Sir David Attenborough offered a stark warning on climate change while speaking to Prince William live on stage.
Talking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the veteran broadcaster urged leaders to care for the natural world and spoke of the ”frightening” mechanisms humans have for destruction.
“The future of the natural world is in our hands. We have never been more powerful,” he told the Duke of Cambridge.
“We can wreck it with ease. We can wreck it without even knowing we are doing it.
“And if we wreck the natural world, in the end, we wreck ourselves.”
The broadcaster added: “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.”
Attenborough also discussed his new nature documentary Our Planet, saying streaming it on Netflix would allow it to be seen by millions of people around the world.
Describing the modern technology used in his documentary making, he said: “The facilities we now have are 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 speed things up and we can slow them down.
“So the natural world has never been exposed to this degree before.”
He urged people “not to waste the riches of the natural world on which we depend” and to respect the planet by not throwing away food or power.
Attenborough added: “Just care for the natural world, of which we are an essential part.”
Second in line to the throne William described it as a “personal treat” to be interviewing Sir David.
One of Attenborough’s favourite clips from Our Planet – dramatic footage of an Arctic glacier carving up and falling into the sea – was played during the Forum.
The naturalist said: “One of the most immediate dangers facing the planet today is rising temperatures... In the Arctic temperatures are rising very fast.”
Our Planet will be streaming on Netflix from 5 April 2019.
Additional reporting by agencies.
