Attenborough ‘inspiration’ for William’s new series celebrating wildlife rangers
The Prince of Wales has described Sir David Attenborough as the “inspiration” for his new wildlife documentary project highlighting the work of rangers.
William hopes the six-part series will help nature’s wardens be “valued, respected, seen” and promote the “wonderful” regions they protect, just as the broadcaster and naturalist’s films drew viewers’ attention to remote parts of the globe.
William said: “Any progress, any future we want for the natural world, has to come from the ranger community being valued, respected, seen.”
The prince’s comments were made during a surprise appearance earlier this week at the press launch of the series, with each episode featuring an on-screen introduction by the future King who also appears in a trailer for the project.
“David Attenborough – big inspiration for me growing up and being able to present wonderful parts of the world to many of us most of us will never get a chance to visit, and I hope this does the same kind of thing.
“It reminds people that there are still wonderful parts of the world and there is still hope, and there’s still amazing work being done.”
William has attended screenings of Sir David’s nature documentaries privately, most recently his new film Ocean, while the broadcaster – whose Life On Earth natural history series was a TV landmark – has been a champion of the prince’s environmental Earthshot Prize since its inception.
The future King spoke during a Q&A session, after the first thee episodes were screened, attended by Rohit Singh, vice president of the International Ranger Federation, and hosted by TV presenter Michaela Strachan, a regular host on BBC’s Springwatch.
William told the screening that friends working as rangers had given him “feedback” about “how much more dangerous the job’s become” with 1,400 rangers dying during the past decade.
The reasons behind the increased threat was “community conflicts or civil wars or illegal fishing or poaching – whatever it might be is just spreading further and further across the globe”.
“And if we are to reach our goals, and we do generally as a world care about the natural environment, then we need more of these guys and girls.”
Last November the prince announced a new life insurance cover for rangers who safeguard Africa’s wildlife, a five-year Ranger Welfare and Standards Initiative providing 10,000 rangers with access to the financial scheme.
Mr Singh called for more rangers to be trained, working conditions to be improved and for the workforce to be “accountable and responsible” and more women employed.
He added: “At the moment one ranger is managing an area equal to 11,000 football fields – it’s impossible to do the job.”
The first episode of the series, launched by the Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife and co-produced by Zandland, is available from Friday on BBC Earth’s YouTube and social channels, with a new episode released every Friday.