Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

There is reason to be deeply concerned at this point. 390 00:23:57,018 --> 00:24:00,564 We're still expanding agricultural land into natural ecosystems. 391 00:24:00,647 --> 00:24:03,024 We are still cutting down the rain forest 392 00:24:03,108 --> 00:24:05,235 at a pace that puts the whole system at risk. 393 00:24:07,612 --> 00:24:09,990 [David] And it's not just the rain forests. 394 00:24:10,073 --> 00:24:15,996 Trees of every description are invaluable in maintaining planetary stability. 395 00:24:16,913 --> 00:24:21,710 So much so that a loss of just 25% of the world's forest cover 396 00:24:21,793 --> 00:24:25,255 risks triggering catastrophic tipping points. 397 00:24:26,173 --> 00:24:29,301 But we have already cleared almost 40%. 398 00:24:29,926 --> 00:24:33,221 We are well into the danger zone for this boundary. 399 00:24:39,019 --> 00:24:42,105 A second major consequence of deforestation 400 00:24:42,189 --> 00:24:44,191 is a loss of biodiversity. 401 00:24:45,442 --> 00:24:46,401 Of nature. 402 00:24:47,444 --> 00:24:51,156 Biodiversity is the second of the biosphere boundaries, 403 00:24:51,907 --> 00:24:55,160 because it underpins our own ability to thrive on Earth. 404 00:24:56,369 --> 00:24:58,622 But we are not treating it well. 405 00:24:58,705 --> 00:25:02,125 Nature is being degraded at a rate and a scale 406 00:25:02,209 --> 00:25:06,254 that is unprecedented, er, in human history. 407 00:25:07,589 --> 00:25:13,803 [David] Anne Larigauderie is an ecologist alarmed by the growing flood of evidence. 408 00:25:13,887 --> 00:25:17,641 Everywhere around the world, nature is in decline. 409 00:25:19,267 --> 00:25:23,188 One million of species of plants and animals 410 00:25:23,271 --> 00:25:26,608 out of an estimated total of eight million 411 00:25:26,691 --> 00:25:29,694 are threatened with extinction. 412 00:25:31,238 --> 00:25:34,616 If we continue with this negative trend, 413 00:25:34,699 --> 00:25:38,537 we might be headed towards a sixth mass extinction. 414 00:25:41,373 --> 00:25:43,333 [David] In just 50 years, 415 00:25:43,416 --> 00:25:49,214 humanity has wiped out 68% of global wildlife populations. 416 00:25:49,297 --> 00:25:53,218 It's clear that we are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis. 417 00:25:54,010 --> 00:25:56,221 Losing all of this fabric of life, 418 00:25:56,304 --> 00:26:01,309 all of this biodiversity, is threatening our own life on Earth. 419 00:26:10,235 --> 00:26:13,405 With current negative trends in biodiversity, 420 00:26:13,488 --> 00:26:16,950 we are not going to be able to feed the planet. 421 00:26:17,033 --> 00:26:21,329 For that, you need nature that functions well. 422 00:26:27,544 --> 00:26:30,338 [David] For Johan, it was a story close to home 423 00:26:30,422 --> 00:26:32,340 that really hit him. 424 00:26:32,424 --> 00:26:38,179 I opened the newspaper and read this story about UK scientists coming over to Sweden 425 00:26:38,263 --> 00:26:42,892 and stealing, you know, short-haired bumblebee queens. 426 00:26:43,852 --> 00:26:46,146 And it read like they had, you know, sneaked over at night 427 00:26:46,229 --> 00:26:49,441 and basically snatched these hundred bumblebee queens 428 00:26:49,524 --> 00:26:51,359 to bring them back into the UK 429 00:26:51,443 --> 00:26:54,362 and to basically save what they had been destroying. 430 00:26:56,573 --> 00:26:59,409 [David] Across Europe, short-haired bumblebees 431 00:26:59,492 --> 00:27:02,287 are key pollinators for food crops. 432 00:27:02,370 --> 00:27:07,375 But by the 1990s, they had been classed as extinct in the UK. 433 00:27:10,003 --> 00:27:14,591 Here, we have, you know, a country that feels forced to go to another country 434 00:27:14,674 --> 00:27:17,302 and then steal back some of its pollinators 435 00:27:17,385 --> 00:27:19,471 to have a functioning ecosystem. 436 00:27:19,554 --> 00:27:22,682 That's a… Then, you know, to me personally, 437 00:27:22,766 --> 00:27:26,478 that was a moment of, er, of realization that 438 00:27:27,812 --> 00:27:29,147 this is serious. 439 00:27:30,899 --> 00:27:34,110 [David] Around 70% of the world's crop species 440 00:27:34,194 --> 00:27:37,447 rely to some extent on insect pollination. 441 00:27:38,698 --> 00:27:42,243 But the expansion of intensive monoculture is leading 442 00:27:42,327 --> 00:27:44,871 to a drastic decline in insects. 443 00:27:46,122 --> 00:27:49,459 The irony is that our global production of food is, 444 00:27:49,542 --> 00:27:50,835 in essence, 445 00:27:50,919 --> 00:27:55,006 wiping out the very thing our food production relies on. 446 00:27:58,176 --> 00:28:01,346 It was not only proof of one of the fundamentals 447 00:28:01,429 --> 00:28:02,722 in biodiversity research, 448 00:28:02,806 --> 00:28:05,433 which is that biodiversity is not something 449 00:28:05,517 --> 00:28:08,687 we need to protect just because of the beauty 450 00:28:08,770 --> 00:28:13,608 or some kind of moral responsibility from one species, humans, 45