Global Us: What connects us all

Giraffes were placed on the Red List of endangered species in 2016. Niger has only a few hundred West African giraffe left, many in a protected zone not far from the capital Niamey. Even there, humans and giraffes compete for many of the same resources.

Cheetahs may be facing extinction. Only around 7,000 now live in the wild. In South Africa, their natural habitat is shrinking. The NGO Cheetah Outreach raises awareness among the local population about the vital role cheetahs play in the ecosystem.

Milenia lives in Las Galeras in the Dominican Republic. She likes playing dominos with her friends - but they avoid the beach. Tornado season lasts a while here.

Eve Ensler has been a vocal advocate of women’s rights for forty years, writing plays, books, creating art and campaigning against injustices suffered by women. Watch an exclusive interview with Eve Ensler right here.

India is a highly patriarchal country. But in the state of Meghalaya, the indigenous Khasi tribe practices matrilineal descent. Here in northeastern India, women rule the roost.

Women in Saudi Arabia are often seen in the West as oppressed. The Nesma embroidery and tailoring center in Jeddah is breaking new ground, giving Saudi woman a sense of freedom in a country that until recently excluded them from public life.

Many African cities are home to a growing number of initiatives aimed at bringing women entrepreneurs up to speed with the digital society, with courses in programming, writing business plans and networking.

They are still in grade school, but the “Defensores del Manglar El Maria” – the defenders of the El Maria mangrove forest – are already deeply involved in saving their environment.

Mavluda Ergeshova lives in a village in Kyrgyzstan. The living room is also the bedroom for the family of five. When guests come, she cooks up a delicious spread.

The Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage looks after chimpanzees that have lost their families – usually to poachers. The compound is spacious. The wooded preserve in northern Zambia resembles the chimpanzees' original habitat over the border in Congo.