This week on Living Planet: South-western Australia under the biodiversity hotspot microscope, from guns and ammo to green gas, helping out man’s closest relative and “Climate Witness”: Kenya.

Climate Change and a Biodiversity Hotspot: Southwest Australia

Climate change is high on the international agenda, not only at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poland but also in Australia. Temperature and rainfall patterns are important in determining what flora and fauna are present in different areas. Changes in the climate can have a severe impact on biodiversity. South-western Australia is one of the world's "biodiversity hotspots", but the region is already feeling the effects of climate change.  Living Planet talks to Paul Gamblin, Program Leader for West Australia with the international conservation group WWF. (Interview: Irene Quaile)

Former US Munitions Site Becomes Model Green Power Town

Morbach, located in the forested Hunsrueck mountain ranges in southwest Germany, was a United States Air Force munitions and weapons storage area. It was one of the largest ammunitions depots in Europe. Since the site was closed in 1995, the town has been transformed into a 145 hectare energy park that produces all the energy for the region from regenerative sources such as wind, solar and bio energy. Living Planet visits Morbach to catch a glimpse of a possible energy future. (Report: Naama Shochat)

Year of the Gorilla 2009 to Conserve Man’s Closest Relatives

The Year of the Gorilla 2009 was launched at the opening of the United Nations Wildlife Conference in Rome, Italy. The aim is to boost conservation of humankind's closest relatives and their habitats by increasing the livelihoods and incomes of local people. Currently, three out of four gorilla species are critically endangered. Major threats to gorillas are poaching for bushmeat, habitat degradation, armed conflicts and diseases. Living Planet speaks to gorilla expert and Chief Consultant to the UNEP/UNESCO Great Ape Survival Project, Ian Redmond, and asked him how the situation of gorilla populations has changed since his early work with Dian Fossey in the 1970s. (Interview: Irene Quaile)

Climate Witness Series: Kenya

In Living Planet's 'Climate Witness' series we hear first-hand testimony to the consequences of climate change. This week we visit Kenya, where climate change is having an impact on the traditional farming practices of livestock herders, with rainfall patterns shifting. Wycliffe Onchaga Nyangaresi is a consultant supervising the construction of a biogas plant in the Central Province of Kenya. He is from Kisii in Nganza Province, a region that is suffering increasingly from water shortages on account of deforestation in the Transmara and Mau Forests. (Report: Kateri Jochum)