Attenborough Hopes to Pass the Torch with 'Planet Earth: Asia'

David Attenborough’s masterly BBC series Planet Earth: Asia, which concluded its run on BBC America and AMC+ in early March 2025, ends tentatively optimistic for the future. After Attenborough's guidance through remote, seemingly inhospitable parts of the world, where rare species adapt to harsh environments, it turns out the more difficult of all is living in proximity to human beings. The numbers of those animals we’re privileged to see are frighteningly low as habitats shrink, water sources dry up, and the planet warms. Addressing COP26 in 2021, Attenborough defined care of the planet as an act of social justice, with a huge disparity between those at the top who created the climate crisis, and the poor populations who will be most impacted by global warming.

Attenborough: In my lifetime I've witnessed a terrible decline. In yours, you could and should witness a wonderful recovery.

In creating the series Asia, Attenborough does not go over the top with his warnings, but instead shares what he has seen and allows us to draw our own conclusions. As calm and measured as ever, he does not raise false hopes. Approaching his 99th birthday (May 8), he is passing on the responsibility to new generations, starting with showing us valuable work by those in poor communities who understand what some world leaders and politicians refuse to grasp.