us when you take a look at China, in fact, they've said they'll stop building coal power plants, they'll begin cutting coal use by 2026, meet carbon neutrality by 2050. But notice what happened in 2020, they account for about 75 percent of the world's coal factories. They built three times more coal factories than anyplace else in the world. And they contributed about 26 percent to global emissions.

So again, what happened last year with what they're expecting to happen in the next 10 years, is very far off. And that's what's concerning, John, and that's for a lot of countries too.

VAUSE: Yes. Pedram, thank you for that. We appreciate the update. Pedram Javaheri every day with all the details.

When we come back swept up in Ethiopia's state of emergency, more than a dozen U.N. staffers have been detained. We'll tell you how the central government is defending this as part of a wave of arrests.

Also ahead, how cannabis could help turn around, let alone plummeting economy, that's also coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: Arrests and detentions have swept the Ethiopian capital after the government declared a six-month long state of emergency. The U.N. says 16 local staff members and some dependents have been caught up in these arrests. Six others have also been released. Ethiopia's Human Rights Commission says it has received reports of arrests in a capital targeting ethnic Tigrayans. Police say they're targeting supporters of Tigray rebels. U.N. spokesman says the detained staff members are Ethiopian.

[00:20:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESMAN: There has been, as far as I know, no explanation given to us by why these staff members are detained. They come from various U.N. agencies. They're all national staff. It is imperative that they -- that they'd be released.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: As the conflict escalates, the U.N. and African Union will keep staff in country for growing lists including the U.S., Canada. Other European countries are calling for their citizens to leave.

Diplomatic efforts to end this conflict are continuing, the former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, is in Ethiopia, working as an African Union envoy. Meantime, the press secretary for the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, is defending the arrest being made during the state of emergency. And she spoke with CNN's Becky Anderson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLENE SEYOUM, PRESS SECRETARY, ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE: The enactment of the state of emergency is not to target any particular person based on the identity that they're aligned to. The state of emergency is put in place to protect the Ethiopian people, to protect the residents of Addis Ababa, who have been told with very, very fierce rhetoric coming from the TPLF that we are going to see or we're going to come into Addis Ababa. So, it's important for the state of emergency to put in place a mechanism that anybody that is trying to threaten the stability or the peace that is within the capital city is thoroughly addressed as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, a spokesperson for the Tigray rebels, the People's Liberation Front, says their fighters will not back down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GETACHEW REDA, SPOKESPERSON, TIGRAY PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT: Look. Abiy has been ratcheting up genocidal violence against the people of Tigray and anyone who's -- who he thinks is standing in the way of his genocidal campaign. Abiy, from the get-go, has never been interested in this, has never been interested in democracy, has never been interested in reforms. He was mostly interested in making sure that the entire Ethiopian population cowed into submission -- were cowed into submission.

So, you know, Tigrayans, unfortunately for him stood in the way of his imperial ambitions. He wanted to be the king of kings of Ethiopia, but unfortunately, the Tigrayans stood in that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The TPLF and its allies are threatening to march on the Capitol.

Well, with 11 aircraft carriers in service, the U.S. can project naval power anywhere around the world. China, though wants to challenge that, and now Beijing could be just a few months away from a new aircraft carrier with technology almost on a par with U.S. ships.

The Washington based think tanks Center for Strategic and International Studies has released satellite images showing the carrier near completion in a Shanghai shipyard. China already has the world's largest naval force. This ship is the third aircraft carrier to build, features more advanced technology then can accommodate -- and it can accommodate, rather, a wider variety of planes.

Well, NASA is delaying its plans to return humans to the moon. The agency says it's pushing the mission back to at least 2025. It says the delay was caused by litigation with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space company over not being chosen to build the Lunar Lander.

As well as a lack of funding and the pandemic, the Artemis Project will consist of a series of launches, which include putting the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.

In Lebanon, farmers say agricultural conditions are ideal to produce an abundance cannabis crop to lift the country's struggling economy, but they say the Lebanese government is getting in their way. What a surprise.

CNN's Ben Wedeman explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They're bringing in the sheaves in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, sheaves in sheaves of cannabis or hashish, as it's called here.

WEDEMAN (on camera): The climate in this part of Lebanon is changing, it is getting hotter, and it is getting drier, and perhaps this crop, hashish, is the ideal thing to grow in this changing climate. It's drought-resistant, and doesn't need much in the way of pesticides and fertilizers.

WEDEMAN (voice over): Late October and the days are still warm, the harvest delayed because the rains came late.

Before, there was more rain in the spring, says this farmer. I preferred to give his name simply as Abu Sarah. There's been much less rain in the last three or four years. Climate change, they can handle. The biggest bummer for hashish farmers is politics.

George Fakhri heads the Cannabis Growers Union, founded after the Lebanese parliament passed a law last year legalizing the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal use.

But the government bankrupt and perpetually embroiled in the weeds of political paralysis has failed to translate the new law into reality.

[00:25:04]

Unfortunately, Fakhri says, it's all talk, politics, and campaign promises.

The arguments in favor of hashish cultivation are cut and dry.

The climate here, the soil here, is the best, Fakhri boast. People say the best hashish comes from the Beqaa Valley. The quality is better than Morocco or Afghanistan, or any other country.

With Lebanon's economy in free fall, this could be a valuable source of hard currency. According to the U.N., Lebanon is the world's fourth largest producer of cannabis. Hashish consumption is a popular if illegal pastime in Lebanon.

And in a country where warlords have become politicians, where corruption is rampant, growing something that relieves the pain of Lebanon's mounting woes seems a minor sin, insists this farmer who calls himself Abu Hannah.

Growing hashish, he says, is better than being a thief or a killer or stealing public funds or spying for foreign country. Despite climate change, the grass could be so much greener here. Yet, so far, politics threatened to send the promise of hashish up in smoke.

Ben Wedeman CNN, in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: An American journalist is facing new charges from Myanmar's military leadership. Danny Fenster is now accused of sedition and terrorism. The editor of the local Frontier Myanmar was arrested as he tried to leave the country back in May, ever since he's been held in the notorious insane prison without bail. He is now facing a total of five separate charges. That includes visa breaches as well as the incitement charge.

We'll take a short break. You're watching CNN. Back in a moment. See you soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Over the last 10 days, we've been covering the incredible environmental challenges facing our planet. Well, it can all feel overwhelming at times. It's important to remember there are also solutions, not just problems on Call to Earth Day. CNN is celebrating those who are creating a more sustainable future. Those who are driving awareness and inspiring action.

CNN's David Culver is standing by live in Shanghai, but we will begin with Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Kristie.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John. Here in Hong Kong, and that one of hundreds of schools across the world marking the very first Call to Earth Day, a day of action to help protect the planet.

And let me tell you, the community here at DSE International is all in. The teachers, the staff, the parents and, of course, the students, from kindergarteners all the way to year 12.

[00:30:13]

This is a primary facility called The Kitchen. I have a bunch of primary year students -- wave to the cameras, kids. Year three students, and they've been working on an upcycling challenge, where they take old pieces of cloth. They treat it with beeswax and turned it into reusable food wrappers.

Earlier, we spoke to a year 10 student, who told us what this day means to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THIEN DYLAN PORTER, 15-YEAR-OLD STUDENT, DSC INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: My Call to Earth is our future. And not only for us but for those that come after us, as well. And for the millions of species that share our planet. And I believe that we need to work together and try to develop more sustainable solutions to help improve our planet and give back to what we've got.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: But young people have emerged as some of the most passionate activists for a better, for a healthier planet. But I want you to meet Harry Chan. He's a 68-year-old retired businessman who is on a mission to help clean up our oceans. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT (voice-over): In the murky waters off Hong Kong, Harry Chan is hunting for a deadly threat that lurks in the deep. It's called ghost gear, fishing nets and other equipment from fisheries lost or tossed into the sea.

HARRY CHAN, CLEANING UP OCEAN OF GHOST GEAR: If you look at the ocean out there, OK, there's something out there drifting, in the water. It could be much bigger the size of any boat out there, OK? It's like a killer, silent killer, continue killing.

STOUT: Ghost gear is a global problem. More than 640,000 tons of it gets discarded into our oceans each year, according to the U.N. And old nets are especially deadly.

LAWRENCE MCCOOK, HEAD OF OCEANS CONSERVATION: It's called ghost here, because it basically goes on living and creating problems long after it's actually useful. So it's no longer catching fish for people. But sadly, it is still catching fish. And very often wildlife.

STOUT Harry spends much of his retirement trying to solve this problem.

CHAN: Being a diver, there's so much we can do to protect the ocean and save the ocean.

STOUT: And today, we brought the 68-year-old out to see how he does it. Removing ghost gear is hazardous work for the marine life that's trapped and divers, who can easily suffer the same fate. Once the net is free, Harry and team reel it in.

CHAN: One, two, three. Got it!

STOUT: It takes a winch to finish the job.

(on camera): And once it's out of the ocean, you can appreciate the full scale of this ghost net. It's absolutely massive, a tangled, huge mess of nylon, wire, dead oysters and coral.

(voice-over): Eventually, they'll cut this up into smaller pieces and properly dispose of it. All told, it is a full day's effort.

Given the intensity of removing one net, the self-proclaimed ghost net hunter spends most of his time on dry land, raising awareness about the root cause.

And if you ask Harry why he does this, why he's still working so hard in his retirement, he'll tell you quite simply, it's never too late to get started.

CHAN: Age is only a figure, OK? There's so much we can do, no matter how old you are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: Now students here at DSC International School, they've been working on student projects, all in relation to Call to Earth. I told you earlier, they're working on these beeswax-coated, reusable food wrappers. And they've been taking old pieces of paper and wrapping them up. One from Senna (ph), one from Andy. Told me show -- thank you very much. You did such a good job.

Look at this reusable wrapper. Absolutely beautiful. Made of beeswax and old pieces of paper, part of the upcycling challenge that is here.

They're also learning stories like Harry's story, the efforts that people are doing to protect the environment.

In the next hour of CNN, I'm going to be talking to the WWF's head of ocean conservation about the problem of ghost gear, ghost nets and what regular people like you and me can do to help address this issue.

Back to you, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Kristie, some of the cutest kids I've seen for a long time. Thank you for that.

Let's head over to CNN's David Culver at the Western International School of Shanghai. Kids -- Go for it, David, over to you.

Hi, kids.

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John. It's going to be like two cooking segments, because she was in an indoor kitchen. We've got an outdoor kitchen here.

In fact, when I first showed up here at WISS, as they call it, the Western -- the Western International School of Shanghai, I said, we need to be in a classroom. They said, You're in a classroom. This is one of the many outdoor learning spaces that they have. I feel very overdressed, because they have all these jumpsuits and gear, ready to be outside as they are making soup over here.

[00:35:00]

There was an urgent call, just before we came on air, by the way, John, to say, we need water. We need water. That's the urgency that we felt, because they're, of course, making soup.

I want to introduce you to Lisa King. She is the coordinator for early years here. Lisa, what stands out to me is you're talking 2-and-a- half-year-olds to 6-year-olds.

LISA KING, COORDINATOR FOR EARLY YEARS, WISS: Yes.

CULVER: And yet, this, for you, is the time to start, when it comes to talking about sustainability and learning about this environment.

KING: Sure. We can't expect adults to engage in the big questions if they don't have that relationship with Earth, with nature. So what we try to do here is we try to facilitate that in our outdoor provision.

So everything is designed to be very hands on, practical, and like everything you see happening about, it's just -- it's inciting curiosity for what's around -- what's around them.

And the hope is that, eventually, they become global citizens who can engage in the big questions, because they already have that care there. You know, if you don't care about something enough, you're not going to be interested in having those conversations.

CULVER: And you look around, you see those kids here. They're playing with, as you labeled it, treasures.

KING: Yes.

CULVER: Acorns, sticks. I mean, I think the natural reaction, when you see these things lying around is pick them up. Parents want to empty your pockets before you come in the house. You're saying, Wait a minute. No, value this.

KING: Yes. So we do a lot of work with our parents. And last week we actually had about 40 parents in here, doing outdoor experience.

CULVER: Well, this is great. I love it. Tell them what you were doing as you looked outside.

KING: Yes. So we had the area set up like this. We had parents climbing trees in the back of the forest, building shelters, playing with treasures. And part of that is to reengage them through a different lens, to really appreciate what their children bring home.

So the stones, the sticks. They're not actually stones and sticks now. They're treasures. That's what we call them.

And at the end of the session, we had a reflection. And I think what was most touching for us was to hear parents saying, I've never climbed a tree. That was the first time that I've actually climbed a tree. That was the first time that I've ever made jewelry out of leaves. That was the first time that I've realized, oh, the sticks and the stones that are in my kid's pockets are something that he actually uses to create here.

CULVER: I love that, taking it home. That's literally the homework from all of us.

KING: Yes.

CULVER: Lisa King, thank you so much.

KING: Thank you. Thank you.

CULVER: Thanks for having us here. Great program.

John, we'll send it back to you. I'm just looking around as they're now building a tent. I don't even think I know how to build a tent. Send it back to you.

VAUSE: Time to learn, David. Those -- yes. Love the outfits there in Shanghai.

Kristie, thanks you, as well.

Thanks, kids.

STOUT: Thank you!

VAUSE: Thanks, guys. Kristie there in Hong Kong, and David in Shanghai. Thanks to you both.

(AUDIO GAP) -- what we eat. It also seems the health of our planet is decided, in no small measure, by how we eat. And right now, the scorecard on that is fairly grim. Over fertilizing, over production, over fishing, overly processed -- Well, what we are and what we eat -- you get the idea, there's room for improvement.

And that's where Melody Melo-Rijk comes in. For the past four years, she has been the project manager for sustainable consumption project at the WWF, better known in the Philippines as the Sustainable Diner Project.

Melody, welcome to the show. Good to see you.

MELODY MELO-RIJK, WWF-PHILIPPINES: Hi. Hi, John. Nice to be here. And --

VAUSE: It's great to have you.

MELO-RIJK: -- thank you for inviting me.

VAUSE: OK. Well, good to have you here. So tell me, right now, when it comes to global food production and consumption, what are some of the biggest problems? What are we doing wrong, and what's being done to fix it?

MELO-RIJK: Well, actually, we have a lot. But for -- for us, for the consumer part, we believe that food waste is one of the challenges that we are currently facing right now.

It's not just an environmental problem, but it's also a social problem, because we have a lot of incidents of hunger and malnutrition around the world. So it's something that we -- we want to address in this project.

VAUSE: And sort of on to that, there's this whole issue of what we are actually eating. I want you to listen to Chef Robby Goko from Green Pastures. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBY GOKO, CHEF: They say that every time we eat and drink, we work for the world that we want. It's true, that if we keep on going forward, this processed, unhealthy and industrial food, it's not going to be a bright future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELO-RIJK: Yes.

VAUSE: And these two issues sort of are very much linked. If we want a healthy planet, how important is it for us to have a healthy diet at the same time?

MELO-RIJK: Yes. Definitely. In terms of our diet right now, our consumption patterns are really gearing towards the unhealthy -- unhealthy state. And we are consuming a lot of processed food. We are consuming a lot of sugars, fats, salts.

And our production of meat, also, is drived [SIC] by -- is driven by our consumption -- high consumption of meat.

And definitely, we see that our health is deteriorating. And so is our environment.

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And in order for us to help that, also, we have to reduce our food waste. So these two -- two interventions are very much linked to -- to how we can save our planet through eating.

VAUSE: And just in terms of climate change, reducing the amount of protein, the amount of meat which we consume on a regular basis, that seems to be one of the crucial areas, as well, right?

MELO-RIJK: Yes. Definitely. Because inherently, the production of meat, the livestock production, is really a producer of greenhouse gases, our methane and nitrous oxide, to be precise.

VAUSE: There's almost four times as many adults on this planet who are overweight or obese, compared with adults who are underweight. The numbers for the last year come from the WHO.

Almost two billion people are overweight or obese, compared to almost 500 million who are overweight. Those numbers seem very clearly that we are doing something wrong. But we can at least produce enough food for everyone on the planet.

MELO-RIJK: Yes. Actually, it's true, John, that we -- we have enough food for everybody. But it's just that there are some issues on accessibility, availability, for each and every one that, you know, makes the -- the whole situation more complicated when -- when we talk about food security and, of course, food production and consumption.

VAUSE: Melody, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your insights. Also, your time and the work you're doing. Thank you.

MELO-RIJK: Thank you, John. Have a great day.

VAUSE: All the best.

To find out more about the environmental challenges facing our planet and what's being done to make our future a little brighter, it's all on our website. Please head over to CNN.com/CalltoEarth.

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