Now on bbc news, hardtalk. Here we are at this viewpoint, its called the Horseshoe Falls viewpoint, but there is no fall . Maybe one year there will be no fall completely, no water. Weve lost at least 200 elephants. From starvation . Starvation, yes. After yea rs of starvation . Starvation, yes. After years of political turmoil and misrule, zimbabwe now faces an existential threat from Climate Change. Can it adapt before its too late . Victoria falls, one of the wonders of the natural world. The waters of the Zambezi River plunge more than 100 metres along a fault line that divides zimbabwe from zambia. The british explorer David Livingstone claimed to be the first european to experience this magic. It was, he said, a view for the angels. Long before David Livingstone got here and named this spectacular place Victoria Falls, local people knew it as the smoke that thunders. But right now, this smoky mist isnt so thick and the thundering raw, it isnt so loud. The falls are more than one kilometre wide. When the zambezi is full, the entire stretch isa zambezi is full, the entire stretch is a wall of cascading water. But look at it now. For the last year, Southern Africa has been in the grip ofa Southern Africa has been in the grip of a severe drought. The falls shouldnt be full right now, but nor shouldnt be full right now, but nor should they look like this. Zambias president recently tweeted a shot of this expensive rock, calling it a stark reminder of what Climate Change is doing. This man is the zimbabwean governments leading Climate Change research. He is co nsta ntly Climate Change research. He is constantly monitoring the falls. Of course, the falls are seasonal . But something is happening, it seems, that goes beyond seasonal change. Yes, you will find that the Victoria Falls, although it is seasonal, it peaks falls, although it is seasonal, it pea ks around march, falls, although it is seasonal, it peaks around march, from january to around march, where it is a peak of water falling through the falls. We find out that during the past recent yea rs, find out that during the past recent years, there has been a change in the amount of water that falls passed through the Victoria Falls, normally an average of around 2000 cubic metres per second that is passed through the falls, but for this year, 2019, the average has been 1200 cubic metres per second. So its down by almost 50 . Down by almost 50 . Ive got to stop you, because here we are at this viewpoint. Its called the Horseshoe Falls viewpoint, but there is no falls. This is remarkable. With the water . Yes, the change in the trend is that the low falls, they are becoming more frequent, and this is worrying. This is one of our tourist attractions, and there are a lot of animals downstream and even upstream, and who knows . Maybe one year there will be no fall completely, no water. That is scary. If you can imagine Victoria Falls virtually dry, you think that is a serious possibility . It is. If you look at the climate models, just two weeks ago, we recorded around 87 cubic metres per second, when around this time its supposed to be 300 cubic metres per second. Goodness me, my maths isnt great but that means you are getting barely a quarter of the water that you would expect at this time of year . Sure, and it is affecting electricity generation. Because of the hyd ropower generation. Because of the hydropower both zambia and zimbabwe rely on from the huge reservoir. Yes. Zimbabwe grows about 60 of its electricity from kariba. Two hours from Victoria Falls is another of zimbabwes from Victoria Falls is another of zimba bwes natural splendours, from Victoria Falls is another of zimbabwes natural splendours, this National Park. What about the elephants here, how many are there . This is where we have the biggest concentration of elephants in the world. This stretch of zimbabwe boasts west africas highest concentration of elephants. It is everyones idealised image of africa. Except for one thing this land is dying of thirst. This is Hwange National park in mid november. This should be the rainy season, but as you can see from the dry grass and the leafless trees, the rains havent come, the drought continues. In other parts of africa, elephant herds have been devastated by poaching and habitat destruction. Not here. Hwanges elephant population is around 50,000. That is good and bad news. And prolonged drought, hwange lacks sufficient food and water for its elephant population. I dont know if you can see, but theres a of elephants just over there. They are feeding. Each elephant needs about 300 kilograms of food per day. They strip the trees and then they move on. And in a drought like this, you can see how dry it is. That means they are constantly on the move in a desperate search for food. This is the all too familiar outcome. The carcass of a young elephant, starved to death. The stench is still strong, but predators have already had theirfill. Strong, but predators have already had their fill. The strong, but predators have already had theirfill. The parts strong, but predators have already had their fill. The Parts Authority is using solar pumps to keep the waterholes from drying out. They are taking more drastic measures, too. 600 elephants are to be shipped to areas less ravaged by drought. More than 30 young Wild Elephants were recently captured and sold into captivity in china, and every year, the parks permit 500 elephants to be killed by hunters. How desperate do you think they become, these elephants . In these very unusual drought conditions. elephants . In these very unusual drought conditions. I think the situation is very desperate, because if you look at the distance that the animals are travelling in search of water, it is too much for them. And also if you look at the animals who are succumbing to starvation, they are succumbing to starvation, they are dying within 50 metres, 100 metres, as you can see stopping the carcass over there is within 50 metres from the water source. And it is not only water we are having challenges with, there is no food. The data that we have collected between september and october, we have lost at least 200 elephants. From starvation . Starvation, yes. What about the intense potential conflict now between the elephants and the human population all around the park. So far we have lost at least 33 lives due to human wildlife conflict. And local villages . Throughout the country. Countrywide. And that means that the communities close to the part are becoming increasingly frightened and angry about the elephants. Ecu, from zimbabwe parks authority, whosejob is to protect these elephants, and they actually are beginning to resent you too. Of course. We entered a funeral where a teacher in the eastern part of the country was killed by an elephant. The community chased us away. We had to go through a traditional leader to say we are here, these are the problems we are facing, we must support together. Climate Change is getting worse, the conflict between the wildlife, particularly here, the elephants, and the human population, is only going to get worse. It is going to get worse if the numbers remain as high as they are, and sang the capacity of this park is 15,000, we are talking between 45 53,000 elephant. That is not a small number. It has more than doubled. But ina number. It has more than doubled. But in a sense you are avoiding the ha rd but in a sense you are avoiding the hard truth, that what you are essentially telling me is that thousands of elephants in this park will have to be killed or transported away from here to make this park sustainable. They need to be moved from here to make this park sustainable, thats the future, thats the reality. The cynics will point to what you do and so you dont actually have the best interests of the elephants at heart stopping for example, recently you sold more than 100 young elephants to china, to go to zoos. That, to many people in conservation, is simply unacceptable. You know, this was not a one off sale of 100 young elephants. People try to evoke emotions. Can you justify it . Elephants. People try to evoke emotions. Can youjustify it . Hold on, let me explain. We dont sell baby elephants. We capture sub adult elephants, those who are independent. Look at your badge, you are the National Park service of zimbabwe, is that what you should be doing . Thats what im saying, people try to evoke emotion. There isa people try to evoke emotion. There is a lot of research that is done. And Better Research leads to the translocation of those animals. How much money did you and your organisation get . We only do that thing from 2012 2016. Organisation get . We only do that thing from 2012 2016. 3 million. What happened to that money . We have used about 150,000 what happened to that money . We have used about 150 , 000 to what happened to that money . We have used about 150,000 to buy new training dogs for our patrol units. We have also bought some vehicles for the patrols that we do for anti poaching. We have put more money into anti poaching. Also to purchase some tense for our rangers who spent 21 days in the bush looking after these animals. They must also make the same noise that Climate Change is real. Trees are destroyed, vegetation is lost stopping those are the issues stopping those are the issues stopping not ten young elephants, its a drop in the ocean. Even 10,000, because there are just too many. As we left hwange, this is one of the last things we saw. Vultures feasting on another young elephant falled by starvation. Hwanges elephants are in a battle with the ecosystem, and right now, they are losing. From hwange, we drove down rough dirt tracks to meet the communities who farm the neighbouring land. Right now, we are heading down an extremely dumpy, difficult track, to get to a village which has become one of the front lines in the confrontation between people and wildlife. Gamba village is home to the subsistence from the name bea is home to the subsistence from the name be a tribe. A long walk to school for the kids, no roads. The dry riverbed, one sign of a Farming Community in deep trouble. The drought has forced elephants out of hwange in the search for food, and this is the gruesome results. Pictures of local farmers trampled to death, defending their crops and wild stock. This woman is preparing her plot for sorghum planting, although nothing will grow without rain. Last month, her brother was out here when elephants passed through. A lot of people watching this will worry about the security in the future for the elephants here in the drought, but you seem to be saying that the problem really is for the human beings more than the elephants. The flight across zimbabwe to harare reveals a parched landscape. This is a National Crisis for humans and wildlife alike. Drought has pushed zimbabwes wildlife alike. Drought has pushed zimba bwes infrastructure over the edge. Hydropower is down by 90 . Ferraris reservoirs have shrunk dramatically. Zimba bwes prolonged drought has stretched this countrys infrastructure to breaking point. This dam and the reservoir behind are supposed to provide hundreds of thousands of people with their drinking water. But right now in harare, 2 Million People have nothing coming out of the taps. The reason, this vast lake has been reduced to a trickle. How can zimbabwe weaken by prolonged economic crisis, cope with this looming environmental catastrophe . Do you believe your country has a strategy to cope, to adapt, to manage the drought and the wider issue of Climate Change, which does appear to be affecting sub Saharan Africa and zimbabwe in very alarming and damaging ways. I believe it is a work in progress. I believe it is a work in progress. I believe that we have quite a number of climate sustainable programmes. We still need to have a comprehensive, as i mean, we are working on a very comprehensive Climate Adaptation strategy. But suffice to say that what is more important currently is climate proving our practices, smart agriculture, renewable energy. These things are coming into being. Agriculture, renewable energy. These things are coming into beinglj agriculture, renewable energy. These things are coming into being. I know you travel the country, i travel the country. They are not working, are they . For example, right now, your electricity system is very dependent on the power, the hydropower coming from the dam, the lake is very low, 13 of capacity. There are Power Outages all over this country all of the time. Most people do not have electricity most days of the week. Also, the water supply. Your water supply is failing the people of this country. Millions have no Running Water in their taps. You are not coping. 0k. This is at the height of the effects of the drought last year. Yes, indeed, the majority of the power, most of our power is hydro, coming from the dam, and because of that, water levels have gone down and this is just what we experienced in the last few months. So how can you tell your people you are coping . 0k, are coping . Ok, ijust want to give you a clear explanation. We have had to intensify our drive on solar power, we have removed the importation of solar power, but i want to admit that it has been more. Very late, very, very, late, minister. Unless i am wrong, you are still putting a great deal of faith in thermal power, and it would seem to me ata in thermal power, and it would seem to me at a time when the entire world is committing to decarbonisation, to be an extremely shortsighted strategy. You are the environment minister. Would you agree with me . That is a very contentious issue. What is contentious about it . Doesnt zimbabwe acknowledge that it has to be part of the decarbonisation story . Fossil fuels is abused for african countries. Are you planning to bring more coal fired power stations on stream . We are planning to bring more solar farmss i didnt ask you about solar. I asked you about cold. No, we are planning to bring more solar power. Coal will not move out ofa solar power. Coal will not move out of a faster pace for fossil fuels because we still believe that our emissions are very significant amount compared to the developing nation. You will agree with me that they have moved slowly out of that because they know that it is benefiting the economies. I think we need also to give africa a chance. I think africa can still benefit from its resources. That is your way of saying, yes, we are committed to continuing with coal because we have we will use it . Yeah. Lets yeah. Lets be yeah. Lets be clear yeah. Lets be clear about yeah. Lets be clear about that. Lets also be clear that you have to cope right now with an increasingly intense battle for resources between human growing population of zimbabwe and the very rich, wonderful asset of wildlife that you have in this country. I have just of wildlife that you have in this country. I havejust come of wildlife that you have in this country. I have just come from the National Park and in the last few months we have seen, according to your officials, 200 elephants die of starvation. There is nothing to for them to eat because of the drought. We also see the human population, the farmers in the area struggling to survive because of the drought. When it comes to a battle of resources between, lets say, elephants and people, whose side, as environment minister, are you on . We area environment minister, are you on . We are a government that prides itself on the conservation programmes. We have these large numbers of elephants but also g i raffes , numbers of elephants but also giraffes, because over the years we have been doing a very good deal in our conservation methods. Minister, you have advocated for very specific things. You have advocate is with the International Organisation committed to protecting species. You have advocated for the resumption of ivory sales. You have advocated for the sales of Wild Elephants, including babies and young ones on the international market. You have just young ones on the international market. You havejust sold, in the last few months, 30 young elephants to china, and the latest information as they are now being kept in small metal cages being prepared to be an entertainment asset for a theme park in china. Is this really the way zimbabwe feels it can conserve its wonderful wildlife . These are just distortions. With respect, minister, everything i have just said is true. No, they are not kept in steel cages. Before we sell. The standard newspaper showed leaked pictures from china of these young elephants in chinese captivityjust a few days ago. These pick orders, we need to verify. I saw a video of an elephant being loaded into a car. The type of car we dont have in this country. Let me give you this example. We will never sell our wildlife outside the provisions of scientist. Minister, let me ask you a Bigger Picture question. As environment minister. We look closely at the flow of the Zambezi River. The most easy place to do that is the marvellous Victoria Falls. There with one of your Climate Change and lists. He said that the figures show this year, as a whole, the flow of water over the falls, it is almost 50 down, and you can see dry areas of the falls, which normally at the beginning of the rainy season will beginning of the rainy season will be beginning to show water. There is no water there. How can zimbabwe cope with the long term change in climate which will see the waters of the zambezi drastically reduced . Climate change is a phenomenon and zimbabwe, as part of it, will have to up its game. Admittedly, the flows have gone down quite significantly. Over the last two or three days, there have been improvements. But again, it is because of the drought that we suffered last year, and we might not necessarily take this as a perpetual phenomenon. We are expecting a fairly average rain, but it has given us a wake up call that we need to come up with more robust Climate Change measures, and, again, we will be moving much, much closer to renewable energy, particularly solar and not to rely more on hydro. This is part of what we are looking at. But, again, we have a very ambitious forestation strategy. Next year alone we plan to blood no less than 20 million trees. Just as measures to cope with Climate Change. Drought is a killer. If the rains dont come, zimbabwes people and wildlife will compete for resources, for survival. And it wont end well for survival. And it wont end well for either. Hello. As we move into the final week of meteorological autumn, there is more rain in the forecast. Through the early hours of monday morning, the heaviest of the rain across South West England, wales, into northern ireland. Ahead of this, the rain a little patchier, but a lot of cloud, some drizzle further north and east, so its a murky, misty, mild start to monday morning, but quite wet in places. And these spells of rain will gradually track their way northwards as the day wears on, perhaps not getting as far north as the far north of scotland, but still quite a windy day for shetland, and for all of the uk, its another mild afternoon, if rather soggy. Poor visibility in places as well, but temperatures 9 to 13 celsius on monday afternoon. Well keep those outbreaks of rain going through the evening. Slowly, theyll start to ease away northwards. Drier, but cloudy for a time before our next band of rain arrives into the south west through the early hours of tuesday morning. With it comes some tropical air, so temperatures overnight into tuesday wont drop much lower than 7 or 8 celsius, and this is because in this area of low pressure is the remnants of what was Tropical Storm sebastien, and its also going to pep up the rainfall and strengthen the winds on tuesday. So, across parts of south wales and South West England, we could well see widespread gusts of a0 to 50 miles an hour coupled with further heavy rain. Now, falling onto already saturated ground, we have a number of met office rain warnings in place on tuesday. This rain again spreading its way northwards across the uk, not raining all the time. There will be some breaks in that, maybe some brighter skies, but further heavy showers are never too far behind. And, again, it will be quite a windy day, particularly across parts of wales, South West England, Southern Coasts too, and its going to be very mild 10 to 1a celsius the top temperature on tuesday afternoon. Now, this area of low pressure continues to rotate around, and pushing its way eastwards across the uk on wednesday, so still a very messy picture and still quite wet, further heavy rain. Again, weve got met Office Warnings in place for the middle part of the week and also some strong wind across northern scotland, still some gusty winds along welsh coasts down into South West England and along channel coasts as well. 10 to 12 celsius the top temperature on wednesday afternoon. And then things slowly change through the second half of the week as the low pressure. We pulled out a north easterly window that will return some colder air across much of the uk as we go into thursday and friday. By the time we get to friday morning, most of us will be waking up to a frost again. To sum up the week ahead mild and cloudy, wet and windy at times and drier and colder later in the week. Goodbye. Im Sharanjit Leyl in hong kong. The headlines a pro democracy landslide in hong kongs District Council elections sweeps aside the pro beijing establishment. Turnout was more than 70 , the highest ever recorded in any hong kong election. Our correspondent witnessed an upset. Well, you can hear all the excitement here, and that is because a 23 year old democracy activist has just unseated a pro government incumbent who has held this seat for the last 20 years. Im kasia madera in london. Also in the programme leaked documents seen by the bbc reveal the extent to which prison