Global Us: What connects us all

India is the world's second-largest producer of fruit and vegetables. But 40% of the foodstuffs grown or produced in India never reach the consumer. They land directly in the trash. We investigate.

Climate change has made the weather in Rwanda unpredictable. As a result, farmers are losing on average more than a third of their harvest. Without action, the country's all-important agricultural sector will continue to lose up to 300 million US dollars a year. But how can farmers adapt to the changing conditions?

Every year, between 12 and 15 million tonnes of food are destroyed in Germany alone. That doesn't make sense environmentally or economically. A problem the inventors of FoodLoop want to address.

Barcodes contain a lot of information - including the item's sell-by date. The FoodLoop App uses that information to show users in the vicinity where there are foods on special offer because they're approaching their sell-by date.

Just outside San Salvador, Claudia Rodrigues sells pupusas - El Salvador's national dish. Pupusas are a kind of tortilla, made with cornflour or riceflour, and stuffed with various fillings. For many in El Salvador, pupusas are more than just a delicious snack, they're seen as something of a national treasure.

In recent years, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola have gradually begun opening the age-old migration routes used by elephants, that often transverse international borders.

For local residents, it's a challenging process. The elephants are often hungry, and happy to decimate any crops they come across. But the gentle giants also bring prosperity - tourists are flocking to marvel at the rich diversity of wildlife that is once again returning to these areas.

What do you do if you're about to go away on holiday and your fridge is still half full? Many people in Germany would probably end up throwing the food away. But now there's an alternative. Nearly one third of all foods produced worldwide get thrown away. Over 8000 "food rescuers" in Germany have got together to do their bit to change that.

On their website www .foodsharing.de, donors just have to fill in when and where they plan to leave the food - at a public fridge in their vicinity.

Ghana had a textile industry it could be proud of. 30,000 people earned their livelihood from it. But lately the market has been flooded with cheap copies, most of which are smuggled into the country from China.

The genuine textiles can be distinguished from the fakes above all by the irregularity of their patterns. In Ghana, they're blocked out on the fabric with resin or wax. Each dye is then applied in a separate step. The cheap Chinese textiles, in contrast, are simple prints. The pattern remains the same over hundreds of meters. The Ghanaian government has now established a special unit to take action against the smuggling.

It's a difficult task - Frank Kalinzje (28) and Londiwe Koze (32) are well aware of that. They belong to a group of people from southern Africa who are in Berlin for a year and a half to train as tax experts.

At the Berlin School of Economics and Law, they're not only learning how German tax law works, but also looking for opportunities to improve their national systems. As representatives of the elite in their countries, they hope to reform the tax systems and especially attitudes to taxation when they return. Frank Kalinzje calls himself an agent of change, and he intends to do just that.

The village of Huechen Balam on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula is still surrounded by subtropical forest. The villagers venerate the forest. For centuries, it's protected and nourished them.

The times when their distant ancestors went out on hunting trips through the forest are over. Killing animals is allowed only to a limited extent. So the villagers have turned to farming and are clearing more and more of the forest. Many farmers are aware that they are destroying their livelihood, but they see no alternative. Within the framework of the United Nations' REDD+ Programme, they're learning how they can farm more sustainably in order to protect their precious forest.

More than half of all Indonesians are under the age of 30, but very few can afford a good education. Social entrepreneur Veronica Colondam wants to change that. Her organization, YCAB, provides affordable schooling for the poor.

More than 40 percent of Indonesians live below the poverty line. Children and teenagers have hardly any chance of a better future. Concerned about the many teenagers and school drop-outs at risk of drug addiction, social entrepreneur Veronica Colondam founded YCAB in 1999. The organization supports young people and their families and has now reached more than 2.4 million Indonesians.