News

News

HRH hosts a meeting of world leaders at St James's Palace to discuss the rainforests

31st March 2009

Today The Prince of Wales hosted an historic meeting of world leaders at St James’s Palace to raise awareness of the need for emergency action to slow down rainforest destruction. The meeting in particular highlighted the need for action to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by deforestation.

At the meeting, international leaders agreed that emergency interim financing is needed to stop the destruction of the world’s rainforests to help prevent climate change. Tropical deforestation accounts for approximately 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year. Rainforests provide ecosystem services to the world, such as regulating rainfall, storing water and preserving over half the planet’s biodiversity. These forests are disappearing at an alarming rate, largely driven by global demand for timber, food and other commodities

The fifty minute meeting in St James’s Palace State Apartments, was attended by Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gabon Minister of Defence Ali Bongo Ondimba, Brazil Minister of External Relations Ambassador Celso Amorim, President of France Nicholas Sarkozy, Secretary-General United Nations Ban Ki-Moon, Chancellor of Germany Dr Angela Merkel, Prince Saud Al’Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister of Guyana Samuel Hinds, Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd, Canadian Minister of Finance James Flaherty, Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso, President of Indonesia Dr H Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, Chairman of Lloyds of London and representative of ClimateWise Lord Levene of Portsoken.

Attending from the UK were Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

In order to build on the consensus that emergency funding is needed now, the leaders agreed to establish an expert level international Working Group to examine the proposals of the Princes Rainforests Project (PRP), together with other proposals. The aim of this Working Group will be to find a way of providing interim emergency funding to help Rainforest Nations make the trees worth more alive than dead before other international financing mechanisms take effect.

Hosting the meeting at Clarence House today, The Prince of Wales said:

“I, like many of us round this table, have come to the conclusion that the first and essential step in the battle against climate change is to help Rainforest Nations curb tropical rainforest destruction. Stopping deforestation is the most readily achievable and cost effective action we can take in the short term. It is the low hanging fruit which we must grasp as soon as possible if we are to forestall tipping points in our planet’s natural systems which may affect irretrievably its habitability for mankind.”

In describing how action now could make a significant difference to global climate change:

“The destruction of the rainforests is emitting massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere and is also reducing the capacity of the earth to absorb CO2. I have been told that cutting down the trees is around 20 per cent of the problem but that stopping it could, for the reasons I have mentioned, be around 40 per cent of the solution.”

In his closing remarks, The Prince praised the participants of the meeting for having the “wisdom and foresight to pause, consider and determine a course of action to save the planet’s rainforests and therefore secure the future of our children and grandchildren – for that is really what it is all about.”

The Prince concluded by saying:

“I believe that the consensus achieved at this meeting will enable the development of an approach to dealing with the issue of deforestation capable not only of easing the plight of millions of the poorest people on our planet but also of giving us that most elusive and precious gift in our fight against climate change, time.”

Click here to visit the Speeches section of the website to read The Prince's opening and closing remarks.

Click here to download "An Emergency Package for Tropical Rainforests" by The Prince's Rainforests Project published today.  You will need Adobe Reader to view the file.