Attenborough on climate fight: Singapore has educated, powerful voice

Sir David Attenborough has made no secret of his joy when climate change-denier Donald Trump lost the US presidential election last month, even leaping from his chair and punching the air.

Hearing President-elect Joe Biden vow to sign the US back up to the international agreement to limit global warming left the 94-year-old English natural historian feeling hugely heartened.

"We are coming up to a crucial time in the history of humanity really. And if we are to deal with it properly, it is going to require everyone around the world," he said.

"And it is good news that the American election is going to put into power someone who takes that point of view."

While the new Biden administration promises to blow wind in the sails of the climate fight, smaller countries, including Singapore, are in the fight as well.

Speaking to The New Paper in a Zoom interview from London, the esteemed broadcaster said: "Singapore has a voice, a very educated and powerful voice.

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"Everybody has a voice, so it is important everybody accepts and understands what the problems are."

Those problems will be expounded in A Perfect Planet, BBC's new documentary series narrated by Attenborough.

The first episode, Volcanoes, will be available to stream exclusively on BBC Player from noon on Jan 4. Both Volcanoes and the second episode, The Sun, premiere on BBC Earth (StarHub TV Ch 407) on Jan 11 at 8pm and 9.05pm respectively.

HOUSEHOLD NAME

Attenborough became a household name in 1979 with his groundbreaking series Life On Earth. Since then, he has been exploring the planet, taking millions of viewers on eye-opening journeys through the natural world - and even set a record in September when he hit one million followers on Instagram in four hours and 44 minutes with his first post.

A Perfect Planet, combining earth science and natural history, explores how weather, ocean currents, solar energy and volcanoes drive, shape and support biodiversity.

The fifth and final episode examines the impact of humans on the planet - and what needs to be done to correct it.

He said: "The optimistic thing is that we do have the means of communication with everybody around the world now, through this universal language of pictures, through television... and it is up to us as broadcasters to take advantage of that.

"The reverse side of that coin is that we are rapidly approaching disaster on a lot of key points."

With the international conference on global warming due in Glasgow next year, Attenborough feels this is a timely moment to emphasise that climate change is real.

And at the conference, it is also imperative there is a "give and take" between the developed countries and the underdeveloped nations.

"By and large, it is a great simplification, but the developed countries are talking to the underdeveloped countries that have been providing things for the health of the world which we have taken for granted.

"And they are quite rightly saying, 'Look, if we are going to keep our forests, for example, and you are telling us they are a key element in the climates of the world, we should be rewarded in some way. Our contributions should be recognised and so how are you going to do that?'

"We can do that in ways of working out how we calculate the economic value of these things - it is giving and taking on both sides.

"If we go into these negotiations in Glasgow saying what we have to do is to strike a hard bargain and make sure we come out profiting, then we are in for trouble.

"We are all in this together. It is one world, which is what (A Perfect Planet) emphasises, and we all have a problem to solve."

Singapore audiences can catch A Perfect Planet within hours of its UK broadcast exclusively on BBC Player. The first episode, Volcanoes, will be available to stream from 12pm on Jan 4 for a week, until the linear premiere of both episode one (Volcanoes) and episode two (The Sun) on StarHub's BBC Earth cable TV channel on Jan 11 at 8pm.