Eden Co-Founder Sir Tim Smit was joined by BBC Springwatch presenter Gillian Burke as well as world-leading conservation scientists to discuss the topic ‘You and the planet: biodiversity’.
The free event by the Royal Society, the UK’s national science academy, was the latest in a series of talks across the country exploring scientific solutions to some of the biggest environmental issues facing our planet.
The event was a chance for the audience to put questions across relating to biodiversity, what it is and why it is so vital.
Sir Tim said: “For the variety of life to be catastrophically diminished through our actions would stain our species until the end of time itself. How appropriate that the Royal Society should be championing interest and muscularity in this subject.
“Our role at Eden is to have a theatre where the genius of others can be coloured in and in the end there is nothing more important to talk about on this stage, at this stage of humankind’s epic journey.”
Joining Sir Tim and Gillian Burke were Professor Sebsebe Demissew, a world-renowned plant scientist who led the international effort to create the first complete record of plant species in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Dr Lindsay Turnbull, who studies the vast diversity in plant life, how plant species coexist and the symbiotic relationships they forge, and Professor Georgina Mace, who studies the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss and changing ecosystems.
This year is set to be a crucial point for international action on climate change and biodiversity loss, with the world’s governments gathering in China (October) and the UK (November) for biodiversity and climate talks.
To watch the event again, visit the Royal Society YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D61Bg4c16Wg
You and the planet’s final event of the series will be at the Natural History Museum, London on Saturday March 21 with all of the talks available online.
