'Stability we all depend on is breaking,' Attenborough tells UN climate conference

GLASGOW, Scotland

British naturalist Sir David Attenborough on Monday urged world leaders at the UN climate summit to act decisively to fight climate change, saying that the "stability we all depend on is breaking."

"If working apart we are a force powerful enough to destabilize our planet, surely working together we are a force powerful enough to save it," said Attenborough, 95, whose decades of BBC nature documentaries have delighted millions.

Attenborough said for much of humanity’s existence, the climate on Earth swung wildly before stabilizing 10,000 years ago, enabling human civilizations to flourish.

"We are already in trouble. The stability we all depend on is breaking. This story is one of inequality as well as instability," he underlined.

Today those who did the least to cause this problem are being the hardest hit, he said, but added: "Ultimately, all of us will feel the impact, some of which are now unavoidable."

If countries act quickly and decisively, dangerous global warming could be prevented, he argued.

"We are, after all, the greatest problem-solvers to have ever existed on Earth," he said.

"We're going to have to learn together. How to achieve this ensuring none are left behind. We must use this opportunity to create a more equal world."

The climate conference, which runs through Nov. 12, is seeking international commitments to measures to limit global warming to no more than 1.5C, as anything hotter could prove a disastrous tipping point.

COP conferences

COP, a "Conference of the Parties" gathering, will be attended by countries that have signed onto the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Since Berlin hosted COP1 back in 1995, the numbered COP gatherings are hosted by a different country each year.

COP26 was originally scheduled to take place last November in Glasgow but was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and now is being hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy.

COP25 was held in Madrid, Spain in November 2019, and ended with many issues unresolved, but with an agreement on cutting carbon dioxide emissions.