The 2020 BAFTA nominated BBC documentary Extinction: The Facts, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, was one of the first mainstream documentaries to communicate the drivers of biodiversity loss to the general public.
Reaching a worldwide audience of tens of millions as one of the BBC’s most-viewed factual titles, it vividly illustrated how Trase data has made it possible to link consumption impacts of individual countries, such as the UK, to subnational regions of production of imported commodities including soy, beef and palm oil and the environmental impacts associated with that production. The focus of the documentary on the biodiversity impacts of trade was partly inspired by a 2019 scientific article by the Trase team, and the documentary featured Trase data and interviews with Trase co-director Toby Gardner.
One of the challenges we faced when making Extinction: The Facts is that biodiversity loss is often seen as a remote, abstract issue unconnected to our daily lives. When our research team found Trase we saw an unprecedented opportunity to overcome that disconnect. Using research carried out by Trase we were able to illustrate how specific species (The Giant Anteater in the Cerrado of Brazil in this case) are impacted by consumer choices in food import-dependent countries such as the UK. It was invaluable for us to be able to use Trase's evidence to illustrate the impact of global trade in this innovative way. Audience research and feedback revealed that this was one of the most surprising and thought-provoking sections of the film. Extinction: The Facts remains one of the BBC's most viewed Specialist Factual titles and was nominated for several awards including a BAFTA. The programme received extensive UK and global press coverage.
Serena Davis, Series Producer and Director, BBC Studios Science Unit