鈥楨xtinction: The Facts鈥�: Attenborough鈥檚 new documentary is surprisingly radical
This article by Julia Jones, Professor in Conservation Science, School of Natural Sciences is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .
We have learned so much about nature from David Attenborough鈥檚 documentaries over the past seven decades. In a new BBC film he lays bare just how perilous the state of that nature really is, why this matters for everyone who shares this planet, and what needs to change.
This film is radical. Surprisingly radical. I have written in the past about with Attenborough documentaries continuing, decade after decade, to depict nature as any mark of humans. I felt this might be contributing to about how much 鈥渨ild鈥� was really left.
鈥淓xtinction: The Facts鈥� is a significant departure. As one of the programme鈥檚 talking heads, I helped reveal the honest truth: in most places, remaining natural habitats between intensive agriculture and urban sprawl.
The film starts with a bleak interview with , the keeper of the world鈥檚 last two northern white rhinos; a mother and daughter pair. 鈥淲hen Najin passes away鈥�, says Mwenda, 鈥渟he will leave the daughter alone forever 鈥� Their plight awaits 1 million more species鈥�.
This sequence has a real emotional kick. However, the film makes clear that extinction is about so much more than the loss of .
鈥淓verything is joined up, from a single pond to a whole tropical rainforest鈥� says professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford. 鈥淲e tend to think we are somehow outside of that system. But we are part of it; and totally reliant upon on it鈥�. The film goes on to explain the impacts of biodiversity loss on our soil functioning (with a star turn from breaking down leaf litter), the role of insects in pollinating our crops, and how losing trees and wetlands can contribute to landslides and floods.
The potential link between the drivers of biodiversity loss and emerging diseases is also explored. The wildlife trade brings 1,000s of stressed animals into close contact, providing the perfect opportunity for ) between species. At the same time, removing large predators results in increased abundance of and which are more likely to carry . 鈥淲e鈥檝e been changing biodiversity in critical ways which made [the pandemic] more likely to happen鈥�, says Peter Daszak of Ecohealth Alliance.
In footage from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, then 12-year-old addresses the largest UN meeting to have ever convened. 鈥淲e are a group of 12 and 13 years olds come to tell you adults that you must change your ways鈥�. The parallels with Greta Thunberg鈥檚 recent high-profile serve to highlight how little progress has been made.
So if biodiversity loss is so obviously happening, and so obviously a bad thing for the future of humanity, why have we failed to act and what needs to be done?
Firstly, the film makes it clear that a key ultimate driver is consumption in rich countries. Given that the average Brit consumes more than of the average Indian, reducing consumption in places like the UK is vital. This need not be painful. As the eminent Cambridge economist says, 鈥�40 years ago people in the UK consumed a good deal less. But there is no evidence that we were unhappier then鈥�. The film starkly highlights what we are losing in exchange for out-of-season food, fast fashion and cheap poultry.
Secondly, having strong environmental standards for things produced in the UK (important though it is), is not enough. We also need to consider where the products we buy and the food we eat comes from 鈥� if not, people in countries like the UK are simply offshoring environmental problems for others to deal with.
Finally, the film touched on the need to make us pay the true cost of the environmental damage we do. The idea that businesses should not be able to degrade our environment for free is . However, despite some progress with policies like the UK鈥檚 landfill tax or California鈥檚 , most societies are far from doing this comprehensively.
Together, this is what makes the film so radical. It is explicitly calling for major changes in the way our economies work with a greater focus on both . I was certainly surprised to see this weaved into a Sunday night BBC prime time show.
Towards the end, the film moves back to more conventional conservation territory to insert a much-needed dose of . The final story includes some of the most iconic footage from Sir David鈥檚 career: his meeting with 40 years ago. At the time, Attenborough felt he might be seeing some of the last of their kind 鈥� just 250 individuals were left and their future looked bleak. Today that population is .
Over his incredible career, David Attenborough has seen more of earth鈥檚 natural wonders than almost anyone. To hear him talk, with such clarity, about how bad things are getting is deeply moving. Scientists have recently demonstrated what would be needed to on biodiversity loss. As Attenborough says in the final scene, 鈥淲hat happens next, is up to every one of us鈥�.
Publication date: 14 September 2020