0:00:32 > 0:00:35For me, as for countless others,
0:00:35 > 0:00:40the natural world is the greatest of all treasures,
0:00:40 > 0:00:45and yet in my lifetime we have damaged it more severely
0:00:45 > 0:00:47than in the whole of the rest of human history.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53Indeed, significant parts of it now are in danger of total destruction.
0:00:54 > 0:01:00When I first came to Borneo in 1956, the rainforest stretched unbroken
0:01:00 > 0:01:04on either side of the river for hundreds of miles.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Today, it's very different.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Just beyond the trees lining the river bank,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19there is nothing but oil palm plantations,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22and the forest and all the rich variety
0:01:22 > 0:01:26of animals and plants that it had once contained has been destroyed.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34And yet, as we have transformed the natural world,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37so our attitudes towards it have changed fundamentally.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Again and again, I have seen the impoverishment
0:01:46 > 0:01:50and desolation caused by the way we have ruthlessly taken
0:01:50 > 0:01:53what we want from the land, no matter what the cost.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58But I have also seen how the natural world,
0:01:58 > 0:02:02given just the slightest chance, can manage to survive.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04HE LAUGHS
0:02:05 > 0:02:09And I have met the far-sighted and dedicated conservationists
0:02:09 > 0:02:13who've laboured to protect it, people who, by their own example,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16have shown that there is something that can be done about it.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26I was born in 1926,
0:02:26 > 0:02:31at the end of the age of the great naturalist collectors.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35It was a time when it was perfectly acceptable to go out
0:02:35 > 0:02:37and collect creatures from the wild.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40If the London Zoo wanted a new animal or a replacement,
0:02:40 > 0:02:45they simply commissioned a collector to go out and get it.
0:02:45 > 0:02:46And in the 1950s,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50as a young television producer obsessed with the natural world,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53I was delighted when we got permission to go along
0:02:53 > 0:02:55with an expedition from the London Zoo.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01It was going to go to West Africa and be headed by one of the zoo's
0:03:01 > 0:03:04animal-collecting experts, Jack Lester.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07I thought it would be a good idea if we called the series
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Quest for something or other.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13So I asked Jack Lester whether in fact there was an animal there
0:03:13 > 0:03:16that we could have a quest for, that no-one had seen before.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20And he said, "Oh, yes. And it's called Picathartes gymnocephalus."
0:03:21 > 0:03:23So, I said, "Well, that's not really very catchy,
0:03:23 > 0:03:28"Quest for Picathartes gymnocephalus. Is there another name?"
0:03:28 > 0:03:33And Jack said, "Yes. It's also called the bald-headed rock fowl."
0:03:33 > 0:03:36I said, "Well, even Quest for a Bald-Headed Rock Fowl
0:03:36 > 0:03:38"isn't likely to grab people."
0:03:38 > 0:03:41So in the end, we just called it Zoo Quest.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44TRIBAL SINGING
0:03:52 > 0:03:55We spent weeks travelling around the country
0:03:55 > 0:03:59collecting all kinds of mammals, reptiles and birds.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Everywhere we went, we showed people a picture of Picathartes
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and finally found a village chief who said the birds nested nearby.
0:04:10 > 0:04:11And so they did.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16In the finished programmes, of course,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20we didn't reveal this immediately. Instead, we ended each by saying,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24"So we went on to look for Picathartes."
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Nonetheless, we were a bit concerned
0:04:28 > 0:04:32as to whether anybody would really care about Picathartes.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36But I was reassured when I was travelling down Oxford Street
0:04:36 > 0:04:40in an open car and a bus driver leant out of his cab and he said,
0:04:40 > 0:04:45"Hello, Dave. Well, are we or are we not going to find
0:04:45 > 0:04:48"Pica-bloody-fartees?"
0:04:48 > 0:04:52So I knew that actually we had made an impact with somebody.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56And the bus driver got his answer in the last episode.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59- ARCHIVE RECORDING: - 'We took our places behind the hide
0:04:59 > 0:05:01'and now came the most tense moment of the expedition,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04'the moment for which we'd all waited so long.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07'Would we see the adult birds?
0:05:07 > 0:05:08'And then suddenly, we saw one,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12'a few yards away in the twilight of the bush preening itself.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14'This was enormous excitement.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18'Then up it fluttered onto the nest. And as it did so, the other parent
0:05:18 > 0:05:20'flew across and drove the first one away.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24'This was a great thrill for us, for as this happened,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28'we became the first Europeans ever to see the white-necked Picathartes on its nest.'
0:05:33 > 0:05:37Having filmed Picathartes, we managed to collect a young nestling
0:05:37 > 0:05:41and brought it back, together with sun birds
0:05:41 > 0:05:46and emerald starlings, to live here in the bird house in the London Zoo.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52It had been my first opportunity to film animals in the wild
0:05:52 > 0:05:55and this happy collaboration with the London Zoo
0:05:55 > 0:05:59resulted in a whole succession of Zoo Quest series.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Sadly, after the first, Jack became seriously ill, so I took over
0:06:05 > 0:06:08and tried to give the impression that I knew what I was doing.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13'It's important to grab his tail as soon as you grab his head,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16'otherwise he'll wrap his great coils round you
0:06:16 > 0:06:18'and give you a very nasty squeeze.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25'I was more than happy that we'd been able to take it away
0:06:25 > 0:06:27'without IT harming us.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30'First, I grabbed the tail with my left hand
0:06:30 > 0:06:33'and then tickled his tummy with my right, so that he doubled up,
0:06:33 > 0:06:35'lost his grip and out he came.'
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Of course, I wouldn't behave like that today.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45Things have changed.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Thanks to their breeding programmes, zoos can get most of what they want
0:06:49 > 0:06:53without going to catch them in the wild. But that was then.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Caring for the creatures we collected took so much time
0:06:58 > 0:07:01it eventually became part of the programme's story.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Once the animals we had collected had settled in at the zoo,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12we got permission to take some of the more interesting ones
0:07:12 > 0:07:15to the studios to show them off on live television.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21And here he is, twice as large, I should say,
0:07:21 > 0:07:22but still just as hungry
0:07:22 > 0:07:25and still making this extraordinary little noise
0:07:25 > 0:07:28which he used to make out there in Borneo.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30And here he is in the studio.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33He can bite. He's got quite powerful fangs.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38I have been bitten by a python. It doesn't hurt much.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40Well, helping me... Help...
0:07:40 > 0:07:46Helping me control this python is Mr Lanwarn from the reptile house
0:07:46 > 0:07:51in the London Zoo who, in fact, has it in his care now,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53but he's quite a handful now, isn't he?
0:07:53 > 0:07:56- These... You could quite imagine how these powerful coils...- Oh, yes.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58..could really give you quite a crush.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03Our attitudes to wildlife were so very different in the '50s.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07But then they were about to undergo a transformation.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Ducks and geese are decreasing in the world rather rapidly.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20It would be a great pity, I think, if they were allowed
0:08:20 > 0:08:23to disappear altogether or even to become extremely rare.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28In these marshy fields, we built special paddocks
0:08:28 > 0:08:31and in them, we've established this collection of ducks
0:08:31 > 0:08:32and geese and swans.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37As a student, there was one person perhaps more than anyone else
0:08:37 > 0:08:41who fuelled my excitement about the natural world.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44He was the most celebrated broadcaster of his time.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47On radio, of course. There was no television.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Little did I think that, within a few years,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52he and I were to become friends.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59That man was Peter Scott, who founded The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
0:08:59 > 0:09:03and created its first reserve around his home here at Slimbridge.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Peter Scott made me realise for the first time
0:09:07 > 0:09:10that there were species of animal around the world
0:09:10 > 0:09:13that were in danger of becoming extinct.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15It was a radical idea at the time.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Well, if we decide that we have got a responsibility to prevent animals
0:09:20 > 0:09:24from becoming extinct, what can we do about it?
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Well, in extreme cases, we can, and I think we should,
0:09:27 > 0:09:32take into captivity a proportion of the population into some zoo
0:09:32 > 0:09:36or park or reserve and try and breed them there and build up the stock.
0:09:36 > 0:09:43Now, here at the Wildfowl Trust, we have done that with the nene, or Hawaiian goose.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50The nene evolved on the island of Hawaii.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54But in the 19th century, colonial settlers brought dogs, pigs,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59rats and mongooses, all of which preyed heavily on the nene.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03By the late 1940s, there were only 30 individual birds left.
0:10:07 > 0:10:08Peter Scott, as a young man,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12had been a passionate hunter of wildfowl.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Now, he became their saviour.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17In 1950, he arranged for a few of them
0:10:17 > 0:10:19to be brought halfway around the world to Slimbridge
0:10:19 > 0:10:23so that he could try to breed them in captivity.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28And he succeeded, because these are some of their descendents.
0:10:30 > 0:10:31Wonderfully tame.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34And now they have been introduced,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39not only to other wildlife sanctuaries, but back to Hawaii.
0:10:43 > 0:10:49Until I'd met Peter here at Slimbridge and seen these nene,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53it had never occurred to me that a species could become
0:10:53 > 0:10:56totally extinct in my lifetime.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00But Peter and the nene changed all that
0:11:00 > 0:11:05and I began to wonder seriously about what I myself could do
0:11:05 > 0:11:10to become involved in the protection of wildlife.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11Come on.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16In those days, I was rather more interested in mammals than I was in birds.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20But nonetheless, Peter and I regularly compared notes.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24One day, I ran into him in the Natural History Museum.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25"Where are you off to next?" he said.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29I said, "We're going to Madagascar." "Madagascar!" he said.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33"The Madagascar pochard is one of the rarest ducks in the world,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36"the only one that we haven't got in the collection at Slimbridge."
0:11:36 > 0:11:40And I said, "Peter, if you want Madagascar pochard, leave it to me.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42"I'll bring you back a pair."
0:11:42 > 0:11:44And off we went to Madagascar.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49Well, of course, actually, I was in Madagascar looking for lemurs
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and we got the first film ever of the indri,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55the biggest of the living lemurs, and other things, too.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59The series was going down quite well when I happened to meet Peter again
0:11:59 > 0:12:02and as I met him, I suddenly thought...
0:12:02 > 0:12:04I forgot all about the Madagascar pochard.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07So I went over and I said, "Peter, I'm terribly sorry.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13"We did look very hard, but we never found your Madagascar pochard."
0:12:13 > 0:12:16"Didn't you?" he said. "Oh, I was looking at the show last night
0:12:16 > 0:12:20"and there were about 1,000 of them behind you as you were talking to camera."
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Clearly, both my memory and my ornithology
0:12:24 > 0:12:26needed a bit of improvement.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31By now, Peter had his own natural history series on television.
0:12:31 > 0:12:32It was called Look.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37At the same time, he and others were devising
0:12:37 > 0:12:40a strategy for protecting wildlife worldwide.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45A world wildlife charter to meet what amounts to
0:12:45 > 0:12:47a state of emergency for wildlife.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51And now we've got a World Wildlife Fund,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54which is being launched to give it teeth.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58In 1961, Peter became one of the founder members
0:12:58 > 0:13:02of the World Wildlife Fund, as it then was.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07One of the most charismatic and endangered animals of the time
0:13:07 > 0:13:11was a Chinese creature, the giant panda.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14Its simple black and white form made it an excellent subject
0:13:14 > 0:13:18for a logo and Peter designed it.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23This is his original and, to my mind, much the best version.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29The Fund was the first international body to spend money
0:13:29 > 0:13:32on conservation projects around the world.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35And one of its first projects was to help the endangered
0:13:35 > 0:13:40and rare animals on the Galapagos Islands.
0:13:44 > 0:13:50And those extraordinary islands still remain wonderlands today.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01This is the giant Galapagos tortoise.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05They live longer than any other animal on Earth,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08well over 150 years.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13They weigh up to a quarter of a tonne
0:14:13 > 0:14:18and have shells over a metre across. They really are giants.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25Some 15 subspecies of these reptiles evolved on the Galapagos.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29But in the 17th century, human beings discovered the islands.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39The tortoises were a valuable source of fresh meat
0:14:39 > 0:14:42and visiting sailors took them away by the thousand.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46By the middle of the 20th century,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51one third of the original subspecies had been totally exterminated
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and only 3,000 of the remainder still survived.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59In the early 1960s, the World Wildlife Fund got involved
0:14:59 > 0:15:01with trying to halt the decline.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05They put money into the Charles Darwin Research Centre
0:15:05 > 0:15:08on the Galapagos, which collected tortoise eggs from the wild
0:15:08 > 0:15:11and carefully raised them away from predators.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22By the 1970s, when I first visited the Galapagos,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26the first captive-bred tortoises were ready to be released.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34And a dramatic discovery had been made on Pinta Island.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38The subspecies that evolved there had long been thought extinct,
0:15:38 > 0:15:42but in 1971, a single male tortoise was discovered there.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49He was brought back to the Charles Darwin Research Station
0:15:49 > 0:15:52where he quickly became a celebrity in his own right.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58This is the rarest living animal in all the world.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01There is none rarer.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04This is Lonesome George.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10It was hoped that a female Pinta tortoise might be found
0:16:10 > 0:16:14with which he could breed, but it was not to be.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21Lonesome George, it seems, is doomed to be the last of his kind.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28Sadly, he died in June, 2012.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35But other surviving Galapagos tortoises have had to deal with a different threat.
0:16:35 > 0:16:36Goats.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41They were brought to the island long ago by both sailors
0:16:41 > 0:16:43and settlers and have now gone wild.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49They crop the vegetation so severely
0:16:49 > 0:16:52that there's little or nothing left for the tortoises.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56So the islands' conservation authorities decided to eradicate
0:16:56 > 0:16:58feral goats on several of the islands,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01so that the vegetation could recover
0:17:01 > 0:17:03and the tortoises get their natural food back.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10Now, on Isabella Island, as I saw for myself in 2008,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12the plants have returned to their former lushness
0:17:12 > 0:17:15and the tortoises' future has been secured.
0:17:21 > 0:17:27Saving large, dramatic species was one of conservationists' first aims.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30But soon, we realised that true conservation
0:17:30 > 0:17:32means protecting the entire habitat,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35of which this spectacular species is just one element.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41And one way of doing that is to establish nature reserves
0:17:41 > 0:17:42or national parks.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49The first national park in Africa was created in 1925
0:17:49 > 0:17:52around the volcanoes that lie in the heart of the continent.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57Its aim was to protect the rare mountain gorillas,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59which were being killed by trophy hunters and poachers.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03But what has happened there since has made it quite clear
0:18:03 > 0:18:06that effective conservation isn't just a question
0:18:06 > 0:18:09of governments drawing lines on a map.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Very often, it requires the passion and determination
0:18:12 > 0:18:17of one highly-motivated individual, as I saw myself in Rwanda.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24An American woman, Dian Fossey, had been studying the mountain gorillas
0:18:24 > 0:18:29in the Virunga Volcanoes National Park since 1967.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32By patiently sitting near to them year after year,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34she had eventually won their complete trust
0:18:34 > 0:18:37to a quite astonishing degree.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43In 1978, she agreed that we might come with cameras to film them.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53She introduced us to the gorillas
0:18:53 > 0:18:56in the sense that they saw that we were with Dian, so I suspect
0:18:56 > 0:19:01that that may well have been that they therefore thought we were OK.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06But without Dian, that sequence could never have happened.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32There is more meaning and mutual understanding
0:19:32 > 0:19:36in exchanging a glance with a gorilla...
0:19:37 > 0:19:39..than any other animal I know.
0:19:41 > 0:19:42We're so similar.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49Their sight, their hearing, their sense of smell
0:19:49 > 0:19:52are so similar to ours that...
0:19:52 > 0:19:54we see the world in the same way as they do.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59They live in the same sort of social groups,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03making permanent family relationships.
0:20:03 > 0:20:09They walk around on the ground as we do, though they're
0:20:09 > 0:20:14immensely more powerful than we are and so if ever there was
0:20:14 > 0:20:17a possibility of escaping the human condition
0:20:17 > 0:20:21and living imaginatively...
0:20:24 > 0:20:30..in another creature's world, it must be with a gorilla.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36And this is how they spend most of their time,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39lounging on the ground grooming one another.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Sometimes they even allow others to join in.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02What that sequence didn't show,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05but which the still pictures I took at the time did,
0:21:05 > 0:21:09was the way the gorillas were fascinated by our equipment.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11One of them was very interested in
0:21:11 > 0:21:15the long sort of sausage-shaped housing that holds the microphone
0:21:15 > 0:21:18and you can see this young male just feeling it,
0:21:18 > 0:21:23seeing what it is, and also they were fascinated by the camera
0:21:23 > 0:21:26and they came to Martin Saunders, who was the cameraman, and were peering
0:21:26 > 0:21:30inside the camera to see if they could see another animal inside it.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37And finally, the adult male, the big silverback, appeared.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42Dian's name for him was Beethoven, and Beethoven was a huge, powerful
0:21:42 > 0:21:46animal and really quite alarming, because if he'd lost his temper
0:21:46 > 0:21:50with you, he could simply smash your skull with one blow of his fist.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52The thing you don't do is to pick up your camera
0:21:52 > 0:21:56and look directly at him. That's a challenging thing to do.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00So I have quite a lot of pictures of Beethoven gazing to
0:22:00 > 0:22:03the right or to the left or even looking away from me.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Yeah. So he is.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14But behind this extraordinary encounter lay a tragic
0:22:14 > 0:22:16and shocking reality.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21We had arrived in Dian Fossey's camp in January 1978,
0:22:21 > 0:22:26just days after Dian's favourite gorilla, a young male, whose
0:22:26 > 0:22:31name was Digit, had been savagely and brutally killed by poachers.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Dian was grief stricken, it was though she had lost a child, and
0:22:35 > 0:22:40on top of that she was in extremely poor health, spitting blood.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44We became witness to a slow-motion tragedy.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Gorillas had been illegally killed
0:22:48 > 0:22:51in the Virunga Volcanoes National Park throughout the '60s and '70s.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57When Dian had arrived, there were about 500 left.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01But there were only about half that number at the time of our visit
0:23:01 > 0:23:06and Dian had taken it upon herself to organise anti-poaching patrols.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Never before had it been so clear to me
0:23:10 > 0:23:13that a species was heading for disaster.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16It was just Dian Fossey who was standing between
0:23:16 > 0:23:19the mountain gorillas and extinction.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24On our last evening at her camp, Dian called me to her sickbed
0:23:24 > 0:23:29and made me promise to do something to help save the gorillas.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31And when I got back to Britain, I kept that promise
0:23:31 > 0:23:35and got together with other conservationists
0:23:35 > 0:23:38and jointly we created the Mountain Gorilla Fund.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46The sequence with the gorillas caused something of a sensation
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and helped people realise that these relatives of ours
0:23:49 > 0:23:52were not only endangered but had to be helped.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Once Dian's health had improved,
0:23:57 > 0:24:02she resumed her efforts to protect the gorillas and their habitat.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07She fought as hard as she could to prevent great
0:24:07 > 0:24:13areas of the forest from being cut down and turned into farmland.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17And she continued her battles with the poachers, destroying their
0:24:17 > 0:24:21snares and arresting them when her patrols captured them red-handed.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27Although there is no doubt that Dian Fossey's anti-poaching methods
0:24:27 > 0:24:31were controversial and certainly antagonised many of the local people,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34nonetheless, it succeeded in saving much of the forest.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39And today, in spite of the dreadful civil wars that have
0:24:39 > 0:24:41since devastated Rwanda,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45there are twice as many gorillas as there were when we were there.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50But they are still threatened because of the great
0:24:50 > 0:24:54speed at which the human population of the region is increasing.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57And that danger is, in fact, a global one.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02You and I belong to the most widespread
0:25:02 > 0:25:04and dominant species of animal on Earth.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09We live on the icecaps at the Pole and in the tropical jungles
0:25:09 > 0:25:12at the equator. We have climbed the highest mountain and dived
0:25:12 > 0:25:17deep into the seas. We've even left the Earth and set foot on the Moon.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22And we're certainly the most numerous, large animal.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26There are something like 4,000 million of us today
0:25:26 > 0:25:29and we've reached this position with meteoric speed.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34It's all happened within the last 2,000 years or so.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38We seem to have broken loose from the restrictions that have
0:25:38 > 0:25:41governed the activities and numbers of other animals.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48That was St Peter's Square in Rome in 1978.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51I said then that there were 4,000 million - that is
0:25:51 > 0:25:57four billion of us on this planet, twice as many as when I was born.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Today, that has nearly doubled yet again.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05There are now over seven billion of us
0:26:05 > 0:26:09and by some estimates, there may be nine billion in 2050.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22That growth is largely attributable to medical advances
0:26:22 > 0:26:26and to the highly efficient ways we have found to grow our food.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34In just a few thousand years, the revolution of agriculture has
0:26:34 > 0:26:37spread to virtually all human societies.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41Today, over a third of the surface of the land is devoted to
0:26:41 > 0:26:45producing food for human beings.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48And that has changed some landscapes in the most dramatic way.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Our scientific and technological ingenuity has enormously
0:27:03 > 0:27:07increased agricultural productivity in the last 60 years.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11World grain production has more than tripled.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13But even that has not been able to
0:27:13 > 0:27:17keep pace with the needs of the world's growing human population.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22In some parts of the world,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26the natural forest was cleared for agriculture many centuries ago.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32But elsewhere, that transformation has happened in my lifetime.
0:27:33 > 0:27:40When I first came to Borneo in 1956, all this was rainforest.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Now, all those trees have gone.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50The logging industry took out the wood.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53The palm oil industry cleared what remained of the forest
0:27:53 > 0:27:57and replaced it with its own uniform plantations.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04All those extra human mouths have to be fed,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and the country needs the cash.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10But the effect on the natural world has been catastrophic.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18Few have suffered more than the orangutans.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21Many adults were killed as the forest was cleared.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23If their babies didn't die with them,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26then they were usually taken and sold as pets.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30A few fortunate ones ended up in sanctuaries,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34like this one at Sepilok.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38These baby orangs are orphans, mostly rescued from the pet trade.
0:28:39 > 0:28:45It's easy to see why they make such engaging pets when they're young.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48Indeed, when I was here 50 years ago,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52I had one as a pet, which I became very fond of.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57'His mother had been killed by a villager as she raided
0:28:57 > 0:28:59'his banana plantation.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04'London Zoo, I knew, wanted to establish an orang breeding colony,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07'so he joined our floating menagerie.'
0:29:07 > 0:29:11'But it wasn't long before Charlie, as we had christened him,
0:29:11 > 0:29:12'began to calm down.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16'Slowly, we managed to win his confidence.'
0:29:20 > 0:29:24And then, for the first time, four days after we'd had him,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27we encouraged him to come right outside his cage.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38And here is Charlie, safe and sound back in London.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41Hey, Charlie? Charlie?
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Whoa-dear, that's it.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47And with him is Mr Smith, the head keeper of the Monkey House.
0:29:47 > 0:29:48And how is he, Mr Smith?
0:29:48 > 0:29:52Very much recovered from his long and arduous journey here, David,
0:29:52 > 0:29:53and he's going to settle down
0:29:53 > 0:29:56- and I think he's going to be with us for a very long time.- Good.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58And that he was.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01And a few years after his arrival at the zoo,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04he took a shine to a young female who was already there.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09Back in 1961, I went into the Ape House in London Zoo
0:30:09 > 0:30:11to see Charlie, as I often did,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14and the head keeper came over and he said,
0:30:14 > 0:30:17"I've got good news," he said, "You are about to become a grandfather."
0:30:17 > 0:30:19"Really?" I said.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22"Yes," he said, "Your young Charlie has fathered a baby,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25"and it should be born in a few months' time.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27"And as grandfather," he said,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30"You have the privilege of christening it."
0:30:30 > 0:30:32So, eventually, I decided it should be called Bulu,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35which in Malay means little hairy one.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Bulu. Can we have Bulu?
0:30:41 > 0:30:44Now, this is Charlie's daughter.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49All right, dear, all right, all right.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52'Bulu was the first orangutan born in Britain
0:30:52 > 0:30:55'and she was just as endearing as Charlie had been.'
0:30:57 > 0:31:02I look back on those days when I had Charlie the baby orang with
0:31:02 > 0:31:06mixed feelings, because the fact of the matter is that these
0:31:06 > 0:31:10are not pets, these are wild animals and they should be in the wild.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16The problem is that although many people in Borneo support the
0:31:16 > 0:31:21rehabilitation of orangutan, their rainforest home continues to be
0:31:21 > 0:31:26destroyed as the rest of the world increases its demand for palm oil.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31So, the question that hangs over these orangs' future is,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35whether there will be enough forest left for them to return to
0:31:35 > 0:31:36when they've grown up?
0:31:38 > 0:31:42Strong measures will have to be taken if that is to be so.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52There is one place where our destructive
0:31:52 > 0:31:55impact on the planet is less immediately obvious.
0:31:59 > 0:32:00The oceans.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06I can see its tail, just under my boat here,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09and it's coming up, coming up, there!
0:32:12 > 0:32:16The blue whale is 100 feet long.
0:32:16 > 0:32:1930 metres. Nothing like that can
0:32:19 > 0:32:26grow on land because no bone is strong enough to support such bulk.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31Only in the sea can you get such a huge size
0:32:31 > 0:32:35as that magnificent creature.
0:32:43 > 0:32:49I had to wait until I was 76 years old to see my first blue whale.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51Part of what made the encounter
0:32:51 > 0:32:54so special was that for much of my lifetime, blue whales were
0:32:54 > 0:32:57being killed at such a rate that it seemed quite
0:32:57 > 0:33:01possible that they would become extinct before I ever saw one.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07The fact that they have survived is a conservation triumph,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10and that only happened because there was a fundamental change
0:33:10 > 0:33:13worldwide in people's attitudes to whales.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21Men had hunted whales for centuries,
0:33:21 > 0:33:25primarily for the sake of the oil in their blubber.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27And the skeletons of just a few of them
0:33:27 > 0:33:31ended up here in the Natural History Museum.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38When I was growing up, whale products were used mostly in food.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42I must have unconsciously eaten a fair amount of blubber
0:33:42 > 0:33:45because it was an ingredient of margarine,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49and during the War, when meat was really scarce, I certainly ate
0:33:49 > 0:33:54what was euphemistically called Arctic steak, whale meat.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58But it never occurred to me that whales could actually be endangered.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03But improved methods of tracking
0:34:03 > 0:34:06and killing whales was reducing their numbers alarmingly.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11600 yards of rope are drawn out in the wounded giant's death struggle.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18By the 1960s, there were fewer than 2,000 blue whales surviving,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21just 1% of their probable original population.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25The species seemed headed towards extinction,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29until whaling nations finally banned the hunting of blue whales.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36What changed the fortunes of the other great whales were
0:34:36 > 0:34:41anti-whaling campaigners who turned whole nations against the industry.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45And once again, Peter Scott helped show the way.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48It was Peter Scott who first made me
0:34:48 > 0:34:53and many, many others aware of the plight of the great whales.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57By the 1970s, he and other activists, like Greenpeace, were
0:34:57 > 0:35:01at the forefront of the campaigns to prevent their slaughter.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04'It was an issue that I could not avoid.'
0:35:07 > 0:35:12This beautiful, intelligent, astounding creature
0:35:12 > 0:35:14is a killer whale.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17There are about 80 different kinds of whales in the world.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22Whales, of course, are warm blooded, like ourselves
0:35:22 > 0:35:27and, as we are belatedly beginning to discover, extremely intelligent.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31Surely they are among the most fascinating creatures in the world.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36The film that follows is made by a group of people who
0:35:36 > 0:35:40passionately believe that the whales should be protected.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42They call themselves Greenpeace.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Hello, Vostok, we are Canadian.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11We are asking you, from your position of strength and power,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13to grant us the following request.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18Please, stop killing the whales.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21We are men and women and we speak for children
0:36:21 > 0:36:26and we're all saying, "Please, stop killing the whales."
0:36:26 > 0:36:31It would take nearly another decade of activism by Greenpeace,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35and patient negotiation by Peter Scott and others,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40before a total ban on commercial whaling came into force.
0:36:40 > 0:36:45Since 1986, whales have only been legally killed by indigenous
0:36:45 > 0:36:48communities or for scientific purposes.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54I remember very vividly Peter saying to me once,
0:36:54 > 0:36:56"I will die a happy man
0:36:56 > 0:37:01"if I can think that we have saved the great whales."
0:37:01 > 0:37:04Well, as far as the blue whale is concerned,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07we have gone a long way to achieving that ambition.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Today, the world's blue whale population appears to be
0:37:14 > 0:37:15recovering slowly.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20It has doubled in the last 50 years to perhaps as many as 4,500.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32Of course, it's not just the big, charismatic species
0:37:32 > 0:37:34that we are exterminating.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36Life on earth is a complex web
0:37:36 > 0:37:41and we ignore the millions of tiny creatures in it at our peril.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44One kind of animal is right now in the grip of the greatest
0:37:44 > 0:37:47extinction event since the disappearance of the dinosaurs -
0:37:47 > 0:37:50animals like this, amphibians.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55Globally the numbers of amphibians are declining at an alarming rate.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59One third of all species are now critically endangered.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05In the rainforest of Costa Rica in the late '70s,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08we filmed the Monteverde Toad.
0:38:08 > 0:38:14Ten years later, inexplicably, it had become extinct.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17It was only in the last few years that the mystery of what
0:38:17 > 0:38:22killed the toad was finally solved and that was not before many
0:38:22 > 0:38:26other species of amphibians had also died out.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30In fact, while we were filming Life In Cold Blood in 2007,
0:38:30 > 0:38:33I actually witnessed the extinction in the wild
0:38:33 > 0:38:36of the Panamanian golden frog,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39which fell victim to the same insidious killer.
0:38:41 > 0:38:46Individual males set up their territories beside the river and
0:38:46 > 0:38:47then wait for the females
0:38:47 > 0:38:50to turn up, and since good positions for the
0:38:50 > 0:38:55territory are not common they may have to hold them against intruders.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59And here one comes.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Just in case his call is inaudible he makes his message clear
0:39:05 > 0:39:07with a wave.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15And his rival waves back.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21He repeats his message so there's no misunderstanding.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29Sadly, there are no longer any Panamanian golden frogs waving
0:39:29 > 0:39:35in the wild and the disease that killed them is now sweeping round
0:39:35 > 0:39:39the world, exterminating hundreds of different species of amphibians.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43The killer is a fungus.
0:39:44 > 0:39:45It's highly infectious
0:39:45 > 0:39:49and believed to have originated in South Africa, from where it
0:39:49 > 0:39:52was transported by the international trade in captive animals.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57It was spreading across Panama while we were filming
0:39:57 > 0:40:00and when we had finished, scientists collected the last few
0:40:00 > 0:40:03survivors and took them into a specially quarantined
0:40:03 > 0:40:07building where other endangered amphibians were being kept.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11Here they may breed and then
0:40:11 > 0:40:14if a cure for the fungus is found or it runs its course in the wild,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17the frogs may be returned to their former home.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29In the last 60 years I've come face to face with many species
0:40:29 > 0:40:30that we've put at risk.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34Sea otters.
0:40:34 > 0:40:35Chimpanzee.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44Manatee.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49Sadly this magnificent animal is getting rarer and rarer.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53'How many of these wonderful things will still
0:40:53 > 0:40:56'be around in another 60 years?'
0:40:56 > 0:40:58What an extraordinary creature.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05Although the threat to the natural world from humanity has never
0:41:05 > 0:41:08been greater than it is today there are nonetheless
0:41:08 > 0:41:11causes for hope here and there.
0:41:11 > 0:41:12In recent decades,
0:41:12 > 0:41:17when people have become involved with the local population of animals
0:41:17 > 0:41:21they have started to take part in the conservation process and
0:41:21 > 0:41:25that's certainly the case here in Borneo in the caves at Gomantong.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28The only visitors here
0:41:28 > 0:41:33when we first came in 1972 were the local people and the people
0:41:33 > 0:41:37came to the cave for one particular and extraordinary purpose.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47They collect what is surely one of the strangest commodities to
0:41:47 > 0:41:49be found in any cuisine.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54It's so valuable that they risk their lives to get it.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01They are harvesting the nests that swiftlets construct
0:42:01 > 0:42:03using their own glutinous spittle.
0:42:07 > 0:42:13And this is the end product of all this labour and sweat
0:42:13 > 0:42:16and danger and sheer courage.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19One can't help wondering who it was who first looked at these
0:42:19 > 0:42:21extraordinary objects and said,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23"That'd be great for making soup out of,"
0:42:23 > 0:42:27but whoever he was he lived over 1,000 years ago because
0:42:27 > 0:42:31there are Chinese records in the 9th and 10th centuries which speak
0:42:31 > 0:42:37of the wonderful delicacy of birds' nests that you can get from Borneo.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43I wanted to see what all the fuss was about
0:42:43 > 0:42:47so I went into a local restaurant in Sandakan
0:42:47 > 0:42:51to see what birds' nest soup actually tastes like.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53The consistency perhaps is a little odd,
0:42:53 > 0:42:59it's a little sort of gelatinous but for the rest of it,
0:42:59 > 0:43:05well I'm afraid there is one great secret about birds' nests,
0:43:05 > 0:43:10the fact of the matter is that pure birds' nests taste of nothing
0:43:10 > 0:43:15whatsoever, provided that is, it's been well cleaned.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20Even in the '70s the birds' nests were
0:43:20 > 0:43:23so valuable that there was an obvious risk that the
0:43:23 > 0:43:25cave would be overexploited.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28But today that risk is even greater.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32A nest like this is worth as much as £100.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36If you take too many of them then the birds will have nowhere
0:43:36 > 0:43:41to raise their young and the colony is doomed, but a total ban
0:43:41 > 0:43:45would deprive the local people of a very important part of their income.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50So a plan was agreed.
0:43:51 > 0:43:56Some caves should be regularly harvested,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59others should be protected from any human interference,
0:43:59 > 0:44:05and one should be open for the public to visit and wonder.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09It's an almost ideal situation - the local economy benefits,
0:44:09 > 0:44:14the wildlife benefits and an ancient tradition, with luck,
0:44:14 > 0:44:16is kept alive for many years to come.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28Other creatures in Borneo are now also being protected by people
0:44:28 > 0:44:29who once put them in danger.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38This is Selingan Island off the northern coast of Borneo
0:44:38 > 0:44:42and turtles come up here onto beaches like this at night
0:44:42 > 0:44:45in order to lay their eggs.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47And back in the 1950s, local people
0:44:47 > 0:44:53would come to such places in order to dig up those eggs and eat them.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56And I have to admit they weren't the only people to do that.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04If turtles use this beach it occurred to me that there
0:45:04 > 0:45:07might be a chance that we could find a turtles nest with eggs,
0:45:07 > 0:45:11which would be a very welcome addition to the rice, bananas and
0:45:11 > 0:45:15bully beef on which we'd been living almost entirely for the past week.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25And here, buried three feet deep, were the eggs.
0:45:27 > 0:45:32There were 88 eggs in that nest, enough to provide us with breakfast
0:45:32 > 0:45:37for many days to come, and they were all produced by one female turtle.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41'Looking back it all seems rather shocking,
0:45:41 > 0:45:44'and I hadn't got a clue how to cook them.'
0:45:44 > 0:45:46'We had cheerfully added as much salt as
0:45:46 > 0:45:48'if we were dealing with chickens' eggs.'
0:45:50 > 0:45:55'The result, though no doubt very nourishing,
0:45:55 > 0:45:57'wasn't, I'm afraid, particularly delicious.'
0:46:00 > 0:46:03Turtle eggs may not have been to my taste
0:46:03 > 0:46:05but the local people loved them,
0:46:05 > 0:46:09and they were an important source not only of nutriment but income.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12The trouble was that the human population was growing
0:46:12 > 0:46:16so fast that the turtle eggs were being collected in huge numbers
0:46:16 > 0:46:19and turtles worldwide were in decline.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28In the decades that followed, the Malaysian government
0:46:28 > 0:46:30stepped in to save their turtles.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Harvesting the eggs was banned
0:46:36 > 0:46:39and a hatchery established on Selingan Island, which people
0:46:39 > 0:46:41visit to see what's going on.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49During the breeding season, the eggs are collected from the beach
0:46:49 > 0:46:51and reburied in the hatchery,
0:46:51 > 0:46:55each clutch being kept together inside its own little fence.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04But it's only after dark that the adult turtles reveal themselves,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06crawling out of the sea
0:47:06 > 0:47:09and laying their eggs to the delight of the on-lookers.
0:47:09 > 0:47:14Maybe another location. Anybody else? No take picture.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20The visitors pay good money for the privilege of watching the
0:47:20 > 0:47:24turtles at close quarters and that gives an income to the local people.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28That's about the age...
0:47:28 > 0:47:31Once the eggs hatch, the youngsters are collected
0:47:31 > 0:47:32and taken down to the shore.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41Off you go. Off you go.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Millions of baby turtles have now been released under this
0:47:49 > 0:47:52conservation programme and as a consequence
0:47:52 > 0:47:56the population of adult green turtles here is now increasing.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03But the survival of green turtles needs more
0:48:03 > 0:48:06than their protection by local people at their nesting beaches.
0:48:12 > 0:48:13Turtles migrate.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18They swim across national borders into unprotected foreign waters
0:48:18 > 0:48:19and that can be a problem.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30It's now clear that many conservation projects will only
0:48:30 > 0:48:35succeed in the long term if they transcend national boundaries and
0:48:35 > 0:48:40allow wildlife to cross frontiers without hindrance, and that's
0:48:40 > 0:48:44exactly what's happening here in the rainforest in the island of Borneo.
0:48:45 > 0:48:51Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei signed the Heart of Borneo agreement
0:48:51 > 0:48:55in 2007, declaring that the rainforest will be
0:48:55 > 0:49:00protected while allowing sustainable use and access by local people.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04This sort of international cross-border cooperation is
0:49:04 > 0:49:07vital if we are to safeguard an area of wildlife
0:49:07 > 0:49:10and ultimately the health of the planet.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16And thinking about the health of the planet as a whole was not something
0:49:16 > 0:49:22many people did until one truly extraordinary and historic event.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24The engines are armed.
0:49:24 > 0:49:29Four, three, two, one, zero.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32We have commit. We have...we have lift off.
0:49:32 > 0:49:37Lift off at 7:51 AM Eastern Standard Time.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41Pictures of the launch of Apollo 8 arrived in Britain
0:49:41 > 0:49:46back in 1968 by way of the BBC's central control room here in the
0:49:46 > 0:49:50Television Centre in London where I had a job as a network controller.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54What you see at the top is the North Pole,
0:49:54 > 0:49:59in the centre, just forward to the centre is South America,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01all the way down to Cape Horn.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Those images were instrumental in changing the way that
0:50:05 > 0:50:06many of us viewed the planet.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09We began to think globally.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Looking at the earth from outer space made us
0:50:15 > 0:50:21realise just how small our world is and how finite its resources.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27It also helped us understand that we have to cherish not just
0:50:27 > 0:50:32individual species, nor even individual patches of wilderness
0:50:32 > 0:50:37but the whole planet as a single integrated ecosystem.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45But back in 1968, few people could imagine that the
0:50:45 > 0:50:47activities of just one species, our own,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51could interfere with the way that the planet worked.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54That we could actually change the climate of the earth.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06It was in the oceans that this threat first became apparent.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12I'll never forget the first time I put my head
0:51:12 > 0:51:16beneath the surface of the sea and saw all around me a coral reef
0:51:16 > 0:51:22'in all its complexity and richness, and almost unbelievable beauty.'
0:51:24 > 0:51:27'I have been enthralled by coral reefs ever since.'
0:51:33 > 0:51:39If the jungle is the place on land where there are the greatest
0:51:39 > 0:51:46number and the greatest variety of life then this,
0:51:46 > 0:51:51the coral reef, is surely the jungle of the sea.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Although coral reefs occupy just 1% of the oceans
0:51:58 > 0:52:01they support a quarter of all their fish.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09The fragility of these complex ecosystems suddenly became
0:52:09 > 0:52:11alarmingly clear in 1998.
0:52:14 > 0:52:19Almost overnight, in oceans all round the globe, coral turned white.
0:52:20 > 0:52:22The temperature of the sea had risen
0:52:22 > 0:52:26and it had devastated 16% of the world's coral reefs.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31Even the rise of a single degree centigrade can be enough to
0:52:31 > 0:52:34kill the organisms that build the coral,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37leaving their limestone skeletons a naked white.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42If the rise is brief then the coral can recover,
0:52:42 > 0:52:46but if it is sustained then the coral may die completely
0:52:46 > 0:52:50and this coral bleaching hints at an even bigger problem.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55The average temperature of our planet has
0:52:55 > 0:52:59increased by 0.7 degrees centigrade over the last century
0:52:59 > 0:53:02and it seems likely to rise still further
0:53:02 > 0:53:05and that could lead to changes in sea level.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Even a very small rise in sea temperature
0:53:10 > 0:53:13could have a devastating effect.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Small islands like the one behind me could be totally submerged.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20Major cities could be at risk.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24And the reason for that lies far away from here where the
0:53:24 > 0:53:28change is already beginning to be seen, at the Poles.
0:53:33 > 0:53:39I am at the very centre of the great white continent, Antarctica.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43The South Pole is about half a mile away.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48For 1,000 miles in all directions there is nothing but ice.
0:53:49 > 0:53:55This white wilderness, this emptiness is the North Pole.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59I'm standing in the middle of a frozen ocean.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06I have been lucky enough to travel in the polar regions several
0:54:06 > 0:54:10times in the last 30 years, making films about their rich wildlife.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14His sole object in life at the moment is to make quite
0:54:14 > 0:54:19sure that he and he alone mates with every single one of them
0:54:19 > 0:54:22and for that he must fight.
0:54:22 > 0:54:29It's heavier even than...heavier than the adult.
0:54:29 > 0:54:35These parent birds reunite once they come back here onto their own
0:54:35 > 0:54:37patch of...patch of shingle.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41And although the Antarctic is virtually lifeless over vast areas,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45there are one or two small oases that teem with life.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50'Slowly I began to realise that things were changing in ways
0:54:50 > 0:54:53'that will affect the wildlife and eventually ourselves no
0:54:53 > 0:54:59'matter how far away from the Poles we might be.'
0:55:09 > 0:55:14This is the ice that covered the Arctic Ocean in September 1980.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Since then there has been a 30% reduction
0:55:18 > 0:55:20in the area covered by ice.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25And not only that, what ice remains is only half as thick as it was.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32If the sea ice continues to melt at this rate, there will be
0:55:32 > 0:55:35open ocean in the summer at the North Pole within decades.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44The very whiteness of the snow and ice
0:55:44 > 0:55:47contributes to the pace of change.
0:55:47 > 0:55:53Light bouncing off it takes 90% of the sun's energy back into space,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56and this has helped to keep the planet cool.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03But when the sea ice melts, it exposes the dark sea water.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06That doesn't reflect the sun's heat, it absorbs it,
0:56:06 > 0:56:08so the temperature of the sea rises.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15Here in the Arctic the climate is warming
0:56:15 > 0:56:19twice as fast as the rest of the earth and that could have
0:56:19 > 0:56:24global consequences including rises in sea level around the world.
0:56:34 > 0:56:40Climate change is already affecting the lives of not only wild animals
0:56:40 > 0:56:43but ourselves, all over the globe.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59I have spent my life filming the natural world and I've
0:56:59 > 0:57:04travelled to some pretty remote and exciting places in order to do so.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07I've enjoyed every minute of it.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11But every journey seems to have got quicker and shorter,
0:57:11 > 0:57:13it's as though the world has shrunk.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18But then, sadly, so have the wild places.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29The increasing size of the human population is having
0:57:29 > 0:57:32a devastating effect on the natural world.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36But, fortunately, people are becoming aware of that
0:57:36 > 0:57:40and doing something about it and I'd like to think that
0:57:40 > 0:57:43natural history films have helped in that process.
0:57:44 > 0:57:49And there are some signs of hope - animals that I thought might become
0:57:49 > 0:57:53extinct in my lifetime are still with us and growing in numbers.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01We now have a better understanding of the natural world than ever.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05We know how best to protect it for future generations.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09I can only hope that we will.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd