TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Prince William turns interviewer in Davos appearance with Attenborough
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge interviews naturalist Sir David Attenborough during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2019. (Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann)
B
ritain’s Prince William turned interviewer at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, quizzing TV naturalist David Attenborough on what he called world leaders’ “faltering” steps to tackle environmental challenges.
“Normally I have to endure people asking me questions so it’s quite nice to be able to turn the tables for once,” William, who is second in line to the throne, joked to the 92-year-old TV broadcaster.
Watch as HRH The Duke of Cambridge interviews Sir David Attenborough @KensingtonRoyal
— World Economic Forum (@wef) January 22, 2019
Attenborough, whose natural history programs include ‘Blue Planet II’ and ‘Dynasties’, said it was difficult to overstate how urgent the climate crisis had become.
“We are now so numerous, so powerful, so all-pervasive…that we can actually exterminate whole ecosystems without even noticing it,” said Attenborough, who was born weeks apart from William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.
He hailed the 2015 Paris climate agreement as a point where world leaders had recognized the dangers of rising temperatures but noted this had not been universal. “There have been people who have withdrawn from that,” he said.
Read also: At Davos, China slowdown is 'no disaster'
Speaking last month on the sidelines of U.N. climate talks in Poland, Attenborough told Reuters that U.S. President Donald Trump was “out on a limb” in his attitude to climate change.
His advice for the leaders gathered at Davos this week was to care for the natural world and not to waste its resources, from energy to food.
“We can wreck it with ease. We can wreck it without even noticing we’re doing it. And if we wreck the natural world, in the end, we wreck ourselves.”
During the forum’s Crystal Awards on Monday, where he was honored for his environmental stewardship, Attenborough warned that “the Garden of Eden is no more.”
On stage with William, there were lighter-hearted moments.
The former air ambulance pilot met Attenborough’s praise of a helicopter pilot who helped achieve a camera shot for his new Netflix documentary series “Our Planet”, by remarking “all helicopter pilots are very skillful, David.”
