Sir David Attenborough appears in a new, short film made for COP26 by The Wildlife Trusts. In it, he calls for greater focus on nature’s power to store carbon and help address the climate crisis – and for bold action, supporting local communities and landowners to create thriving and connected wild places on land and at sea to protect ourselves and the nature that depends on them.

Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“Sir David has backed The Wildlife Trusts for over half a century and we’re very grateful to him for supporting our film. He’s right behind our work to restore nature to help wildlife recover and combat climate change. Our society faces a huge challenge with the inextricably linked climate and nature crises, and so we must invest far more in wilder landscapes to store carbon and protect ourselves and wildlife from extreme weather conditions.

“New research shows that the Government needs to commit at least £1.2 billion extra each year in nature – to deliver vital health, wellbeing and economic benefits post-pandemic, limit and mitigate the impact of extreme weather, and restore our treasured wildlife. It’s not too late to repair habitats on a grand scale to store carbon and help nature recover – but we need to act now.”

Tom Burditt, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside says:

“We need to work together to tackle the nature and climate emergency at both a local and national level. Our region has the natural solutions, from the globally important peatlands that we are working so hard to restore, to the ancient woodlands we need so urgently to conserve, to critical coastal habitats like saltmarshes and sand dunes whose expansion can both sequester carbon and reduce the worst impacts of climate change like rising seas and storms. We need to take bold steps to ensure natures recovery at a landscape scale and create communities where both people and wildlife can thrive. The power to take action is in all our hands, and the time to do it is now.”