David Attenborough says ‘It’s already too late to deal with climate change’

Sir David Attenborough has issued a warning to world leaders on climate change saying: “It’s already too late.”

Speaking on the invitation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the United Nations’ Security Council (UNSC) session on climate, Sir David said simply: “Please make no mistake – climate change is the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced.”

Attenborough described that event as possibly “the last opportunity to make the necessary change” to save the planet.

He said: “If we bring emissions down with sufficient vigour we may yet avoid the tipping points that will make runaway climate change unstoppable.

“In November this year, at COP26 in Glasgow, we may have our last opportunity to make the necessary step-change.

“If we objectively view climate change and the loss of nature as worldwide security threats – as indeed they are – then we may yet act proportionately and in time.”

Boris Johnson said in response to this: “The UNSC is tasked with confronting the gravest threats to global peace and security, and that’s exactly what climate change represents.

Unlike many issues the council deals with, this is one we know exactly how to address.

By helping vulnerable countries adapt to climate change and cutting global emissions to net zero, we will protect not only the bountiful biodiversity of our planet, but its prosperity and security.”

Christian Aid’s climate policy lead, Dr Kat Kramer, said: “Millions of the world’s poorest people are already living with the impacts of climate change, which is forcing displacement, devastating livelihoods and putting pressure on communities who are competing over resources such as land and water.

“In some countries these impacts become the drivers of local conflicts which can be instrumentalised by leaders and escalate into violence and war.”