Acknowledgements

A Life on Our Planet as a project, comprising both this book and an accompanying film, has been several years in the making and required the assistance and contributions of many colleagues. The idea initially came about during conversations with Colin Butfield at the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), and with Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, my old friends at Silverback Films. I am indebted to all three of them. They were instrumental in defining the structure of this book and they led the production of the film, which informed so much of its contents.

My primary debt, however, in writing the book has been to my co-author, Jonnie Hughes. He has been involved with environmental issues for many years and was a director on the film. His eloquence, expertise and clarity of thought have been invaluable. This has been particularly so in the third part of this book which draws upon the ideas, opinions and research of people from many fields and organisations.

We could not have hoped to compile such a vision without the substantial assistance of the Science Team at WWF. We would like to thank in particular, Mike Barrett, Executive Director of Conservation and Science at WWF-UK, for sharing his clear perspective on the environmental crisis, and for guiding the team that works with him on their milestone publication, the Living Planet Report, which has been of such inspiration to all of us involved with this project. Our thanks also go to Mark Wright, Science Director at WWF, who has put in many long hours, ensuring that the arguments presented across the whole project are rooted in real-world examples and good scientific research.

This collaboration with WWF introduced us to many inspiring communicators and researchers too numerous to list here. We would, however, like to especially acknowledge Johan Rockström and the team that worked with him when creating the planetary boundaries model, and Kate Raworth, author of the Doughnut Model. Their work has brought profound insights at this critical moment in our history. The writings and research of Paul Hawken and Callum Roberts have been instrumental in understanding the problems and solutions associated respectively with climate change and the ocean.

We are both very grateful for the guidance of Albert DePetrillo and Nell Warner at Penguin Random House, and to Robert Kirby and Michael Ridley for their assistance in the production of this book.

My thanks also go to my dear daughter, Susan, who organises me and my diary and has listened with extraordinary patience to every word of this book–several times.

Engaging in this project has brought many emotions. The truth of our planet’s current predicament is beyond alarming. Learning the very latest detail of our crisis has troubled me greatly. But, counter to that, it is heart-warming to discover the extent to which brilliant minds are now at work to understand and, further, to solve the problems we face. My great hope is that these minds may soon come together in a position to influence our future. As I have been reminded during the creation of A Life on Our Planet, it is possible to achieve so much more working with others than any one of us can achieve alone.

David Attenborough

Richmond, UK

8 July 2020