David Attenborough has warned that “human beings have overrun the world” and are sending it into decline, in a new documentary detailing his vision for how the world can stop climate breakdown.

“This film is my witness statement and my vision for the future – the story of how we came to make this our greatest mistake and how if we act now, we can yet put it right,” the 93-year-old broadcaster says in a trailer for A Life on Our Planet.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr, the pioneering nature documentarian urged the public to “stop waste of any kind”, saying the world is precious and should be “celebrated and cherished”.

“The reverberations of that simple change [of rising temperatures] are going to be enormous unless we do something about it,” he said in interview aired on Sunday.

“And this is the very last moment that we have in which we can hope to stem some of these disasters.”

David Attenborough: Life in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 David Attenborough: Life in pictures David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1957 David Attenborough with his three-year-old daughter Susan, as they cover their ears while sulphur-crested cockatoo Georgie lets out a piercing shriek David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1950 David Attenborough with his wife Jane Oriel and older brother and film actor Richard Attenborough at St. Anne's Church, Kew Green David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1955 David Attenborough, holding his son Robert, whilst looking at an animal called a coatimundi, brought home from the combined London Zoo David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1955 David Attenborough and Jack Lester, curator of London Zoo's reptile house, plan their next expedition to British Guiana with the help of Gregory the parrot David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1956 David Attenborough with six-year-old Michael Webb of Kingsbury pets a Capybara after Sir David had lectured to children on the 'Zoological Expedition to British Guiana' at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1957 David Attenborough, with wildlife photographer Charles Lagus, preparing to depart for New Guinea to make 'Zoo Quest' at London Airport Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1958 Prince Charles with his sister Princess Anne meeting Sir David Attenborough and Cocky, the cockatoo brought back from his last Zoo Quest expedition, at the BBC Television Studios in Lime Grove, London David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1961 David Attenborough with two ring-tailed lemurs during a Christmas lecture at London zoo David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1963 David Attenborough with an armadillo from 'Attenborough's Animals' David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1965 David Attenborough after he was appointed the new head of BBC 2 David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1965 David Attenborough and Michael Peacock, Contoller of the BBC, with soft toy versions of Hullabaloo and Custard, the kangaroo mascots which were used as logos for the launch of BBC 2 David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1980 David Attenborough shows Charlie the Llama to schoolboy Patrick Flynn, the millionth child to attend London Zoo's educational lectures and tours David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1982 David Attenborough feeds orangutan David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1985 David Attenborough after being knighted by the Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace, London, with his wife Jane (right) and daughter Susan David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1985 David Attenborough signs his book 'the Living Planet' in a Sydney Bookstore in Australia 2004 Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1986 David Attenborough with Queen Elizabeth II filming the Christmas Message in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1990 David Attenborough poses for a photograph David Attenborough: Life in pictures 1995 David Attenborough watches nature during the filming of Natural Curiosities David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2000 David Attenborough and his wife at the Tate Modern Art Gallery opening party David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2002 David Attenborough with meerkat on his shoulder being filmed for BBC series Life of Mammals David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2003 A python greets Sir David Attenborough during a photo opportunity at Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, Australia Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2003 Sir David Attenborough holds a baby salt water crocodile during a photo opportunity at Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, Australia Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2005 David Attenborough poses with The Swan Hellenic Oldie of the Year Award at the 'Oldie Of The Year Awards' honouring veteran notables together with Britain's oldest celebrity superstars, at Simpsons in the Strand in London. Sir David Attenborough was announced as the Swan Hellenic Oldie of the Year at the 13th annual awards Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2005 David Attenborough plants a Wollemei Pine at Kew Gardens in London Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2005 David Attenborough signs copies of his latest publication Life In The Undergrowth, published in relation to the BBC One series, at the Natural History Museum in London Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2006 Sir David Attenborough and Lord Richard Attenborough robe up, before they are awarded the title of Distinguished Honorary Fellowships from the University of Leicester at De Montfort Hall in Leicester Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2007 Sir David Attenborough launches National Moth Recording Scheme at London Zoo in London Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2008 Sir David Attenborough sits in The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace in the Amazing Rare Things exhibition in London Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2009 Prince William, Dr Michael Dixon and Sir David Attenborough host the opening of the The New Darwin Centre at The Natural History Museum in London Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2011 Britain's Queen Elizabeth II speaks with naturalist David Attenborough during a special exhibition of artefacts from the Royal Collection and Royal Archives at Buckingham Palace in London Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2011 Sir David Attenborough with the Specialist Factual award at the Philips British Academy Television Awards at the Grosvenor House in London David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2012 Sir David Attenborough poses with a floral sculpture of himself outside the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew Gardens in London Getty Images David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2012 Sir David Attenborough at the UKTV Showcase held at the Saatchi Gallery in west London David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2013 David Attenborough during the filming of "Micro Monsters with David Attenborough," a series about insects David Attenborough: Life in pictures 2016 Sir David Attenborough attends the launch of the London Wildlife Trust's new Flagship nature reserve Woodberry Wetlands in London Getty Images

In an impassioned plea, he urged viewers to stop waste and adopt an ambition of living more modestly.

“Think this world is precious, think your time is precious, think the rest of the natural world is precious and all those things need cherishing – that’s the fundamental attitude,” he said.

“The world is not a bowl of fruit from which we can just take what we wish. We are part of it, and if we destroy it, we destroy ourselves.”

He added: “Stop waste. Stop waste of any kind. Stop wasting power, stop wasting food, stop wasting plastic. Don’t waste, this is a precious world. Celebrate and cherish.”

Despite Marr’s admission that two-thirds of the way through watching the upcoming film, “I kind of want to cut my throat – I think it’s all so awful and despairing,” the last part of the film “suggests that even at this late stage, we can genuinely change course, rewild the planet and live differently”.

He pointed to countries who are showing leadership on how to tackle climate change, such as the Netherlands, Japan and Costa Rica, where a vast rewilding project is underway at the Guanacaste Conservation Area.

Costa Rica also famously abolished its army in 1948, redirecting these funds into healthcare, education and environmental protections.

“For a political leader with great power to simply say ‘we don’t need an army – if Donald Trump decided to invade Costa Rica there’s nothing we could do.

“So why do we waste all the money on an army? Why don’t we take all that money from the national budget and turn it into rewilding and eco-tourism?’ And that’s not just empty words – they’ve done it.”

Emphasising that, given the chance, the natural world can restore itself remarkably quickly, he recalled visiting a lush jungle in Costa Rica which only 25 years previously had been a meadow grazed by cows.

Mr Attenborough added: “We can look to the younger generation who are actually going to do it, because they will be able to see the consequences of what they do.”

The world’s youth has mobilised in unprecedented fashion in recent years, helping to force the looming crisis to the top of news agendas with school strikes and demonstrations.

And while several young climate activists, not least Greta Thunberg, have successfully battled to put their messages directly to world leaders, scientists caution there may only be years left to avert dire and lasting changes to the climate.

Many experts had warned the UN’s COP26 climate change conference, which was due to be held in Glasgow in November, could be the last chance to uphold the Paris Agreement.

The conference, at which countries were due to finally agree upon a working model for carbon trading, has been delayed until 2021 as a result of coronavirus.

Asked whether Covid-19 was humanity’s “reckoning”, Mr Attenborough said: “Anybody who knows anything about keeping animals [will know] the more dense population you keep, the quicker a disease will spread, and there’s never been a denser population of human species until this moment”.

In a warning to world leaders, he added: ”This is the last chance. There are short-term problems and long-term problems. A politician is tempted to deal with short-term problems all the time and neglect long-term problems.