David Attenborough is 93. Throughout his lifetime, the beloved natural historian and broadcaster have seen the planet go through unimaginable changes. Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have soared, as has the human population, while biodiversity has declined precipitously. He details these shifts in a new documentary released on Netflix, which he calls his 'witness statement' for the natural world.
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
The new film, David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, beautifully and persuasively, argues in favor of a fundamental reshaping of humanity’s relationship with nature. But in doing so, it misses something more subtle: the fact that not all of humanity is equally responsible for exploiting Earth. “We are facing nothing less than the collapse of the living world,” he says in the movie.
The film doesn’t, however, explicitly discuss the unequal economic engine that’s responsible for the systems that set this devastation into motion. The entire world is indeed dependent on unsustainable systems. But the choice to move toward those systems wasn’t precisely made democratically.
David Attenborough On Violence And Slavery
Monocultural industrial agriculture, for instance, is the product of violent land grabs and slavery, and the shift toward it has impoverished many farming communities around the world. And fossil-based energy is produced through means that subject worker and poor communities to dangerous pollution. Those same groups don’t get much say in how energy is produced, leaving at the mercy of multinational corporations more focused on profits than human well-being.
David Attenborough And Keith Scholey: We Run Out Of Time
When I asked Keith Scholey, the film’s director, who has worked with Attenborough for more than 20 years, what sparked this change in tenor, he didn’t hesitate. “It’s because we’ve run out of time,” he said. “If we don’t change things in the next ten years, we’ve run out of time, we have.”
Yet also among the suggestions are curbing population growth. The means of doing so are not objectionable. Attenborough notes that providing people with better living conditions and ensuring girls, in particular, have access to education have both been associated with lowering population growth in the past.
A Life On Our Planet: Population Growth
But again, the film - David Attenborough - misses the issue of inequitable distribution. Research shows that the world currently produces enough food to feed everyone on Earth, yet hunger persists. Another recent study shows the world could contain billions of more people if the wealthiest countries vastly curbed their energy use. This suggests that while population growth might pose some challenges, it is not the critical problem.
Instead, it suggests the world will have to change the fact that right now, the rich and powerful can make decisions based on what will grow their profits and let them live resource-intensive lifestyles, not what is best for people and the planet. We have to ensure no one is allowed to devalue life, human or nonhuman, on the earth in centuries to come.
Sir David Attenborough Warns United Nations Event Virtual
Sir David Attenborough also warned world leaders over the extinction crisis. Sir David Attenborough has called on world leaders to do more to protect nature. He made his plea as 65 heads of state and government, including the UK's, signed a global pledge to reverse losses in the natural world by 2030.
Addressing the virtual United Nations event, he said world leaders had a chance to make a difference. A recent BBC documentary, presented by Sir David, issued a stark warning about the extinction crisis and its effects. "If ever we needed a strong signal from world leaders, for people like you, that we are going to solve this, then this is now," he told the delegates.
Last year, a UN report found that around one million species are now threatened with extinction. Hunting, habitat destruction, and other human activities are pushing a rich array of animals to the edge of oblivion—human encroachment on the habitats of wild animals.
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During the virtual event, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a commitment to protect an extra 400,000 hectares of the countryside from supporting the recovery of nature. He promised that the government would increase the amount of protected land in the UK from 26% at present to 30% by the end of the decade.
Mr. Johnson said countries must turn "words into action" and "agree on ambitious goals and binding targets." "We cannot afford dither and delay because biodiversity loss is happening today, and it is happening at a frightening rate," he said. "Left unchecked, the consequences will be catastrophic for us all.
"Extinction is forever - so our action must be immediate."
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson Announcement Welcomed by Wildlife Groups
Wildlife groups welcomed the announcement but said the UK is one of the world's most nature-depleted countries, with a quarter of native mammals threatened with extinction, including wild cats and red squirrels.
World leaders have often come together to strike deals over climate change, but a top-level commitment to nature is rarer. Environmentalists are delighted - they say nature is in freefall and urgently needs protection as roads, railways, housing, and farmland cover the Earth.
We need IMMEDIATE action to stop the extinction crisis, David Attenborough - BBC.
But they say Boris Johnson must lead by example. They point out that around half of existing Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the UK are in poor condition, many through a lack of funding. What's more, measures to protect wildlife in the Environment Bill are becalmed in the Commons for want of parliamentary time. Campaigners say if the UK is taking nature seriously, it must avoid trade deals that damage wildlife.
It must also clamp down on imports of food that have caused environmental destruction overseas - such as beef farming in the Amazon.
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Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said: "a much greater level of urgent action" was needed to put nature into recovery, including rescuing wildlife sites currently in decline. The government figure of 26% includes national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), which are more about how our landscape looks as opposed to the state of nature within them, he said.
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He told BBC News: "The reality is, at best what's being managed for nature at the moment is only 10%. According to the government's advisers on nature, they say half of that is in poor condition, so it's nearer 5%. We've got a mountain to climb if we're going to put nature into recovery in this country and reach the Prime Minister's target by 2030."
He added that the UK needs to do a much better job of managing the sites that already exist and connecting spaces for nature that are not currently protected under the planning or environmental laws. The Prime Minister has signed up to the Leaders' Pledge for Nature; the initiative launched virtually on Monday, which includes commitments to prioritize a green recovery following the coronavirus pandemic, deliver ambitious biodiversity targets and increase financing for nature.
National Parks And Wildlife
National parks, AONBs, and other protected areas make up 26% of land in England. The environment is a devolved matter, but the government has said it will work with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as landowners, to increase the amount of protected land across the UK.
Martin Harper, the RSPB's director of global conservation, said the 30% commitment could be a "huge step towards addressing the crisis our wildlife is facing." "However, targets on paper won't be enough," he said. "Those set a decade ago failed because they weren't backed up by action."
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Mr. Harper said the pledge must be put into domestic law "as part of a suite of goals to restore the abundance and diversity of our wildlife, in every country in the UK." The event will be followed on Wednesday by a UN summit on biodiversity, which is regarded as a critical opportunity for leaders to raise their ambition on tackling the loss of nature.
World leaders And Meetings
A series of meetings are planned in the run-up to next year's UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which will agree with a 10-year strategy to halt global biodiversity loss. The event in Kunming, China, was due to take place in October 2020, but it will be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this month, the UN reported back on the progress made on biodiversity goals agreed in 2010 with a 2020 deadline. It said not one of the 20 global targets had been met in full.
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