Sir David Attenborough’s 2011 RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) President’s Lecture remains one of the most defining speeches on the subject of human overpopulation.

Delivering the address to Society members on March 10 2011, and in the presence of the late Duke of Edinburgh, the revered British naturalist explained why human population growth is at the root of almost every environmental problem that exists today.

Claiming ‘sustainable growth’ to be an oxymoron, David Attenborough pointed out there were only two ways the human population would be controlled in the future: “We are a plague on the Earth. It’s coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so… either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us”.

The naturalist, famous for his award-winning documentaries including Life On Earth and Blue Planet, stated: “All environmental problems become harder – and ultimately impossible – to solve with ever more people”.

Click the video below to watch Sir David Attenborough’s 2011 address to the RSA.

During the lecture, Attenborough added that: “Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, perhaps it’s time we [should] control the population to allow the survival of the environment”.

Born in 1926, Sir David Attenborough is a British broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. His comments on the dangers of human population growth have been echoed by other leading voices on the subject, including Professor Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb.