British broadcaster and environmentalist David Attenborough has urged world leaders, meeting in Poland to agree how to limit global warming and tackle “our greatest threat in thousands of years”.
Known for countless nature films, Attenborough has gained prominence recently with his Blue Planet II series, which highlighted the devastating effect of pollution on the oceans.
“Leaders of the world, you must lead,” said the naturalist, given a “People’s seat” at the two-week UN climate conference in the Polish coal city of Katowice alongside two dozen heads of state and government.
“The continuation of our civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend, is in your hands,” he said.
“Climate change is running faster than we are and we must catch up sooner rather than later before it is too late.”
10-year-old talk climate change, and you need to listen to what they have to say.
Attenborough told the delegates: “Right now, we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale. Our greatest threat in thousands of years. Climate Change.”
The world is currently on course to overshoot by far the limits for global warming agreed in the landmark 2015 Paris accord on climate change, which were intended to prevent more extreme weather, rising sea levels and the loss of plant and animal species.
The Katowice talks are billed as the most important UN conference since Paris, coming ahead of an end-of-year deadline to agree a “rule book” on enforcing action.
Yet political and UN leaders have been struggling to inject urgency into two weeks of haggling on how to move on from fossil fuels to give practical effect to the Paris accord.
Representatives of some of the most powerful countries and biggest polluters were conspicuous by their absence, and the United States is quitting the UN climate process.
To maximise the chances of success in Poland, technical talks began on Sunday, a day early, with delegates from nearly 200 nations debating how to meet the Paris target of limiting global warming to between 1.5 and 2.0 degrees Celsius (2.7 and 3.6 Fahrenheit).
Michal Kurtyka, Poland's deputy environment minister and president of the talks, said that without success in Katowice, Paris would not be a success, as it had only decided what was needed, not how it could be done.
Moreover, the wider political environment had changed.
"The wave of optimism and global co-operation that carried us to and through Paris has now crested, broken and is now tumbling," he told delegates.
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Top Comments
I don’t understand why people are so against things that will help the environment. Let’s just say, for arguments sake, that climate change is not man-made. There are still issues like air pollution, and the huge amount of plastic and non biodegradables going into landfill. The pictures of the Great Pacific garbage patch are appalling. How is working towards cleaner renewable energy such a terrible idea? Or reducing emissions to give us cleaner air? Or reducing the amount of plastic we use? (I’m guessing the answer is something to do with money. It usually is.)
If the UN were simply 'working towards cleaner renewable energy', I'd be completely in favour of it. Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with the control of energy worldwide. And you're absolutely right about it having to do with money. If you were to check out the investment portfolios of the Turnbull family, many of the elite in the Labor Party and especially the union movement, you'd completely understand the push for renewables. But why do hard working tax paying Aussies have to be slugged upwards of $3b a year in subsidies, to put money in the pockets of the already wealthy?
Alan Jones on his show this morning telling David Attenbotough that hes not a climate scientist,Neither are you cupcake