BOURNEMOUTH’S globally-famous conservationist Jane Goodall has denounced Donald Trump’s climate change policies as “immensely depressing”.

Her remarks came after the US president issued an executive order to reverse Barack Obama’s policies on curbing greenhouse gases.

Dr Goodall, who is a United Nations Messenger of Peace, told the media in Washington, DC, that many people had worked hard to cut emissions in line with the Paris agreement on climate change.

“Thinking that the USA isn’t going to play its part, such an industrial country, is really very, very sad. And it means we’re going to have to work harder,” she said.

Dr Goodall, who was in Washington to address students at American University, said she had seen the effects of climate change during her travels.

She added: “There’s no way we can say climate change isn’t happening. It’s happened. The argument that people is that people give is, ‘Well, we can’t prove that human activities are the main cause of this’ and I just the heard the other day that one of the presidents’ people said ‘Well, we don’t think carbon monoxide is the main greenhouse gas'."

She added: “It’s happening everywhere. It’s already having devastating effects in many parts of the world.

“The droughts are getting worse, flooding’s getting worse. Storms, hurricanes are getting more frequent and more violent. And the main thing is unpredictability. Everywhere I go, people say, ‘Well, it’s not normally like that at this time of year'.”

She spoke of a feeling of “gloom and doom” at President’s Trump election but said she aimed to give people hope.

“People who were apathetic before, who didn’t seem to care, now suddenly it’s like they’ve heard a trumpet call – ‘What can we do? We have to do something’. And these are people thinking about future generations, not just themselves.”

Jane Goodall grew up in the family home on Bournemouth’s West Cliff where she still lives when she is not travelling.

She came to prominence with her ground-breaking studies of apes at Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, which began in 1951. Today, she is in demand all around the world as a speaker and conservationist.

Ahead of the presidential debates last year, Dr Goodall said Donald Trump’s behaviour reminded her of male chimpanzees and their dominance rituals.