David Attenborough to UN: Climate change is biggest threat modern humans have ever faced

British naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough warned the U.N. Security Council that climate change is one of the largest security threats to human life.

The council, which is chaired by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, held the meeting to discuss climate-related risks to international security and peace, according to Reuters. 

During an approximately eight-minute virtual address to the U.N. body on Tuesday, Attenborough warned that the world was dangerously close to “tipping points” that, if surpassed, could send the globe spiraling into uncontrolled warming. 

“If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security: food production, access to fresh water, habitable ambient temperature and ocean food chains,” Attenborough said.

“And if the natural world can no longer support the most basic of our needs, then most of the rest of civilization will quickly break down. Please make no mistake, climate change is the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced.”

“I don’t envy you the responsibility that this places on all of you,” he continued. 

The United Nations is working towards planning a climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, this November amid a push for the world’s nations to address global warming-causing emissions.

The summit, which is billed as the most important event on the topic since the Paris climate accords, will also serve as a deadline for countries around the world to commit to cutting emissions on a larger scale, Reuters reported.

Following Attenborough’s address to the security council, Johnson echoed Attenborough’s sentiments, stating that climate change poses a real threat to the globe. 

“I know that there are people around the world who will say that this is all kind of green stuff from a bunch of tree-hugging tofu munchers and not suited to international diplomacy and international politics,” Johnson said to the council, according to Reuters. “I couldn’t disagree more profoundly.” 

The U.S. officially rejoined the Paris Agreement last week after former President Trump pulled the country out of the accords during his presidency.

Under the agreement, countries around the world will attempt to combat global warming by limiting the planet’s warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.