Sir David Attenborough says ‘nature is in crisis' and calls for action

Naturalist Sir David says he is still hopeful for the future

Sir David Attenborough. PA

“Nature is in crisis,” veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has warned as he urged people to unite behind work to save it.

But Attenborough, a WWF ambassador, insisted he is still hopeful for the future.

“The truth is, every one of us, no matter who we are or where we live, can and must play a part in restoring nature," he said.

“It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or powerless by the scale of the issues facing our planet, but we have the solutions.

“I am hopeful for the future, because although nature is in crisis, now is the time for action and together we can save it.”

A poll has found that 55 per cent mistakenly believe the UK is equal to or better than other countries at preserving nature, while more than three quarters of people in the UK say they are worried about it.

With Attenborough’s new series about British and Irish wildlife, the National Trust, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have launched a campaign called Save our Wild Isles.

Only 5 per cent of people believe the UK to be one of the worst countries at protecting the natural environment, the poll by YouGov found.

In 2021, the Natural History Museum found that the UK has only 53 per cent of its biodiversity left, placing it in the bottom 10 per cent of countries worldwide, and last in the G7.

The charities said they wanted everyone in the UK to do something once a week that would help nature, such as planting wildflower seeds, eating less meat or joining local community projects.

Since 1970, 38 million birds have vanished from UK skies.

Ninety-seven per cent of wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s and a quarter of all mammals, including water voles and greater mouse-eared bats, are at risk of extinction.

The poll also found that more than two thirds of people in England, Wales and Scotland are worried about the effects nature loss would have on their lives, with more than 60 per cent saying it would harm their or their family’s health.

Sir David Attenborough warns the UN of 'perilous' climate change threat - video

“You only see what’s left, you don’t see what’s lost," said Tanya Steele, chief executive of the WWF.

"So we do have this sense of shifting baselines and we imagine all these things that were there 50 years ago are still there.

“The familiar has become unfamiliar and we’ve forgotten what we’ve lost. Yes, there are success stories, there are things that can be brought back, but we have lost so much and that’s why we’re saying nature is on the brink.

“We’re in danger of having little scraps of nature across our nation and we need to bring it back. We need to connect it back up again.”

Henry Hakkinen, a scientist with the Zoological Society of London, said climate change was “playing havoc” with the breeding seasons of UK seabirds, like the Manx shearwater, as it is driving their prey into deeper waters, while extreme storms can sometimes kill tens or hundreds at a time.

This year, wild birds are also being destroyed by avian flu, which has made conservationists drop everything else to try to tackle the problem.

“The impact of avian flu cannot be overstated; it could be absolutely devastating," Mr Hakkinen said.

“It has now spread to more than 20 wild species. There have been massive die-offs of seabirds and water birds. The risk of contamination is so high and we’re still trying to get a grasp on it.

“I don’t think anyone knows how bad it’s going to be. It has the potential to absolutely destroy some of these species and populations.”

Another famous British animal, the hedgehog, is also in danger of becoming extinct.

It is now classed as vulnerable on the Mammal Society’s Red List of British Mammals, which also says that a quarter of Britain’s mammals are threatened with extinction.

Kate Scott-Gatty, also with ZSL, runs a hedgehog monitoring programme around Greater London called HogWatch, which collects data to help with conservation work.

She said the small, spikey mammals have fared better than rural hedgehogs because there is more cover for them to hide in.

“What we’ve identified as the central threat to London’s hedgehog populations is habitat fragmentation and isolation," Ms Scott-Gatty said.

“So connecting up gardens is the best thing to do, putting a 13-centimetre hole in your garden fence or whatever you have.

“It’s this idea of making as much available space as possible for hedgehogs because they need to roam around a mile a night to get all the food they need.”

The nature charities’ poll also found that 80 per cent of people in the UK want all political parties to come together and create a plan for the protection of nature.

Last year, the government agreed with the rest of the UN member states to commit to protecting 30 per cent of nature by 2030.

“Sir David’s indefatigable enthusiasm for the natural world reminds us just how much we have to celebrate – and how much we still need to do to protect and restore nature here in the UK," UK Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said.

“That is why we put in law the requirement to halt the decline in nature and protect the abundance of species, and why we are committed to increasing the amount of habitat for nature to thrive.

“At the start of the year, I published our comprehensive environmental improvement plan, setting out how we will continue to clean up our rivers, plant more trees and restore our national parks so more species like red squirrels and hedgehogs will have the conditions they need to flourish.

“To protect and restore nature is a truly national endeavour in which we can all play a part.

"That is why I welcome the call to Go Wild once a Week so everyone — the public, communities, businesses and we in government — can work together to make a difference for nature in this country.”