Huge migration from Africa to Europe will increase if nothing is done to tackle climate change, pointed out naturalist Sir David Attenborough at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meeting in Washington.

The Times quotes Attenborough on the link between migration and warming saying: “It is happening in Europe. People are coming from Africa because they can’t live where they are. If things go so more parts of the world become uninhabitable, that’s what will happen.”

The Guardian also covers his speech, quoting him saying: “I find it hard to exaggerate the peril. This is the new extinction and we are half way through it. We are in terrible, terrible trouble and the longer we wait to do something about it the worse it is going to get.”

Separately, Reuters reports that UK chancellor Philip Hammond told the IMF on Thursday he would use meetings in Washington this week to “urge fellow international policymakers to find ways to achieve sustainable economic growth and tackle climate change”. Hammond called on world leaders to put climate change and sustainable growth at the centre of their economic strategies.

However, Attenborough supports the youth climate strikes, pointing out that young people solve anything by striking, but they change opinion, especially politicians’ opinions. For this reasons strikes are worthwhile.