Planet Earth: The Future is a 2006 BBC documentary series on the environment and conservation, produced by the BBC Natural History Unit as a companion to the multi-award winning nature documentary Planet Earth. The programmes were originally broadcast on BBC Four immediately after the final three episodes of Planet Earth on BBC One. Each episode highlights the conservation issues surrounding some of the species and environments featured in Planet Earth, using interviews with the film-makers and eminent figures from the fields of science, conservation, politics, and theology. The programmes are narrated by Simon Poland and the series producer was Fergus Beeley.
When the first episodes of Planet Earth were broadcast in the UK, the producers were criticised by some green campaigners for glossing over the environmental problems faced by the planet. Executive producer Alastair Fothergill defended the approach, explaining that a heavy-handed environmental message would not work on primetime BBC One. However, the Planet Earth film crews witnessed first-hand scenes of environmental degradation and the increasing scarcity of wildlife in some of the shooting locations. This experience formed the basis of Planet Earth - The Future, which was designed to engage viewers in a mature debate about environmental issues.
The following year, the BBC commissioned Saving Planet Earth, the second overtly conservation-themed series to be shown on BBC One. The first BBC series to deal comprehensively with conservation was State of the Planet in 2000.
The following is an alphabetical list of the interviewees featured in the series, with their titles and professions as credited on screen:
Neville Ash, World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UN Environment ProgrammeDavid Attenborough, broadcasterUlises Blanco, farmerMark Brownlow, producer, Planet EarthMartyn Colbeck, cameraman, Planet EarthJames Connaughton, senior White House environmental advisorHuw Cordey, producer, Planet EarthRobert Costanza, professor of ecological economics, University of VermontAhmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Environment ProgrammeBetsy Dresser, senior vice president, Audubon Nature InstituteJohan Eliasch, entrepreneurSimon Evans, big game hunterAlastair Fothergill, series producer, Planet EarthDavid Greer, park advisor, World Wide Fund for NatureChadden Hunter, wildlife biologistTony Juniper, executive director, Friends of the EarthPeyton Knight, National Center for Public Policy ResearchMarek Kryda, consultant, Animal Welfare Institute, PolandJames Leape, Director General, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF International)Moisés Léon, Tropical Science CenterMark Linfield, producer, Planet EarthJames Lovelock, independent scientist and proponent of the Gaia hypothesisBarbara Maas, chief executive, Care for the Wild InternationalProfessor Wangari Maathai, founder, Green Belt MovementRichard Mabey, writerJeffrey A. McNeely, chief scientist, World Conservation UnionNisar Malik, conservationistTony Martin, Natural Environment Research CouncilProfessor Robert M. May, Oxford UniversityE.J. Milner-Gulland, Imperial College LondonRussell Mittermeier, president, Conservation InternationalHenry Ndede, chairman, Friends of Nairobi National Park, KenyaCraig Packer, ecologistMartin Palmer, chief executive, Alliance of Religions and ConservationRoger Payne, president, Ocean AllianceJonathon Porritt, chair, Sustainable Development Commission, UKSandra Postel, author and global water analystMark Stanley Price, chief executive, Durrell Wildlife Conservation TrustCarlos Quesada, University of Costa RicaAdam Ravetch, cameraman & Arctic wildlife specialistM. Sanjayan, Lead Scientist, The Nature ConservancyClare Short, former Secretary of State for International DevelopmentSakana Ole Turede, Chair, Kitengela Pastoral Land Owners Association, KenyaJan Kees Vis, director of sustainable agriculture, UnileverRobert Watson, chief scientist, World BankRowan Williams, Archbishop of CanterburyE. O. Wilson, professor Emeritus, Harvard UniversityDVD and book
All three episodes of Planet Earth - The Future are included as a bonus feature on the fifth disc of the British and North American versions of the Planet Earth DVD box set (BBCDVD1883 in the UK). It was omitted from the HD DVD and Blu-ray sets because of the mixture of standard and high-definition footage.An accompanying book, Planet Earth - The Future: What the Experts Say (ISBN 978-0-563-53905-6), was published by BBC Books on 5 October 2006. The editors are Rosamund Kidman-Cox and Fergus Beeley, and Jonathon Porritt wrote the foreword.
