The Happy Pod: The simple plastic sheet saving lives

Summary

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The Happy Pod: The Simple Plastic Sheet Saving Lives

BBC World Service | Global News Podcast
Host: Holly Gibbs
Date: May 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This feel-good edition of the Happy Pod explores solutions and stories that improve lives and foster hope, spanning medical innovation, enduring friendship, cancer support, neurodiversity at home, environmental conservation, and community engagement. Its centerpiece is a game-changing, low-tech plastic sheet that’s saving thousands of mothers’ lives around the world. Listeners also meet lifelong pen pals, fly fishers supporting cancer patients, creative ADHD home adaptations, protectors of rare waterbirds in India, and rewilders of Northern Ireland’s ancient rainforests.

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Key Segments and Insights

1. The Plastic Sheet Revolutionizing Maternal Health

[01:12 - 07:00]

Background:

• Postpartum hemorrhage kills 70,000 women annually worldwide.
• A new intervention: using a plastic drape during childbirth to measure blood loss, ensuring quicker, more effective treatment.
• This "bundled treatment" (the emotive intervention) cuts risk of life-altering complications by 60%.
• The World Health Organization rapidly recommended it globally.

Key Speakers:

• Dr. Hadeeza Galadanchi (Nigeria, obstetrician)
• Professor Ari Kumarasami (UK, lead trial researcher)
• Host: Holly Gibbs

Discussion Points:

• With the drape, staff treat patients faster and outcomes vastly improve.
• The intervention’s impact is “amazing” in Nigeria — with reports of no new deaths where adopted.
• The drape is recommended for all vaginal births, not just in low-income settings.
• The speed from trial results to global policy change was unprecedented.

Notable Quotes:

• Dr. Hadeeza Galadanchi:
  “I haven’t seen any intervention that is saving women as much. So it’s amazing.” [01:20]
• Dr. Hadeeza Galadanchi:
  “…from the day they started using the emotive intervention, not a single woman has died… It’s amazing.” [03:56]
• Professor Ari Kumarasami:
  “To see that research finding being translated into policy and recommendations and then health ministries…and healthcare providers throughout the world taking up the intervention and making it a reality for women is truly a dream come true.” [05:06]
• Dr. Galadanchi:
  “Almost every single country is trying to see how they can introduce that innovation into practice. It’s going to be everywhere in this world. And that’s the greatest feeling. In fact, the impact is beyond our imagination.” [05:49]

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2. A Friendship Spanning Six Decades and Continents

[07:00 - 11:50]

Background:

• Joy (Canada) and Diane (Australia) met as 12-year-olds via a 1965 pen pal column.
• Their written correspondence grew into a sister-like bond over 60 years.
• They navigated changing lives, distance, evolving technology, and now their children and even their mothers became pen pals.

Key Speakers:

• Joy, Diane, Narrator (Helena Burke)

Highlights:

• Transitioned from letters to emails/texts/video calls.
• Their personal bond enriched by supportive family, with both couples becoming friends.
• Friendship offers a private, non-local confidante, “like sisters” despite physical distance.

Notable Quotes:

• Diane:
  “We don’t have the same blood running in our veins but we are like sisters. It’s really special.” [10:54]
• Joy:
  “I’m so comfortable with Joy and I just feel that I can tell her safely, anything. So she’s my confidante… She’s just a very special person in my life. I’m very blessed to have her.” [10:23]
• Joy:
  “Distance doesn’t have to influence how you feel about a person… don’t let distance be a deterrent for anything.” [11:07]

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3. Fishing For Life: Supporting Cancer Survivors

[11:50 - 15:47]

Background:

• Fishing For Life teaches fly-fishing to people with breast cancer, supporting mental and physical wellbeing.

Key Speakers:

• Jane McCubbin (reporter), participants: Libby, Heather, Andrew

Discussion Points:

• The riverbank offers healing, peace, and respite from hospitals and treatments.
• Community and peer support are core — including men with breast cancer.
• Volunteers and participants find mutual growth and healing.

Notable Quotes:

• Participant:
  “I get peace and separation from all the doctor’s appointments...you just want it to go on forever… and I can be myself and it’s just I can control what I can do.” [12:22]
• Heather (volunteer-turned-survivor):
  “If I can help anyone to catch some fish, that would be great. Enjoying the sunshine in the fresh air, moving their shoulders wherever they've had breast cancer to help lymphatic help the muscles get better after surgery, to enjoy it.” [13:50]
• Andrew:
  “Three months ago, I wasn’t doing anything, just sitting at home getting depressed. And this stops that process. All your worries and your troubles seem to just melt away.” [15:34]

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4. Adapting Homes for Children with ADHD

[18:41 - 23:14]

Background:

• With ADHD in 1 in 20 children, environments that support focus and sensory needs can be life-changing.
• Reporter Louise Mylin visits a Tasmanian family creatively redesigning their home.

Key Speakers:

• Linda (parent, ADHD & autistic children), Evan (child), Reporter Louise Mylin

Highlights:

• Soft play mats, sensory swings, climbing frame for movement needs.
• Visual organization: labelled baskets, visible essentials (kettle, tea), accessible toy storage.
• Routines supported via a whiteboard with clickable lights.

Notable Quotes:

• Evan:
  “It feels like I’m walking on pillows. If you just take your socks off it will feel nice on your feet.” [20:03]
• Evan:
  “It’s like a feeling where I can be myself and it’s just I can control what I can do.” [20:49]
• Linda:
  “Having my kettle, my tea, coffee, sugar and whatever I drink right there... actually visible helps me.” [21:12]
• Evan:
  “I find it hard to get out of bed and get dressed on time. I can’t make my body actually do it, but I want to and so I’ve put this up [whiteboard].” [22:04]
• Evan:
  “It feels like that I can wind down and actually be somewhere where I like being.” [23:05]

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5. Protecting India’s Endangered Indian Skimmer

[23:14 - 26:53]

Background:

• Indian skimmer waterbirds are under threat from declining habitats and predators (especially dogs at low water).
• Scientist Parveen Shaikh mobilized the local community as paid “nest guardians”.

Key Speakers:

• Parveen Shaikh (Bombay Natural History Society), Branka Lesadisar (reporter)

Impact:

• Local recruitment to protect nests led to over 60% chick survival.
• The skimmer population along the Chambal River has more than doubled.

Notable Quotes:

• Parveen Shaikh:
  “It’s a win-win for the community...they are getting seasonal employment as well. It is a win-win for the species that they are getting protection.” [26:23]
• Parveen Shaikh:
  “People need to be part of conservation. It’s very important that the communities around this species need to be part of the conservation program.” [26:38]

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6. Restoring Northern Ireland’s Temperate Rainforest

[26:53 - 29:31]

Background:

• A rare, ancient “temperate” rainforest is being restored in Northern Ireland by planting natives over a 41-acre site.
• These woods are critical for biodiversity, carbon capture, climate resilience, and community wellness.

Key Speakers:

• John Martin (Woodland Trust), Rosemary Mulholland (Ulster Wildlife Team), Holly Gibbs (host)

Highlights:

• 30,000 native trees planted — the restoration will take a century to fully mature.
• Public access, climate, and community health are core goals.

Notable Quotes:

• John Martin:
  “We believe that woodlands provide a lot of health and well being benefits for people, but also the nature benefits as well... nature-based solution to some of the climate nature crisis we find ourselves in at the minute.” [27:16]
• Rosemary Mulholland:
  “It’s a great privilege to take this land and turn it into a habitat that is now largely lost. It’s actually rarer than tropical rainforest…but it’ll do a great job, as well as supporting wildlife.” [28:58]

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Memorable Moments & Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “I haven’t seen any intervention that is saving women as much. So it’s amazing.”
  — Dr. Hadeeza Galadanchi [01:20]
• “To have a trial that produces the findings that emotive trial did…massive reduction in women suffering severe postpartum hemorrhage or dying from it…is not very common.”
  — Professor Ari Kumarasami [05:06]
• “I consider her a sister…she’s just a very special person in my life. I’m very blessed to have her.”
  — Joy [10:23]
• “Three months ago, I wasn’t doing anything, just sitting at home getting depressed. And this stops that process.”
  — Andrew (Fishing For Life) [15:34]
• “It feels like that I can wind down and actually be somewhere where I like being.”
  — Evan [23:05]
• “People need to be part of conservation…communities around this species need to be part of the program.”
  — Parveen Shaikh [26:38]
• “It’s a great privilege to take this land and turn it into a habitat that is now largely lost...It’s actually rarer than tropical rainforest…”
  — Rosemary Mulholland [28:58]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 01:12 — [Opening, introducing the plastic drape]
• 03:02 — [How the drape and bundled treatment work]
• 03:56 — [Success in Nigeria]
• 05:06 — [Personal reflections from researchers]
• 07:00 — [Joy and Diane: Six-decade friendship]
• 11:50 — [Fishing For Life: Cancer support]
• 18:41 — [Adapting homes for ADHD]
• 23:14 — [Protecting Indian skimmers]
• 26:53 — [Restoring Ireland's temperate rainforest]

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Conclusion

This episode of The Happy Pod embodies the power of both simple solutions and collective effort to change lives—whether through inventive medical tools, steadfast friendship, thoughtful design for neurodivergent families, grassroots conservation, or community-building in the face of illness. Uplifting, practical, and filled with human connection, it’s a testament to optimism and ingenuity across the globe.

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Transcript

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[Holly Gibbs]

This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Holly Gibbs and in this edition

[Dr. Hadeeza Galadanchi]

I haven't seen any intervention that is saving women as much. So it's amazing.

[Holly Gibbs]

The simple plastic sheet that is saving the lives of thousands of women after childbirth. Also the friendship spanning six decades and thousands of kilometers.

[Joy]

Well, she's just a very special person in my life. I'm very blessed to have her.

[Diane]

We don't have the same blood running in our veins but but we are like sisters. It's really special.

[Holly Gibbs]

The fishing group supporting people with cancer

[Participant in Fishing For Life]

I'm here in this moment in time and it's just lovely. I get peace and separation from all the doctors appointments. You just want it to go on

[Evan]

forever and I can be myself and it's just I can control what I can do.

[Holly Gibbs]

Adapting homes to help people with ADHD we start with a simple plastic sheet that is saving the lives of tens of thousands of women all over the world every year. Around 14 million women globally have excessive bleeding after birth and 70,000 die. But researchers found that using a plastic drape to measure blood loss and then giving faster treatments has led to a 60% lower risk of serious complications. In fact, the findings were so extraordinary that the World Health Organization recommended the new treatment within just six months. I spoke to Dr. Hadeza Galadanchi in Nigeria and also to Professor Ari Kumarasami here in the uk who were both involved in the research.

[Dr. Hadeeza Galadanchi]

As soon as we see that she's lost that that amount of Blood that is significant. We now immediately give her the bundled treatment and the bundled treatment is the motive and that's where we have the emotive, which is an intervention.

[Professor Ari Kumarasami]

We needed to demonstrate that using the drape and using the bundled treatment, as Hadeesa mentioned, would in fact improve the outcomes. So we needed to design and conduct a definitive clinical trial which found a tremendous reduction in the number of women who were bleeding excessively or having surgery or indeed dying from postpartum haemorrhage. These were all reduced with the emotive intervention.

[Holly Gibbs]

So Dr. Hadeeza, how successful has this been in Nigeria?

[Dr. Hadeeza Galadanchi]

Very, very successful. In fact, I haven't seen any intervention that is saving women as much as the emotive trial. I've had, you know, people saying that from the day they started using the emotive intervention, not a single woman has died, you know, due to excessive bleeding. So it's amazing. And apart from saving life, it's even making our labor wards very clean. Definitely healthcare workers can see the impact because we are saving women.

[Professor Ari Kumarasami]

The recommendation from the World Health Organization and other international bodies supports the use of it throughout the world. So the recommendation isn't restricted to just low income countries. The need for an objective measurement device like this blood collection drape is needed for every vaginal birth, for every delivery throughout the world.

[Holly Gibbs]

And for both of you, a personal question. Professor Ari, let's start with you. How does it feel to be working on something that is saving lives and making such a difference to these women?

[Professor Ari Kumarasami]

It's a tremendous feeling. I've been doing clinical trials research for nearly three decades. But to have a trial that produces the findings that emotive trial did, which was a massive reduction in women suffering severe postpartum hemorrhage or dying from it is not very common. But then to see that research finding being translated into policy and recommendations and then health ministries and governments and healthcare providers throughout the world taking up the intervention and making it a reality for women is truly a dream come true. So it's a tremendous feeling.

[Dr. Hadeeza Galadanchi]

I've worked as a doctor obstetrician in Nigeria for three decades and I've seen so many mothers, so many mothers come and have excessive bleeding and die in front of me without having the opportunity to save them. So really, you know, with the findings of the way, you know, the intervention has really or is really saving lives. I mean, it was a feeling that finally we've gotten something and we're able to do this in six months. From the time of the publication of the emotive result to the time who, you know, included it in its Recommendation was just 6 months. But then even the more exciting thing is that, you know, with that recommendation, almost every single country is trying to see how they can, you know, introduce that innovation into practice. It's going to be everywhere in this world. And that's the greatest feeling. In fact, the impact is beyond our imagination.

[Holly Gibbs]

Dr. Hadeeza Galladanchi and Professor Ari Kumarasamy. Now to two best friends who have proved that distance is no barrier. Despite living on opposite sides of the world, Joy and Diane have maintained a friendship that has lasted for more than 60 years. And it all started with one letter. The Happy Pods. Helena Burke has been speaking to them, one in Canada and the other in Australia.

[Narrator for Joy and Diane segment]

Joy and Diane first met back in 1965 via a letter.

[Joy]

Back in the 60s, there was a pen pal column in the Vancouver sun, which was the provincial newspaper. And one of my hobbies was pen pals. So when a name came up from Australia, which happened to be Jenny, I wrote to her because I'd always been interested in Australia and I was 12 at the time. So I sent my letter off to Jenny. And then what happened, Joy?

[Diane]

Well, Jenny got so many replies that she said to me she was my friend, and she said, oh, would you like one of the letters? And lo and behold, it come from Diane Seneschal from Canada. And that's where it started. Then I wrote back to her.

[Narrator for Joy and Diane segment]

The girls remain close throughout their teens, writing to each other regularly about school, music and friends. As technology has evolved, they've switched from letters to emails and now texts and video calls.

[Joy]

I'm very aware if Joy writes me in the middle of the night, I tell her that she has to go to bed and get some sleep. And, oh, remember that one time, Joy, when I got mixed up with phoning and I phoned you in the middle of the night? Yeah.

[Diane]

I said, oh, don't worry about it. Just keep talking. She said, nino, I'll ring you back.

[Narrator for Joy and Diane segment]

The friendship has also shifted and grown as time has gone by.

[Diane]

We were very busy with our lives when our children were small and, you know, we're working. But sort of as we've got older, things have changed, hasn't it? We got closer and yeah, we have.

[Joy]

And I think the real special thing about our families is that when Joy and I started getting too busy to write, our moms were retired and they became pen pals. And they kept us in touch through their letters, too. So even though we were busy, we never lost that relationship. We still knew about each other, even if we weren't writing back and forth as often. So I'm very thankful that our mums kept us in touch.

[Diane]

Yeah, me too.

[Narrator for Joy and Diane segment]

After 15 years of writing to each other, the women first met in person in 1980 in the small town of Renmark in South Australia, where Joy lives. Since then, they've met up several times with their husbands in tow.

[Joy]

So we've been to Australia six times, right, Joy?

[Diane]

That's right.

[Joy]

And, Joy, how Many for you?

[Diane]

3. We've been to Canada.

[Joy]

And another nice thing is that both our men like each other too, which makes it easier for us because that, you know, that is important in a relationship, that you're. That the couples are close, not just the women.

[Narrator for Joy and Diane segment]

Joy and Diane say one of the benefits of having a best friend on the other side of the world is that when you tell them your secrets, they don't get spread into the local community.

[Joy]

I'm so comfortable with Joy and I just feel that I can tell her safely, anything. So she's my confidante. She was just telling me about some letters she wrote about things that maybe she should burn before she dies because maybe nobody else should read them. It's just. It's a safe place for me and I can vent with her. In fact, you know, I consider her a sister. I have two sisters, but Joy is also a sister because she's. Well, she's just a very special person in my life. I'm very blessed to have her.

[Diane]

We don't have the same blood running in our veins, but we are like sisters. Yeah, it's really special.

[Narrator for Joy and Diane segment]

They hope their story will encourage other people to not let distance be a barrier to maintaining close relationships.

[Joy]

Distance doesn't have to influence how you feel about a person. You know, like, even if I hadn't met Joy, I think I still would be very connected to her. Just because we, we, we are very similar and, you know, don't let distance be a deterrent for anything.

[Diane]

It'd be nice if more people wrote or had a relationship like you and I have. It's really important, obviously, to you and to me, and it was to our mums. You know, if you got a friend overseas, I think it's really important that you try and keep the connection going.

[Joy]

And I think I won the lottery because I'm really glad that I got Joy.

[Diane]

Well, I reckon I won the lottery.

[Holly Gibbs]

Joy and Diane, speaking to Helena Burke. For the past 18 years, a group of volunteers have given up their time to teach fly fishing to people with breast Cancer. The charity Fishing For Life aims to help with both physical and mental well being. Jane McCubbin has been to one of their riverside branches, ranches in the southwest of England.

[Jane McCubbin]

For Libby, for Jane, for Heather and Andrew, this is the sound of healing.

[Participant in Fishing For Life]

I'm here in this moment in time and it's just, just lovely. Like when you go in the supermarket and you hear that do, do all the time nazi the hospital, the equipment that they have in hospital. So those sounds take you back, but you don't get that here. So lift up, cast out. I get peace and separation from all the doctor's appointments and you just lift well, you just want it to go on forever.

[Jane McCubbin]

Eighteen years ago, Gillian Payne set up Fishing For Life to teach fly fishing to people with breasts cancer. Andrew represents the less than 1% of sufferers who are men. He's diagnosed a year ago.

[Libby]

You could see the difference in him. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally different now. He wouldn't talk, he'd be sat in a chair. He just. There's no point carrying on.

[Participant in Fishing For Life]

Put it through your finger like we did last time.

[Libby]

I can see he's not thinking about anything else. I think Jim just wanted to give back and it's amazing. I don't know how many she set up, but this one's great.

[Jane McCubbin]

Today there are 10 fishing for life groups all over the country, free for anyone with breast cancer.

[Heather]

That's the first dropper.

[Jane McCubbin]

Heather is one of the volunteer coaches.

[Heather]

Well, I'm going to do my very best.

[Jane McCubbin]

Heather was a volunteer for almost a decade before she got her own diagnosis.

[Heather]

So I phoned Gillian and said, I've become one of the girls. If I can help anyone to catch some fish, that would be great. Enjoying the sunshine in the fresh air, moving their shoulders wherever they've had breast cancer to help lymphatic help the muscles get better after surgery, to enjoy it. We're counting on you to net the fish regular.

[Holly Gibbs]

Wow, you've got one. Oh, wow. That's my first fish. I've never caught a fish before.

[Libby]

Really exciting because I normally just catch weed, so I'm sort of halfway through my treatment.

[Jane McCubbin]

Adrian is helping to coach Libby. Is he good?

[Holly Gibbs]

He's rubbish.

[Libby]

We've disentangled ourselves. It wasn't me.

[Participant in Fishing For Life]

We're casting at the same time and we've hooked each other's lines. I'm learning all the time.

[Jane McCubbin]

Adrian first came here as a husband supporting a wife. When she died, he stayed on as a volunteer.

[Participant in Fishing For Life]

It was literally a week before Christmas, you know, so four months ago, Ish. Yeah. This, you know, helps me sort of have a break from thinking about things.

[John Martin]

Yeah, right.

[Libby]

This is the one you think we

[Holly Gibbs]

all get as much out of it, all the volunteers, as much as they do. And when you see the people and

[Heather]

how much satisfaction and how it changes

[Jane McCubbin]

their lives, hundreds have helped here and have been helped finding peace and hope from the steady concentration of casting a line.

[Holly Gibbs]

Oh, thank you so much. Thank you very much.

[Participant in Fishing For Life]

Three months ago, I wasn't doing anything, just sitting at home getting depressed. And this stops that process. All your worries and your troubles seem to just melt away.

[Holly Gibbs]

Andrew ending that report from Jane McCubbin. Coming up on the happy pod protecting a rare rainforest in Northern Ireland and endangered birds in India.

[Parveen Shaikh]

It's a win win for the community staying on the bank of the river because they are getting seasonal employment as well. It is a win win for the species that they are getting protection from the people on the bank of the river.

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[Holly Gibbs]

You're listening to the Happy Pod to Australia with homes that are being adapted for ADHD, it's thought 1 in 20 children around the world have the neurodivergent condition. It can lead to a range of issues including difficulty with attention span and impulsive behavior behaviour. Louise Mylin from ABC News went to meet one family in Tasmania.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

I've pulled up to a suburban unit in Launceston.

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Hello.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

Hi, how are you? It's home to Linda and her two boys and we're keeping a little quiet at first because 4 year old Eamon is napping. Linda and Evan both have ADHD and both boys have autism.

[Linda]

I guess I never quite know what I should be doing. Like I'm overthinking. It I think is for me is like okay, I've been, I'm having a cup of tea. Okay, I should sit there, I should do this.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

Through chatting with other families about adhd, reading articles and listening to podcasts, she realised something had to change. Like many kids, especially those with adhd, Evan and Amon seek a lot of sensory stimulation. Jumping, spinning, hanging upside down. Their house has hard floors which weren't suitable. Instead there's a soft squishy mat in the living room.

[Evan]

It feels like I'm walking on pillows. If you just take your socks off it will feel nice on your feet.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

In the playroom, the star of the show is a bright blue hammock like swing hanging from the roof. In the corner a climbing frame with two gymnastics rings attached with rope. So now you're putting your feet through one loop and your foot in the other one and you're hanging from a bar sitting down into it. For Linda, creating a space for her children with movement based activity in mind is really important. The key is to have a Stimulating environment. Putting her children in front of a screen just wouldn't cut it. For 11 year old Evan, the designing of the play area has had huge benefits.

[Evan]

It's like a feeling where I can be myself and it's just I can control what I can do.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

Linda's family has also embraced visual cues.

[Linda]

Stuff or oats,

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

cereal, all visible.

[Linda]

I know it sounds really basic like, but having my kettle, my tea, coffee, sugar and whatever I drink right there out ready and things I access all the time actually visible helps me.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

And there's the easy hack of labelling baskets around the house for placing specific items known informally as the ADHD tax. Many with the condition have to repurchase items like watches and keys because they regularly lose them. Clutter can also be a big challenge for people with adhd. So to avoid brain overload, it can be helpful to stash stuff in easily accessible space spots. In the boys playroom, a couch cushion lifts up to reveal a massive toy box so the kids can throw their stuff in without it being an overstimulating mess. Evan even uses a whiteboard with clickable lights for visual cues in his morning routine.

[Evan]

I find it hard to get out of bed and get dressed on time. I can't make my body actually do it, but I want to and so I've put this up so then I can do this.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

And you're lighting up the lights when

[Evan]

you press them and they'll be on and then when I finish something I turn them off.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

A tour of Linda's place has shown me that one person and a bit of creative thinking can go a long way to making life easier for people with adhd. And Linda's not the only one making changes. I've spoken to architects across Australia who have moved into the business of creating neurodivergent, friendly interiors. Back in the playroom, 11 year old Evan is in his customized swing relaxing and playing with a Rubik's cube.

[Evan]

Done.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

That was just about 20 seconds. I reckon that was impressive. When you get home to your own place and these rooms with your swing and your big cushion, how does that feel?

[Evan]

It feels like that I can wind down and actually be somewhere where I like being.

[Holly Gibbs]

That report was from Louise Mylin and you can hear more about supporting people with ADHD on People Fixing the World wherever you get your BBC podcasts. A scientist has been awarded a prestigious conservation award for her efforts to protect the endangered Indian skimmer. India is home to 90% of the global population of the black and white waterbird. But their ability to Create safe nests has been under threat. As Branka Lesadisar reports.

[Branka Lesadisar]

That's the sound of the Indian skimmer. A unique orange billed water bird native to South Asia. Skimmers tend to lay their eggs on sandbanks in the middle of rivers or other bodies of water. The Chambal river in central and northern India as one of the foremost breeding habitats for the skimmer. But for years their population along the Chambow has been in steady decline. It's a mystery that Parveen Shaikh, a scientist with the Bombay Natural History Society decided to investigate.

[Parveen Shaikh]

It's a very beautiful popular bird, but we didn't know what exactly is the problem for them. By their declining Barvin discovered that changing

[Branka Lesadisar]

water levels were leaving the skimmers nests vulnerable to predators.

[Parveen Shaikh]

So these birds mainly nest directly on the sandbars that emerge in between of rivers during peak summers. The water which is surrounded on the sandbar is a natural protection to them. But I realized that rivers have changed and this sandbar starts getting connected to the bank when the water level decreases. And that leads to free ranging docks that access the sandbars and predate on the eggs. And that was a very sad scenario to see because a very large loss of eggs and chicks were happening.

[Branka Lesadisar]

Parveen decided that she wanted to do something to help protect the skimmer population. She realized that simply guarding their nesting area had a huge impact.

[Parveen Shaikh]

We were monitoring approximately more than, you know, 10, 15 nests on one island. There were a couple of days left for the chicks to hatch out. When we walked on the nesting sandbar to do the daily monitoring, we realized that the birds were very disturbed. We saw that a couple of dogs had predated everything except only the last remaining two eggs. And we realized that it is possible that if we completely keep the predator outside and not let the livestock come on the sandbars, the birds still have chance to and the eggs and chicks have chance to survive.

[Branka Lesadisar]

Parveen and her team decided to engage local communities in the project, employing them as nest guardians.

[Parveen Shaikh]

We experimented it with couple of nesting sites where we appointed the local community members, we trained them and we told them to protect this nesting colony. And to our surprise, more than 60% of the chicks successfully fled from this nesting colony.

[Branka Lesadisar]

Now Parveen's team supports over 30 nest guardians who provide round the clock protection for skimmer nesting areas. Thanks to their work, the skimmer population on the Chambo has more than doubled.

[Parveen Shaikh]

It's a win win for the community staying on the bank of the river because they are getting Seasonal employment as well. It is a win win for the species that they are getting protection from the people on the bank of the river.

[Branka Lesadisar]

Parvin's advice for other conservationists, conservation is

[Parveen Shaikh]

challenging, but believe it in yourself, believe it in your program. And the one thing that we have learned that people need to be part of conservation. It's very important that the communities around this species need to be part of the conservation program.

[Holly Gibbs]

That report was from Branka Lesa di Sa. We end in Northern Ireland where a rare and environmentally important rainforest is set to come back to life over the next century. It's not the tropical kind you might be thinking of when you hear the word rainforest. This is an ancient and precious woodland known as a temperate rainforest. As John Martin from the Woodland Trust

[John Martin]

explains, we are trying to make the UK and Northern Ireland in particular better for nature and for people. We believe that woodlands provide a lot of health and well being benefits for people, but also the nature benefits as well. You know, in terms of carbon capture, climate resilience, a clear kind of nature based solution to some of the climate nature crisis we find ourselves in at the minute.

[Holly Gibbs]

It's one of the UK and Ireland's most threatened habitats. John Martin also explained why this work

[John Martin]

is Temperate rainforest occurs in areas of high rainfall, mild temperatures and strong kind of ocean influence. It's usually characterized by native tree species such as oak, birch, alder and hazel and complex woodland structures including like ravines, rivers, rocky outcrops, etc. And although kind of less visually dramatic than tropical rainforests, these systems support extraordinarily specialized and often like globally rare species of flora and faunas. Woodland creation along that temperate rainforest zone is really important because, you know, future generations will benefit from the nature based solutions that that rainforest provides.

[Holly Gibbs]

Almost 30,000 native trees have been planted in the 41 acre site. That's around 25 football pitches. It will take about a year to see the tips of the trees sprouting up through their protective plastic tubes. But it will be at least a hundred years before they're fully grown. Rosemary Mulholland is part of the Ulster Wildlife Team who are running this restoration.

[Rosemary Mulholland]

Over the years these trees will grow and it's good to know that. I was there at the start. It's a great privilege to take this land and turn it into a habitat that is now largely lost. You know, we would have had a lot of this forest all over Ireland at one time. It's a very rare habitat. It's actually rarer than tropical rainforest, but it'll do a great job, as well as supporting wildlife. It will reduce runoff of water, you know, reduce risk of flooding, and it will be open to people.

[Holly Gibbs]

John Martin and Rosemary Mulholland. And that's all from the Happy Pod for now. We'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk. this edition was produced by Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Holly Gibbs. Until next time. Goodbye.

[Evan]

If you're into tech, you will love this.

[Reporter Louise Mylin]

TikTok is a live lab where users post instant reviews of the latest trends.

[Evan]

Download TikTok and check it out.