Chris Packham says today’s political leaders could be considered ‘genocidal maniacs’ in future

Springwatch presenter also argued TV has historically ‘failed’ to spark action on climate crisis

Chris Packham has claimed that political leaders including Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Vladimir Putin could one day be seen as “genocidal maniacs” for their inaction on climate change.

The Springwatch presenter made the comments at the annual Bafta television lecture, arguing that future generations may see them in the same light as Hitler or Stalin.

“If we let them, they have the capacity to become genocidal maniacs because of their inactions, because of their actions when it comes to caring for our planet,” he said, according to The Guardian.

During the lecture, Packham also condemned television programmes and nature documentaries for “failing wholeheartedly” to spark action on the climate crisis.

“For most of the last 30 or 40 years we’ve been making bits of the world look like paradise, absolute utopias,” he explained. “We go to places, there are never any people there, everything is functional, everything is beautiful.

“OK, we’ve excited people, we’ve fascinated people, we’ve shown them things they could never, ever have dreamed of, and they have fallen in love with that environment through awe and wonder and affinity. But has their love actually transformed into making a real difference? No.”

Earlier this month, Packham claimed that a dead fox had been dumped outside of his home after he spoke out against hunting.

“It seems that if you stick up for foxes, you get your comeuppance from people who still think it’s a good idea to kill them,” he said.