Biodiversity
The Reith Lectures
BBC
4.2 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 19 April 2000
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
To mark the new millennium, this year's Reith Lectures are delivered by five different thinkers, each eminent in a different field. At the end of the run, the Prince of Wales presents his own views on the topic in a roundtable discussion with all five lecturers.
The Millennium Reith Lectures deal with one of the most pressing issues of our time - sustainable development. The second lecture, delivered from Los Angeles is by Tom Lovejoy.
Tom Lovejoy is Chief Biodiversity Advisor for the World Bank and Counsellor at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington. He is a former member of the White House Science Council and UN Environment Programme, and is a specialist in environmental biology of the tropics and Latin American region.
In his lecture about biodiversity, Tom Lovejoy raises issues about our treatment of creation and our status within it. He believes that biodiversity is the best single indicator of an area's long term biological and economic health.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a podcast from the archives of the BBC Ruth Lectures. This lecture entitled |
| 0:05.7 | Business in the series Respect for the Earth given by Sir John Brown was originally broadcast |
| 0:11.7 | in the year 2000. Good evening and welcome to California. This is a state famous for its sunshine and its dedication to progress. |
| 0:24.1 | These two attributes also produce, as everyone here knows, the equally famous Los Angeles smog. |
| 0:30.9 | Given our subject tonight, this seems a very suitable place to be. |
| 0:35.5 | Every year, the BBC invites a distinguished figure to present their views |
| 0:39.7 | on a current subject of major significance. The topic of the wreath lectures in this year 2000 is |
| 0:45.9 | respect for the earth. Our theme, sustainable development, a subject so diverse that we've |
| 0:52.8 | invited five leading thinkers to present their ideas in their own special areas. |
| 0:58.4 | The challenge for this year's Reith Lecturers, and indeed for all of us, is how can we make sustainable development happen? |
| 1:06.6 | Can we keep the world safe for our children's children? |
| 1:10.9 | In our opening lecture last week in London, democracy was the theme. |
| 1:15.5 | It was given by the leading politician and European Commissioner Chris Patton. |
| 1:20.1 | This week we turned to an eminent scientist in the field, Thomas E. Lovejoy, |
| 1:25.8 | chief biodiversity advisor for the World Bank and counsellor at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, |
| 1:32.5 | he was the first person ever to use the term biodiversity some 20 years ago. And indeed, that is the topic of his lecture today. |
| 1:41.5 | A couple of weeks ago, he was in the Amazon, pursuing his research and trying to convert |
| 1:46.7 | key American officials to the importance of conservation. The rainforest, he says, makes the best |
| 1:53.4 | classroom. Now we are privileged to have him here with us in Los Angeles, a place he specially |
| 1:59.9 | chose, as he'll explain, |
| 2:01.4 | as the venue for this lecture. |
| 2:03.5 | We've invited a distinguished audience to the Huntington here this evening, |
... |
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