‘We could wreck the world’

The veteran broadcaster urged leaders to care for the natural world as he spoke with William at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Blue Planet and Dynasties narrator stressed the “frightening” mechanisms humans have for destruction, and warned how a healthy natural world was “absolutely essential” to human life.

Sir David told the duke: “The future of the natural world is in our hands. We have never been more powerful.

“We can wreck it with ease. We can wreck it without even knowing we are doing it.

“And if we wreck the natural world, in the end, we wreck ourselves.”

The broadcaster added: “It is difficult to overstate it. We are now so numerous, so powerful, so all-pervasive, the mechanisms that we have for destruction are so wholesale and so frightening, that we can actually exterminate whole ecosystems without even noticing it.”

Sir David also discussed his new nature documentary Our Planet, saying streaming it on Netflix would allow it to be seen by millions of people around the world.

Describing the modern technology used in his documentary making, he said: “The facilities we now have are unbelievable. We can go everywhere. We can go to the bottom of the sea, we can go into space, we can use drones, we can use helicopters, we can speed things up and we can slow them down.

“So the natural world has never been exposed to this degree before.”

He urged people “not to waste the riches of the natural world on which we depend” and to respect the planet by not throwing away food or power.

Sir David added: “Just care for the natural world, of which we are an essential part.”

Second in line to the throne William described it as a “personal treat” to be interviewing Sir David.

The duke has spoken of his fondness for watching Sir David’s programmes as a child and previously described him as having “the single most important impact in my conservation thinking”.

He revealed in Davos: “It’s a personal treat for me to be sitting here asking you questions.

“Normally I have to endure people asking me questions so it’s quite nice to be turning the tables for once.”