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Exclusive: Australian billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest describes it as an honor to participate in Sir David Attenborough’s latest documentary, Ocean. The film investigates the harm caused to our oceans by industrial overfishing and trawling.
Forrest combined his passion for conservation with business by part-funding Attenborough’s latest documentary.
It was a “pinch me” moment for the 63-year-old, even after many business deals the world over.
“I was raised watching David Attenborough, and my children did the same,” Forrest shared with 9news.com.au at the Ocean world premiere, speaking about his four children with his former wife, Nicola Forrest.
“Nobody had ever really filmed them before and so we did it for the first time and just got to see, it was incredible how good they were.”
Dr. Enric Sala, who served as the executive producer and science advisor for Ocean with David Attenborough, holds a comparable viewpoint, especially regarding the diverse wildlife unique to Australia.
“The Great Barrier Reef is probably the most known ocean feature from Australia,” Sala tells 9News.com.au.
“Unfortunately, global warming [and] ocean warming is really hitting the corals hard and even though there are areas that are well protected, we still have this global threat that is affecting the risk. But, as the film will show, we can bring ocean back to life if we protect at least a third of the ocean by 2030.”
‘Resilience has limits’: Global coral crisis hits Great Barrier Reef
Another director and producer on the film, Toby Nowlan, who has worked with Attenborough for 16 years, tells 9News.com.au everything “the great godfather of the industry” has worked on up to now has led to this production.
“The idea was to create a seminal film to drive change in our ocean and help save this planet – it really is that big,” Nowlan says.
“This is his most important story … he’s drawn everything together to this point. So, it’s very different to what’s gone before, this is not another TV episode, this is an Attenborough event to make change.”
Forrest has also spoken about Labor’s landslide election win, warning business leaders their shareholders will desert them if they don’t take the environment seriously.
The mining magnate, who had previously criticised defeated opposition leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear power plans, stressed the importance of fighting climate change when asked about the election result.
“All I’m saying is, ‘Australia, thank God, you made me proud’,” he said.
“I am on record to say, any government of the world who turns its back on climate change [and] the fact that the climate has already heated by half a per cent, half a per cent [in the] last two years, they do so at their ignorant peril.”
