Sir David Attenborough urged summit delegates to tackle climate change, in a speech delivered at the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).
Speaking in Glasgow, the 95-year-old highlighted the inequalities of climate change, which most impacts young people and nations that have contributed the least to the problem.
“This story is one of inequality as well as instability. Today, those who have done the least to cause this problem are being hardest hit. Ultimately, all of us will feel the impacts… some of which are now unavoidable.
“Perhaps the fact that the people most affected by climate change are no longer some imagined future generation but young people alive today, will give us the impetus we need to re-write our story, to turn this tragedy into a triumph.”
The COP26 is hoping to reach a consensus on actions to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and to secure net-zero emissions by 2050.
Attenborough also highlighted his hope that despite the damage done, we can witness the recovery of the natural world.
“If, working apart, we are a force powerful enough to destabilise our planet surely, working together, we are powerful enough to save it. In my lifetime, I have witnessed a terrible decline. In yours, you could, and should witness a wonderful recovery. That desperate hope, ladies and gentlemen, delegates, excellencies, is why the world is looking to you – and why you are here.”