“We are a plague on the Earth. It’s coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so,” warns David Attenborough in an interview in the new issue of Radio Times magazine.


“It’s not just climate change; it’s sheer space, places to grow food for this enormous horde,” says the natural history broadcaster, who is set to launch his latest series, David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities, on Eden next week.

Attenborough believes humans must find ways to curb their spread or face the consequences: “Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now,” he says.

“We keep putting on programmes about famine in Ethiopia; that’s what’s happening. Too many people there. They can’t support themselves – and it’s not an inhuman thing to say. It’s the case. Until humanity manages to sort itself out and get a co-ordinated view about the planet it’s going to get worse and worse.”

Read the full interview with David Attenborough, plus Professor Brian Cox on his new show Wonders of Life, in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, on sale now.


David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities starts on Tuesday 29 January at 8pm on Eden