Sir David Attenborough says the “collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon” unless urgent action is taken against global warming.

“The world’s people have spoken, their message is clear: time is running out,” he said.

“They want you, the decision makers, to act now.”

The comments were made in Katowice, Poland, the city hosting the UN’s COP24 climate talks — a multilateral meeting drawing together about 200 countries to set the rulebook for the 2015 Paris climate accords.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres issued a dramatic appeal to world leaders to take the threat of global warming seriously and to act boldly to avert a catastrophic rise in temperatures before the end of the century.

Mr Guterres, who spoke at the opening of the conference, called climate change, “the most important issue we face”.

“Even as we witness devastating climate impacts causing havoc across the world, we are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough, to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption,” Mr Guterres said.

Residents of the world’s smaller islands, many of whom face catastrophic flooding from higher sea levels in a warming world, have been among the world’s most vocal backers of measures to combat climate change.

In a recent interview with the ABC, Tuvaluan Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga said Australia’s inaction on climate change was “undermining” its pivot back to the Pacific.

Source
ABC News