‘I don’t think it’s too late but we need to act now’ on climate change, says biodiversity professor

The United Nations chief, Antonio Guterres, has used the opening day of the COP15 summit to declare that the world is losing what he called “our suicidal war against nature” and warning that the ecosystem is on the verge of collapse, with more than a million species at risk.

We spoke to Katherine Willis, Professor of Biodiversity at Oxford University and a member of the government’s Natural Capital Committee, with a remit to advise on the delivery of the UK’s 25-year plan for biodiversity, and Sir Robert Watson, Emeritus Professor at the University of East Anglia and former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.