WEF 2019: WWF welcomes call by Sir David Attenborough for global environmental action

WEF 2019: WWF welcomes call by Sir David Attenborough for global environmental action

WWF ambassador calls on global leaders to take action to protect the natural world in conversation with HRH Duke of Cambridge on-stage at the Forum.

WEF, Davos, Switzerland: WWF welcomes today’s call from Sir David Attenborough, made in conversation with HRH Duke of Cambridge, in which he urged political and business leaders to protect the natural world. His call reinforces the urgent need expressed by WWF and other organisations for a new global deal for nature and people in 2020 – an agreement which would aim to halt and reverse the loss of nature, and protect our planet.

WWF ambassador Sir David Attenborough joined the Duke of Cambridge in a conversation on-stage at WEF 2019, after Sir David was presented with the WEF Crystal Award on the opening evening. They discussed Sir David’s decades of work, from his first ever documentary series sixty years ago to his upcoming Netflix Original Documentary series Our Planet, which will be released on 5^th April. The pair also watched a short clip about the impact of climate change on the Arctic from the series. The ground-breaking, eight-part series has been created in collaboration with Silverback Films, and WWF, and will showcase the planet’s most precious species and fragile habitats.

Sir David spoke of his lifelong ambition to create societal affinity with the natural world through his work, and the need now for this affinity to translate into real, collective action to protect our planet. The pair discussed the urgent, environmental challenges that our generation is currently faced with, and the opportunities for global leaders and citizens to tackle them – before it’s too late.

Sir David Attenborough said: “We have to recognise that every breath of air we take, every mouthful of food we take comes from the natural world. And that if we damage the natural world, we damage ourselves…We have the power. We have the knowledge to actually live in harmony with nature.”

The Duke of Cambridge said: “People of my generation are beginning to step into positions of leadership around the world. The work to save the planet is largely going to happen on our watch.”

The call from Sir David Attenborough comes shortly after the release of WWF’s latest flagship Living Planet Report, published in late 2018, which showed that population sizes of our planet’s wildlife have plummeted by 60% on average since 1970 – less than a lifetime. The report highlighted overuse of natural resources on land and in the oceans, and agricultural activity, driven by human consumption, as the dominant causes of current wildlife declines and the destruction of forests, oceans and landscapes. It also identified climate change and pollution, including plastic, as significant and growing threats.

As a result, WWF warned that current efforts to protect nature are failing because they are not ambitious enough to match the scale of the threat the planet is facing. WWF is calling for political and economic leaders at the highest levels to commit to a coordinated, global plan of action to protect the planet.

Tanya Steele, CEO of WWF-UK said: “The decisions made over the next few years will determine the future of our world and the wildlife we share it with. Davos is more than a snowy cocktail party for the global elite – it’s a vital opportunity for the world’s most influential politicians and businesses to step up and start leading the planet towards solutions to the biggest problems of our times.

“We urgently need a new global deal for nature and people to kickstart a worldwide programme of recovery and, at the same time, bold action to restore nature at home in the UK. We are the first generation to know that we are destroying the world and almost certainly the last that can do anything about it.”

Jessica McQuade, WWF Cymru explains: “Wales may be globally renowned for its beautiful natural environment but beneath the surface of our spectacular landscape lies a very different picture. Wales is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world with one in 14 species at risk of disappearing. Iconic and important species that live in Wales, such as water voles and bumblebees – have suffered dramatic declines. They may be lost from the country forever unless we act now to restore plants and wildlife by putting the environment at the heart of decision making.

“We enthusiastically welcome the First Ministers’ recent commitment to an ‘Environmental Growth’ approach in Wales which recognises that our future prosperity depends on our natural environment. We look forward to seeing cross government action to deliver on this vision, so that Wales leads on this global agenda to protect and restore nature.”

According to WWF, a new global deal for nature and people would put the environment at the heart of our economic, political, social and financial systems and would integrate efforts to tackle climate change, biodiversity declines, threats to the environment of the high seas and development, via a series of vital international agreements in 2020.

The deal would focus on solutions that address the underlying drivers of environmental problems and requires action from governments and businesses to tackle their global footprint on the natural world. This must include, in a significant way, the private sector and industry as well as civil society and the development and adoption of science-based targets to work towards.

A major step-change can be made through leaders taking a stand for nature at the United Nations General Assembly. A top level political declaration at UNGA 2020, calling for nature’s recovery via a new integrated deal backed by heads of state, would show clear intent, lay out the need for an integrated approach and set out the elements for the new global deal. This would embrace an ambitious new agreement under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with a clear implementation plan for medium and long-term goals for the recovery of nature.

As well as a new agreement under the CBD, other critical elements of the new global deal for nature and people include:

Ambitious new national plans set out to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Action taken via the Sustainable Development Goals, including high level political commitment to rebalancing of the SDGs, such that the environmental components gain stronger traction and backing from governments; and A new governance treaty adopted in 2020 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Whilst the UK should play a central role in shaping and implementing a new global deal, it’s critical that we are also demonstrating environmental leadership at home. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with more than one in seven species facing extinction in our islands and more than half in decline. With an ambitious Environment Act we can inspire the world to join the UK’s fight to restore wildlife populations the habitats, lower carbon emissions and encourage sustainable lifestyles.

Later today (January 22) Sir David Attenborough will take part in a high-level panel discussion entitled ‘Safeguarding Our Planet and launch of Voice for the Planet’, which will be chaired by Al Gore, former Vice-President of the United States. Other panellists are Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group; Akira Sakano, Co-chair of Davos 2019; and Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand. After the panel discussion, Sir David will host a special screening of the upcoming Netflix Original documentary series Our Planet.