UN summons dinosaur as 'witness' to testify to dangers of burning fossil fuels

The light-hearted clip carries a serious message that the UN Development Programme hopes to drive home. Picture: United Nations Development Programme/YouTube

The United Nations has summoned an unusual “witness” to testify to the dangers of burning fossil fuels that stoke global warming: a dinosaur.

In a video released on social media ahead of this year’s UN climate change summit, a computer-generated dinosaur bursts into the UN’s famous General Assembly hall in New York to tell world diplomats that “going extinct is a bad thing”.