A successful charity night in aid of the Kogi People of Colombia took place in Marlow on Friday evening (September 20).

Hosted by adventure Steve Backshall and his double Olympic gold-medal winning wife Helen Glover, the event at the town’s Crowne Plaza Hotel saw more than 200 people attend from all over the South East.

The night saw an undisclosed amount of money get raised through ticket sales, raffles and a silent auction.

All the money raised will go towards the Kogi People, who will then use the funds to by back the land they live on from the local Colombian authorities.

Speaking at the fundraiser, Steve said: “I went out and stayed in Colombia for about six weeks, video recording myself in the rainforest and I sold my work to National Geographic’s TV channel back in 1998.

“During my stay in Colombia, I visited the forests that the Kogi People live in and it’s an extraordinary environment but due to what is happening in with the world, it’s incredibly sad, which is why we need to do what we can to help."

The evening, which was organised by Tom McGibbon, who is the founder of Ancestral Earth Foundation, saw motivation speaker Mac Macartney give several emotional talks about how the Kogi People have been severely affected by climate change.

Members from the climate change group Extinction Rebellion and Nick Hollis, who recently completed the Seven Summit challenge were also in attendance.

Sean Doyle, from Kingston-Upon-Thames, also attended the event and empathised with Steve’s message.

The 24-year-old, who aspires to work in wildlife television, recently returned to the UK after travelling and working in both South America and Australia, and he believes that the charity event will hopefully get the message out regarding the reality of climate change.

He said: “I once went scuba diving and saw coral grow out of a plastic bottle. This was in both South America and Australia. It was incredible but for all the wrong reasons.

“It’s sad but people don’t want to know.

“Events like tonight are great because they get the message out there, so hopefully people will take on board about what has been said.”

Steve then added: “I went on an expedition in Artic Greenland and that one really resonated with because over here in the UK, climate change is something that we see in the papers.

“But when you’re in the artic, climate change is real. It’s there to be seen.

“So, when you live with the people there, and these are people who have lived in the same environment for thousands of years, their world is literally being turned upside-down.

“The glaciers that their mountains have got are gone, they’ve got insects on the land which they don't have names for and they've got fish in their sea which they have never seen before and we’re arguing whether or not climate change is real.”

“That’s why we’re hosting events like these to get the message across.”