Normally I have to endure
people asking me questions,
so it is nice to turn the
tables for once.
If you will,
your career
as a wildlife presenter
started with a
zoo quest expedition in the
1950s.
You were taking a new
technology, to help people
understand the natural world.
Tell everyone how different
the natural world was then
to what it is today.
>>
The natural world then,
the way we had to film,
was utterly different.
The world then
seemed like an unexplored
world.
To me, I had never been to
the tropics before.
I went to West Africa for the
first time and it was a
wonderland.
You just stepped off from the
beaten track and I won't say
it was Jungle, but it seemed
to me that it was
unexplored.
It was exciting.
Everywhere you turned, you
saw something new.
That was in the 50s.
It was the days before they
were insecticides,
when in fact the human
population was only a third
of the size it is today.
So you really did get the
feeling of what might have
been like.
To be in the Garden of Eden.
>> Your series has been seen
by billions of people
worldwide.
How would you explain the
global popularity, and also,
are you surprised that they
are still so popular at a
time when social media
entertainment is short lived
and fast moving and people's
attention spans are quite
short?
>> I am not in the least
surprised.
I do not believe that a child
has yet been born who didn't
look at the world around it
with fresh eyes and wonder.
A five-year-old,
I remember taking out a
five-year-old, six-year-old,
perhaps, into a meadow in
England.
He turned over a stone
and he saw a slug.
He said, "
Look, a slug!
What a treasure
!" And of course,
he is right.
What are those two things
sticking out of the front?
What are they for?
How does it move?
What does it feed on?
Astonishment.
And that goes on, and on,
and on.
Of course, the time comes
when other things come into
it.
In this day and age, who is
not to wonder at the miracles
of the electronic age that he
sees?
But that should be fitted in
alongside.
If you lose that first
wonder, you have lost one of
the most greatest sources
of delight and pleasure and
beauty.
In the whole of the universe,
in the whole wide world.
And so caring for that
brings joy and
enlightenment
which is irreplaceable
.
That is one of the great
measures of life.
And if you lose some of that,
you have lost a great source
of joy.
>> Do you feel, David,
that the advances in
technology in particular have
played a key role in wildlife
lawmaking?
>>.
You asked what it was like
50, 60 years ago.
At that time,
very few people in Britain,
or in Europe indeed,
had actually seen a
pangolin
or an armadillo.
It didn't matter how
badly or amateur you were,
if you showed a shot of an
armadillo, people were
looking at television.
They didn't look in a
critical way.
They just saw an armadillo.
And thought, what on earth is
that?
Making nature films in those
days was comparatively easy.
You just show the animals
and people were standard.
It is now a bit more
sophisticated.
The facilities we now have
a unbelievable.
We can go everywhere
.
We can go to the bottom of
the sea, we can go into
space.
We can use drones, we can use
helicopters, we can use macro
worlds, we can speed things
up or slow them down,
we can film in the darkness.
So the natural world
has never been
exposed
to this degree before.
And there are shots
in this series of films
that we are launching today,
and indeed,
many
natural history films
which 20 years ago
know he could have imagined.
>>
Do you think it is the real
detail that the new
technology can bring out?
Do you think that is
something that captures
people's imagination, that
they can see into areas of
life and nature they have
never seen before?
You have said many times, you
see things for the first time
on some films.
>> Yes.
The wonderful thing from the
point of view of a television
program maker is that this is
international.
You don't need language.
It goes all around the world.
People all around the world
get the same joy, the same
wonder, splendour, cast with
excitement, just by looking
at these things.
As long as a narrator does
not get between you and the
animal too often, you are a
K.
>> There have been a few of
those instances, David.
For many years, as a TV
presenter, you held back from
speaking publicly about
environment issues.
Was there a reason you
decided to do that?
>> When I started 60 years
ago, in the mid-50s,
and to be truthful,
I don't think there was
anybody in the mid-50s who
thought that there was a
danger that we might
and I are late
part of the natural world.
There were animals in
danger, that's true,
and there were animals
that we could see that if we
didn't to something they
would become extinct.
And the notion that human
beings might exterminate a
whole species
was a slightly
,
I would say alarming one,
you just hadn't thought
about it.
If it did occur,
it seemed the exception.
Now, of course,
we are only too well aware
that the whole of the
natural word
is at our disposal, as it
were.
We can do things accidentally
that exterminate a whole
area of the natural world
and the species that live
with it.
>>
Is there one particular
reason or several
why you decided to change
your mind about this and make
more old conservation films?
>> Yes.
If you are a sensitive
naturalist, you would
recognise that there were
areas,
in which
this animal may have
disappeared,
or that animal may have
disappeared.
But the notion that humanity
might exterminate a whole
community of animals,
that was quite foreign.
I don't think many people
thought that.
Of course, the naturalists
were the exception
in a way.
They were people with their
eyes open,
their tentacles prepared to
see what was happening,
but now,
there are more people
living in towns
than there are in the wild.
So it means that
the majority of the human
race are out of touch,
to some degree,
with the richness
of the natural world.
So what they see on
television
is new to them
, and at the same time,
people
who watch the natural wood
on television,
a vision of the world,
that no human being has ever
had 100 years ago.
100 years ago,
people did not know anything
about the world.
They knew about their
immediate circumstances, and
of course they would read
books and so on, but now,
television can take them to
the bottom of the sea.
They can take them high in
the sky, and into the Arctic,
the coldest regions,
the top of the Himalayas,
everywhere.
You can see the most
remote's.
>> Recently, you spoke
powerfully at the UN
climate change conference.
Tell everyone here, how
urgent is that crisis now?
>> It is difficult
to overstate it.
We are now
so numerous
,
so powerful,
so all pervasive,
the mechanisms that we have
for destruction are so
wholesale and so
frightening,
that we can actually
exterminate whole ecosystems
without even noticing it.
We have now
to be really aware of the
dangers of what we are doing.
And we already know that of
course of the plastic problem
in the seas, that is
reeking appalling damage
on marine life,
the extent of which we don't
fully know.
>> Why do you think
the world leaders and those
in key positions of
leadership
, why do you think they had
taken so long and there have
been faltering steps to act
on environment of
challenges?
>> The connection between the
natural world and the urban
world, the Society of human,
has always been
, since the Industrial
Revolution, has been remote
and widening.
We didn't realise
the effects
of what we were doing out
there, but now
we are seeing that almost
everything we do has its
echoes are
, has its duplications
, implications,
across the natural world.
So that we have now
to really care for what we
do, because we can
exterminate things without
even knowing.
>>
As you have alluded to in
some of your films, David,
there are still great sources
of medicinal products and
is out there that we still
don't know about.
There are many species that
we don't know about.
Some we may never know about.
>> That is so.
It may seem when we say
this bird all that heard
that mammal is rare,
and ought to be protected,
people say, "
Is that just the naturalist
saying it is a luxury or a
pleasure
, is it really important?
Are you really sure?
" The problem about
contamination of species
-- extermination
the natural world,
of which we are apart,
is incredibly complex.
It has connections all over
the place.
And you damage one, and you
can never tell
where the damage is going to
end up,
because of all those broken
connections.
If you break all of them,
then suddenly the whole
fabric collapses and you get
eco-disaster.
To give a particular example,
in the early
20th century,
the Sea otter
on the Pacific
had the most luxurious for
that human beings had ever
come across.
So, of course, we hunted
them.
And then you began to realise
that actually,
they are getting very are.
They were on the verge of
extinction.
At the same time,
a second group of people
saw that the seas around the
Pacific Ocean or the Pacific
Northwest,
the Pacific Ocean,
the fish were getting
scarcer.
It didn't seem there was any
connection between the two.
But actually, sea otters
pray
upon seeing agents.
-- See actions.
Se
a yrc
urchins.
They eat small
sea algae.
So if they eat all that,
the forest disappeared.
If the forests disappear,
the young fish
, hatchlings,
they normally live
in that forest.
And the hatchlings from
outside the ocean,
they suddenly began to
disappear.
Knock out the sea otters,
and in fact, the consequence
is a loss of fertility
in the sea oceans
of fish, upon which
we might which to live.
It is an example of the
complexity, and there are
many,
much more complex
relationships in the natural
world.
They healthy natural world is
essential for human society.
>> Like you say,
the chain is so delicate,
isn't it?
If you pluck out some of
these gaps without realising
what you are doing, the
consequences, the
repercussions, over
generations.
>> Yes.
>> Talking of generations,
people of my generation is
starting to be in positions
of leadership around the
world.
It will problem happened
largely on a watch.
What advice you have for my
generation and what can we
build on that you have
started?
>> I think the paradox that
there has never been a time
when more people have been
out of touch with the natural
world than is now,
and we have to recognise
that every breath of air
we take
, every mouthful of food
that we take,
comes from the natural
world.
If we damage natural world,
we damage ourselves.
We are one coherent
ecosystem.
It is not just a question of
beauty or interest
or wonder
.
It is the essential
ingredient
, the essential part
of human life
,
a healthy planet.
We are in the danger of
wrecking that.
If we don't recognise
the sort of connections that
I have been describing,
then the whole of the planet
becomes a hazard.
And we are throwing the
natural world, and with it,
ourselves.
>>
Turning to the people in
this room specifically here
in front of us, leaders in a
particular field, what is
your message if you have a
particular one, to them?
>> Care for the natural
world.
Not only care for the
natural world, but treated
with a degree of respect.
And reference.
The natural world
, as I have said,
is the source of all wonder.
In our future,
we are bound up together.
That future of the natural
world is in our hands.
We have never been more
powerful.
We can wreck it with ease,
we can wreck it
without even noticing in
that we're doing it.
And if we wreck the natural
world, in the end, we wreck
ourselves.
In our daily lives, I suppose
the thing that I really care
for, just in ordinary daily
lives, is not to waste
the riches
of the natural world
on which we depend.
It is not just energy,
which of course is very
important, but it is also
dealing with the natural
world
with a degree of respect
.
Not to throw away food,
not to throw away
power.
Just care for the natural
world
of which we are an essential
part.
>> There is a connection
between environmentalism,
capitalism and economic
success, isn't there?
>> Yes.
>> That is an interesting
topic that I find
interesting.
>> That's why this particular
event on this particular day,
as far as I'm concerned, is
one of the most optimistic
things I have seen for a very
long time.
This disaster, this creeping
disaster, which is overtaken
the world and is
in the danger of dying
during two
damaging it belonged repair,
it started in Britain.
In the Industrial
Revolution, in the 18th
century.
In developing nations,
the natural world
at this stage it did in
America,
seem to be, as it were,
there to be conquered.
A terrible work, to conquer
the natural world.
We had to get up there and
show our mastery of it and
destroy it in the process.
And that
underlay the human reaction
to the natural world for a
very long time.
And still it is seen
by some people that in fact
humanity and industrialise
humanity is in opposition to
the natural world.
It is not.
We are all one well.
And that is the important
thing that we have to
recognise.
Organisations like this and
events like this give you the
optimism that
that fact,
that fundamental beautiful
fact, is now being
recognised.
That is why it is so
exciting to be
at this great, important
occasion,
where people attending it
have more power,
perhaps than any other
gathering in the world, and
feeling that those
responsible for this
gathering recognise
this fundamental truth,
and that people who come
here will actually
not only recognise,
but do something to make
sure, that that packed
between the natural world
and humanity is given
its proper place
.
>> Use the word optimism
quite a few times.
Do you feel the narrative
around climate change and
environmentalism can be quite
pessimistic and actually
there is a real need for
injection of optimism?
>> In a sense,
I think from saying
either an optimist
or a pessimist, what good
does it do to save were
pessimistic?
That is not the point
.
The point is that we have
this option ahead of us.
We have to take the option of
protecting the natural world.
We are discovering more ways
in which we can do so.
I am hearing all around that
yes, we can do this, and the
fact that we can begin to get
power directly from the sun,
and the other renewables,
and that we can see that
there is no longer any need
for us to pollute the world,
with the byproducts of
our devices
for generating energy,
that we can do that
,
is becoming reality all over
Europe, all over the world.
That is where the future
lies.
When one looks at the
consequences of what we have
done to the natural world,
in the processes of raising
energy, we no longer need to.
There is a source of great
optimism there.
Have the power and knowledge
, actually, to live in
harmony with nature.
>>
The world came together
in the Paris agreement to
cut tackle climate change.
In 2020 in Beijing,
you are seeking a global
deal for nature.
Lots of people here we
haven't heard about that.
Do you mind telling us why
that is so important?
>> Because
Paris
was a recognition
by nations around the world,
that the natural world and
community are interdependent,
and Paris
recognised the dangers were.
They saw the problems of our
rising temperatures.
How we have influenced the
climate and caused appalling
station
devastation
.
It was paramount importance
to stop it, we know how to,
the determination
of the nations around the
world that we should do it.
And try and limited.
Between 2° and 1.5° average
, around the world.
If we can do that
, we can prevent loss
of coral reefs,
we can prevent all sorts of
damages, we can reduce the
extremes of weather
overtaking the planet
already,
and that is essential for
the future well-being of the
planet.
That was recognised by
nations around the world, not
universally, I have to say,
and there have been people
who wish to withdraw from
that.
But nonetheless, the majority
of the nations around the
world have accepted and
recognised that and are
working towards it.
That is where we want to put
our faith.
>> David, you are making a
new landmark series called
Our Planet.
You're working with Netflix.
Why did you
decide to become involved in
this project?
>> Because the issue has
never been more important.
The issue that it should be
recognised, it is not just
one part of the world, just
in Europe, but worldwide
,
and
the world wildlife fund
gave us facilities
to see the work that they
have been doing, the research
they have been doing, the
knowledge they have got
about the way in which
ecosystems are working, and
where there are dangers and
where there are wonders.
To enable us to produce this
series of films will stop and
by putting it on Netflix, it
becomes possible overnight
.
You can reach 150 million
people.
Immediately.
I started television in the
1950s.
And television in Britain at
that time was only seen by
a few million people
in southern England.
Now, with Netflix,
it is possible
to put on a transmission
, and it is seen worldwide
by hundreds of millions of
people.
It will go on being seen,
available
when people, word-of-mouth,
it is still there.
It is still there for them
to see it.
So this is a way
in which the world wildlife
fund recognised and gave us
all the insight and
information
, the practical help that we
needed, to make these
programs.
So the worldwide fund for
nature is worldwide.
And this picture of the
world will be coming
worldwide.
Simultaneously on one
particular state, and remain.
>> If I made you choose,
which I'm going to do, with
this the one of your most
favourite projects or your
most enjoyable, in terms of
what they have created, how
they have filmed it, what is
being shown?
And the time it is being
shown in?
In the world, with the issues
that are going on?
>> I started when it was just
me, a cameraman and a
clockwork camera.
You don't make natural
history films like that
anymore.
Natural history films now, of
the sort of quality, are made
by literally hundreds of
people.
There may be 30, 50
cameraman, working on one
particular program.
I think coming like 300
cameraman have worked in this
series as a whole.
Now, you have the facilities
to go up in the skies and the
bottom of the seas, you can
track over the polar wastes,
you can go over the desert,
you can be in jungles of the
world, and all those pictures
you bring back in order to
give a unique picture, which
human beings have not seen
until this generation.
>> I think you have chosen a
favourite clip which we will
show in a second.
Can you tell us about what
we're going to see in the
footage?
>> The footage of the
glazier.
One of the most immediate
dangers facing the planet
today is rising temperatures.
Where you may see that
of course
is more up in the north
than it is in the south.
In the Arctic,
the temperatures are rising
very, very fast.
The team who made this
series determined
that we needed pictures
of the melting ice,
that would symbolise this.
They went up to the north,
now,
the glaciers
up in the north in the
Arctic are moving
very fast indeed.
They went to one particular
glacier
knowing that it was
advancing into the sea rather
fast.
But gases are always on the
move, a bit.
You need
a dramatic sea event.
>> There like children,
unpredictable.
>> But they wanted to see
a glacier that was carving
, say,
coming off in lumps.
And they decided
that the way they would see
that best would be from the
air and in a helicopter.
They eventually
,
and the very last day
of their location,
they were up in a helicopter
and they spied
the glacier suddenly
beginning to carve,
that there were sections of
the glacier
the size of a skyscraper
, a great multistorey
building, falling into the
water, causing huge
surges.
Now, you are a helicopter
pilot.
Is that tricky?
>> It can be.
>> Huge pressures of air,
blocks full into the sea.
What that does,
if you are a pilot,
you would know,
how will you get a steady
shot?
The pilot who is working on
that helicopter has my
, and you would know better
than me,
how skilled he was, to get
the sort of shots
of the carving of the
glacier, which is included in
this series.
>> Helicopter pilots are very
skilful, David.
I think everyone will be
fascinated to see the clip.
If we could play the clip, it
would be fantastic.
These are massive ice falls
from the top of Iglesia
-- gla
cier
are just the beginnings of a
far greater event.
A stretch of the front face
of the glacier
is starting to break away.
From 400 m
and if the service,
the hidden ice is a surging
upwards.
--
Surface
.
The breakaway of an iceberg
at the size of a skyscraper
creates a colossal title
wave
.
--
Title
.
(EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYS)
within 20 minutes,
75 million tons of ice break
free.
>>
(APPLAUSE)
Incredible footage, I think
everyone would agree.
David, it remains for me to
say a huge thank you on
behalf
of everyone here for you
being here today to talk so
openly.
A huge congratulations again
on the award.
Around of applause again for
Sir David Attenborough.
(APPLAUSE).
