Tough regulations needed to protect environment, Goodall told BBCpublished at 19:55 BST
19:55 BST
Image source, Getty Images
In her last interview with the BBC, Dr Jane Goodall warned the “sixth great extinction is happening”.
“With her signature shawl draped over her shoulders and silver hair pulled back from her face, Jane Goodall exudes serenity – even over our slightly blurry video call,” BBC presenter Victoria Gill wrote of the interview.
At the time, in November 2024, she was on her speaking tour. “I am a little bit exhausted,” she admitted, listing off the next cities she was visiting: Berlin, Geneva, Paris.
But what drove her to speak to the BBC was to discuss the protection of forests.
“The more we can do to restore nature and protect existing forests, the better.” She had planted almost two million trees in the five years to this point.
The activist wanted to highlight the threat that deforestation poses to our climate.
“Trees have to grow to a certain size before they can really do their work,” she said.
“If we don’t get together and impose tough regulations on what people are able to do to the environment – if we don’t rapidly move away from fossil fuel, if we don’t put a stop to industrial farming, that’s destroying the environment and killing the soil, having a devastating effect on biodiversity – the future ultimately is doomed.”