Sir David Attenborough appears in a new, short film made for COP26 by The Wildlife Trusts. In it, he calls for greater focus on nature’s power to store carbon and help address the climate crisis – and for bold action, supporting local communities and landowners to create thriving and connected wild places on land and at sea to protect ourselves and the nature that depends on them.
Sir David Attenborough calls for role of nature to be recognised in fight against climate change in new film
The Wildlife Trusts say ambitious nature recovery should be focus at COP26.
Nature has been there for us when we needed it the most.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says:
“Sir David has backed The Wildlife Trusts for over half a century and we’re very grateful to him for supporting our film. He’s right behind our work to restore nature to help wildlife recover and combat climate change. Our society faces a huge challenge with the inextricably linked climate and nature crises, and so we must invest far more in wilder landscapes to store carbon and protect ourselves and wildlife from extreme weather conditions.
“New research shows that the Government needs to commit at least £1.2 billion extra each year in nature – to deliver vital health, wellbeing and economic benefits post-pandemic, limit and mitigate the impact of extreme weather, and restore our treasured wildlife. It’s not too late to repair habitats on a grand scale to store carbon and help nature recover – but we need to act now.”
Let nature help fight climate change – a film from The Wildlife Trusts – with Sir David Attenborough.
“Nature has been there for us when we needed it the most.
Yet we have allowed our natural world and climate to reach breaking point, with almost half of our UK wildlife in decline and some of our best-loved species at risk of extinction.
As the climate emergency intensifies, the threat to life on earth becomes ever greater.
But, we have the choice of a better – and wilder – future. A future where wildlife thrives alongside people. A future where nature helps us in the fight against climate change.
We know that we need to stop burning fossil fuels but we must also recognise the role of nature in helping us turn the tide. We must bring wildlife and wild places back on an ambitious scale, in turn creating new livelihoods and protecting the planet for future generations.
Our lives depend on it.
Nature has extraordinary powers to lock up carbon dioxide; to provide clean air and water; to help protect us from flooding and extreme weather; and to provide the food which sustains us.
For decades, The Wildlife Trusts have been leading the way to put nature into recovery; bringing back precious saltmarsh and peatlands; and reintroducing beavers, our natural water engineers.
But we can’t do it alone. We need bold action, supporting local communities and landowners to create thriving and connected wild places on land and at sea.
It’s not too late to win the fight against the climate and nature crises. Given the chance, nature can recover in the most remarkable ways.
But we need to act quickly. The time is now to create a wilder future.”
Editor's Notes
Sir David Attenborough and The Wildlife Trusts
Sir David Attenborough has been involved with The Wildlife Trusts since the 1960s. In 1985 he took on the role as Chair of the British Wildlife Appeal, our first national appeal. With support from HRH The Prince of Wales the appeal raised over £16 million for wildlife. In 1991 Sir David took on the role of President of the Wildlife Trusts. Stepping down in 1995, before becoming the first President Emeritus in 2012 and played a major role in helping us to mark our centenary that year. Most recently, Sir David narrated the Wilder Future Wind in the Willows film, and our Nature Recovery Networks film. Sir David has supported so many Trusts as well as the movement more generally. In 2019 he supported Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trusts appeal for the Attenborough Nature Reserve and his opening of both London Wildlife Trust’s Woodberry Wetlands and Essex Wildlife Trust’s Thurrock Thameside Nature Park made global media headlines. He was also vocal in Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s campaign against a housing development adjacent to their first nature reserve, Askham Bog, which in May 2020 was rejected by the Secretary of State.
New research shows that The Government needs to commit at least £1.2 billion – see Wildlife & Countryside Link here.
Why nature needs to be high on the agenda at COP26: The special COP26 edition of our nature-based solutions report, Let Nature Help, explains how climate change is driving nature’s decline, whilst the loss of wildlife and habitats leaves us ill-equipped to reduce emissions and adapt to a changing world. See our press release here.
We have a list of things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint here.
We are hosting daily updates online and a special WildLive panel discussion on 7th November with guests including Professor Nathalie Seddon, Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative and Baroness Brown, Chair of the Climate Change Committee's Adaptation Comittee. Details at wildlifetrusts.org/cop26
The Wildlife Trusts
The Wildlife Trusts are here to make the world wilder and to make nature part of everyone’s lives. We are a grassroots movement of 46 charities with more than 870,000 members, 32,500 volunteers and over 2,300 nature reserves. No matter where you are in the UK, there is a Wildlife Trust inspiring people and saving, protecting and standing up for the natural world. With the support of our members, we care for and restore special places for nature on land and run marine conservation projects and collect vital data on the state of our seas. Every Wildlife Trust works within its local community to inspire people to create a wilder future – from advising thousands of landowners on how to manage their land to benefit wildlife, to connecting hundreds of thousands of school children with nature every year. wildlifetrusts.org