British Embassy organises another screening of Sir David Attenborough’s “Life on Our Planet” film to mark World Environment Day in Ashgabat.
On the occasion of the World Environment Day 2022, the British Embassy in Turkmenistan, in collaboration with the International University for Humanities and Development, hosted the screening of Sir David Attenborough’s “Life on Our Planet” film for the students in Ashgabat.
Sir David Attenborough is one of the world’s most famous broadcasters and naturalists. During his lifetime, Sir David Attenborough has seen first-hand the monumental scale of environmental change caused by human actions. Honest, revealing and urgent, this documentary film is Sir David’s witness statement for the natural world. He offers a powerful first-hand account of humanity’s impact on nature and a message of hope for future generations. This amazing documentary presents some pretty grim predictions for the future should humanity continue on its current path, including a sixth mass extinction and a 4°C global temperature rise that will render large parts of the Earth uninhabitable.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to each person here for joining us today. Today we have a crucial opportunity to come together and put nature at the heart of everything we do. Today is a great chance for us to step into a new way of thinking – to encourage our friends, families and wider community to take action and build a better future where we can live in balance with our natural world, and I hope that today after watching this amazing film you leave feeling inspired to act!” Ambassador Wilde said.
HMA SPEECH FOR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH FILM SCREENING AT IUHD
Good morning everyone. My name is Lucia Wilde and I am the British Ambassador here in Turkmenistan.
I would like to start by saying big thank you to the International University of Humanities and Development for hosting us today and thank you all for coming.
The timing of our film screening is not a coincidence. Last Sunday, June 5, it was the World Environment Day 2022, which is the biggest international day for protecting the environment and our planet, as well as raising awareness about problems faced by the environment due to air pollution, global warming, deforestation, wild forest fires and so on. Millions of people celebrate it, across the world.
It is essential to advocate for a greener environment and the conservation of nature. This is quite simple because when we conserve the environment today, future generations will be able to lead a healthier life. We cannot be so selfish and use up all the resources for ourselves. World Environment Day is the perfect opportunity to make people aware of the issues we are facing and how one can contribute to saving the environment. Thus, it is quite important in its own way.
The theme for World Environment Day 2022 is “Only One Earth” – a call for governments, businesses and individuals to change policies and choices to enable cleaner, greener, and sustainable living in harmony with nature. It focuses on the need to live sustainably in harmony with nature, and our possibilities for shifting to a greener lifestyle through both policies and individual choices.
To avoid increasing loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure due to climate change, ambitious and accelerated action to adapt to climate change is needed, along with rapid and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. To do this, governments can pass regulations and laws that promote a green and sustainable economy. For us, ordinary people, it is about investing our personal time, our lifestyles, time, money and efforts into going green and being more respectful of our environment.
I would like to say a huge thank you to each person here for joining us today. Today we have a crucial opportunity to come together and put nature at the heart of everything we do. Today is a great chance for us to step into a new way of thinking – to encourage our friends, families and wider community to take action and build a better future where we can live in balance with our natural world, and I hope that today after watching this amazing film you leave feeling inspired to act!
Sir David Attenborough is one of the world’s most famous broadcasters and naturalists. He is considered by many to be the pioneer of nature documentaries. He is producer of many famous documentary series about nature.
In his “A Life On Our Planet” film, Sir David highlights the problems the world is facing as a result of human-induced climate change. In what Sir David Attenborough calls his “witness statement” for the environment, A Life on Our Planet guides viewers through his 60-year career and demonstrates the devastating changes our planet has experienced in his lifetime. Originally released on Netflix in 2020, this amazing documentary presents some pretty grim predictions for the future should humanity continue on its current path, including a sixth mass extinction and a 4°C global temperature rise that will render large parts of the Earth uninhabitable.
So why is this film so important now? Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and wide-ranging disruption to nature, and it affects the lives of billions of people around the world and is a serious and growing threat to our well-being and a healthy planet. The people and ecosystems least able to cope with this situation suffer the most. David Attenborough’s “A Life On Our Planet” comes at a crucial time for our natural world. Our planet’s wildlife has reduced by almost 70% since 1970 – within a single lifetime – and half of the fertile land on Earth is now farmland. The last decade was the hottest on record. Global temperatures are set to rise beyond 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels this century. This would have catastrophic effects worldwide, especially here in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan has the highest air temperatures and lowest levels of precipitation in Central Asia. Moreover, increasing temperatures have been observed and documented as occurring at a faster pace here in Turkmenistan than in many other parts of the world. The challenges we face now will only worsen with inaction.
As the first generation with a clear understanding of our impact, we must work to restore nature now to protect our planet and ourselves. This film shows the scale of the challenges that we are facing, and the role that each of us here can play in creating the solutions we know we need.
Thank you for your attention and enjoy the film!
PRESS RELEASE: Akina-Andkhoy railway line construction resumed in Afghanistan