On the Brink

Investigates how severe environmental problems can lead to political crises and increased hostilities around the world. Locations include:

India/Bangladesh : The story of Bangladeshis fleeing their homeland to live in squalor in Calcutta's slums is about environmental inequities, poverty, anger and violence.

South Africa : Despite the victory of independence in 1994, the legacy of Apartheid left thousands of South Africans without significant resources, commerce or job opportunities.

Peru : Unemployed migrants forced to leave the remote highlands of the Andes face environmental inequities and extreme poverty atop the world's driest deserts.

Haiti : Uncontrolled logging and the conversion of forests into farmland has contributed to an environmental nightmare in Haiti.

United States : Everyday, thousands of illegal immigrants attempt to cross the Mexican/US border through the dangerous wastelands surrounding the Sonora Desert.

Topics covered: connections between national security and deforestation, soil erosion, water depletion, air pollution, surging refuge populations and global climate change.