New Attenborough film showcases both destruction and hope in planet's oceans

By Susanna Twidale

British naturalist David Attenborough says there is hope for the future of the planet's oceans in a new film premiering later on Tuesday that sets out both the scale of damage caused by human activities and the oceans' capacity for recovery.

In his latest work "Ocean", Attenborough, one of the world's best-known nature broadcasters and filmmakers whose work spans seven decades, charts the challenges faced by the seas over his lifetime, from destructive industrial fishing practices to mass coral reef bleaching.

"After almost 100 years on the planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea,” he says in a trailer of the movie.

Its full release in cinemas on Thursday coincides with Attenborough's 99th birthday.

"When David Attenborough started there were two TV channels and everybody knew him as the voice of nature. Now there are hundreds of channels, social media but yet he is still the voice for nature," Enric Sala, an executive producer of the film and National Geographic Pristine Seas founder, said in an interview.

Tuesday's premiere in London will see both a glitzy event with celebrities and dignitaries walking a blue - not red - carpet in the evening, and a daytime screening for students and teachers.

"We hope that the younger generations coming to the screening today are going to feel so inspired that they will want to be the David Attenborough of the future," Sala said.

Despite depicting the bleak current state of the health of the ocean, discoveries made during filming offer hope, Attenborough said.

"The ocean can recover faster than we had ever imagined, it can bounce back to life," Attenborough says in the film said.

"If we save the sea we save our world. After a lifetime of filming our planet I'm sure nothing is more important."

The film's release comes ahead of the United Nations Ocean conference in June where it is hoped more countries will ratify a 2023 agreement to protect ocean biodiversity, which currently lacks sufficient signatories to come into force.