David Attenborough says saving the planet 'is within reach' on World Environment Day

Sir David released video to mark World Environment Day 2020, saying: ‘Stop the damaging stuff, roll out the new green tech’

Sir David Attenborough has called for a “stop to the damaging stuff" as he says that saving the planet is within our grasp.

In a video message to mark World Environment Day 2020, he said: "Suddenly, saving our planet is within reach. We have a plan. We know what to do.

"Stop the damaging stuff, roll out the new green tech, stabilise the human population as low as we fairly can, keep hold of the natural wealth we have currently got, and we'll have built a stable, healthy world that we can benefit from forever.

"We now have a choice to create a planet that we can all be proud of, our planet. The perfect home for ourselves and the rest of life on Earth."

World Environment Day has been marked every 5 June since 1974. This year's theme is "Time for Nature", protecting biodiversity, an issue that has become ever more pressing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Zoonotic diseases like Covid-19, those which jump the species barrier from animals to humans, are an increasing threat as humanity pushes deeper into diverse ecosystems for natural resources.

The 94-year-old natural historian and broadcaster is the public face of a landmark study by the British government into biodiversity loss and its economic impact.

The review, led by Cambridge economist, Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, is expected to publish findings ahead of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15).

The summit had been scheduled to take place in Kunming, China in October 2020, but has been postponed due to the pandemic.