Sir David Attenborough spoke of the potential collapse of civilisation and the extinction of the natural world in his address to the 24th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) on Monday. The broadcaster read messages gathered from around the world that represent the “voice of the people”.
Delegates from nearly 200 nations gathered in Katowice, Poland, to negotiate how to enact the Paris Agreement to curb climate change.
Attenborough said: “Right now we are facing a manmade disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change. If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”
Acting as a spokesperson for public opinion when addressing the delegates, he continued: “The world’s people have spoken. Their message is clear. Time is running out. They want you, the decision-makers, to act now.”
He acknowledged that the global political climate has changed since the formation of the Paris Agreement in 2015:
“Today we see that the wave of optimism and global cooperation that carried us to and through Paris, crested broke and is now tumbling. The societies of the world don’t seem to be as global minded as they appeared to be back then.” But he was encouraged by the G20 support for the success of the summit: “Climate change is a global problem and we can only solve it if we come together.”
The COP24 president Michal Kurtyka, said the focus of the Katowicz was to agree a set of new guidelines to put into effect the Paris agreement. He further addressed the summit, speaking of “transition”, “solidarity” and “hope”.
The World Bank pledged $200bn in funding over five years to support climate change actions, $50bn of this will be reserved for resilience and adaptation actions.
Although Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement, this won’t come in to effect until 2020. America is therefore expected to take part in COP24.
Attenborough’s message to the delegates was loud and clear, sending a stark warning to governments all around the world. “Leaders of the world, you must lead. The continuation of our civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend, is in your hands.”