Video feature: A conversation with Sir David Attenborough

1 August 2012

In the time that Sir David Attenborough has been making natural history programmes, the world’s population has tripled. In this short film, he explains why he thinks this rapid growth is the source of the major environmental problems facing each one of us today.

Although environmental change manifests itself in different ways in different parts of the globe, Sir David argues that the major issues - including how to produce enough power to support the population and ensuring everyone has access to clean water and sanitation - affect us all.

Running time: 6 mins 56 s

Sir David concludes with his thoughts on the Wellcome Trust, an organisation that has as one of its five research challenges ‘Connecting environment, nutrition and health’. By committing to this research in this area, the Trust will explore what part it can play in helping to relieve the strain that our planet is under, whether related to food and nutrition, water or the health impacts of climate change.