News

News

HRH warns of the urgent need to protect the environment at a state dinner in Santiago, Chile

9th March 2009

The Prince of Wales spoke of the urgent need to tackle climate-change today on the first day of Their Royal Highnesses overseas tour of Chile, Brazil and Ecuador.

The Prince of Wales was at a state dinner with The Duchess of Cornwall hosted by the Chilean President Michelle Bachelet at her official home La Moneda palace in Santiago.

In his speech, The Prince stressed that doing nothing about the environmental threat posed to the planet by global warming would lead to serious problems - "environmental refugees, social instability and decimated economies".

The Prince and The Duchess are on a 10-day tour of South America and will travel to Brazil and Ecuador including a visit to the Galapagos islands.

The Prince’s speech was made to the business, political and academic communities of Chile, which is seen as a leading economic light in the region.

In an outdoor setting within the palace The Prince told the guests that their country was witnessing "the terrible effects of global warming including the shrinking of nearly 90 per cent of your glaciers".

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the light of such evidence, and so much more from across the globe, I find it incomprehensible that there are those who still doubt the science of climate change."

He went on to tell the dinner guests: "How can we begin to address poverty if we haven't first insured that our planet is actually inhabitable?

"If we do nothing, the consequences for every person on this earth will be severe and unprecedented - with vast numbers of environmental refugees, social instability and decimated economies - far worse than anything we are seeing today."

Highlighting the issue of global warming is a major theme of the tour and later this week The Prince will give a dire climate change warning to the world.

In his keynote speech of the South American visit The Prince will tell business leaders in Brazil nations have "less than 100 months to act" before the damage caused by climate-change becomes irreversible.

Brazil is home to the world's largest rainforest and is also a key partner in Britain's efforts to get an agreement between nations at a major climate-change summit being staged in Copenhagen in December.

Earlier in the day The Prince and The Duchess carried out a series of engagements in Santiago on the first full day of their tour.

The Prince and The Duchess paid their respects at the national monument and tomb of Bernardo O'Higgins - the founding father of the Latin American nation.

Then The Prince and The Duchess arrived at La Moneda Palace, where they were received by the President of the Republic of Chile, President Michelle Bachelet.

Their talks with President Bachelet covered the impact of climate change on the Latin American country, Anglo-Chilean relations and the military links between the two states.

The Prince and The Duchess then travelled to a nearby open space, Parque Bustamente, for the launch of a national government energy saving campaign.

Two popular TV cartoon characters - a young boy called Diego and his dog Glot - have been featured in a 3D video that will travel to schools in an adapted lorry to teach youngsters about saving resources.

The country gets the majority of its energy from hydro-electric sources but with long term concerns about droughts the government is trying to encourage the population to cut consumption.

At the launch dozens of schoolchildren were taking part in a series of experiments and were joined by their royal visitors.

At one stage the couple laughed as The Prince played with a machine that challenged the user to try and keep a beach ball in the air with an airjet.

After The Prince visited the Centre for Peacekeeping Operations, (CECOPAC) and The Duchess visited the Youth Orchestras Foundation to meet young musicians and hear them play.

The Prince held private talks with senior figures from the organisation, which has a British officer on its teaching staff, then later attended a reception.

Lieutenant Anthony Clark-Jones, 25, from the Liverpool area is six weeks into a six-month attachment teaching Chilean troops at CECOPAC.

He said: "Peace-keeping is a high profile job and the Chilean government and their armed forces want to work in peace-keeping jobs around the world.

"Here we're training soldiers who will be deployed on UN missions, a lot of the stuff I do is teaching the forces how we do things in Britain - best practice."

The Prince joined a business round table on Climate Change hosted by the President of the Chilean British Chamber of Commerce, Mr Felipe Cousino.

The Prince then presented the British Consul General at Punta Arenas, with an honorary MBE. Mr John Rees is a Chilean national of British extraction, who was awarded an MBE in 2008 for his outstanding service in his role since 1992.

Their Royal Highnesses continue their tour of Chile tomorrow (Tuesday 10th March) and will travel to the coastal city of Valparaiso to meet its British community.

The Prince and The Duchess will also visit a former British warship that is now part of the Chilean navy.

The Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Marlborough was sold to the South American nation along with a number of other vessels and has been renamed the Almirante Condell.

The Prince and The Duchess will meet the warship's crew then watch a naval exercise in the waters off Valparaiso.

Later they will visit the Emiliana vineyard which has been producing organic and bio-dynamic wine since 1998.

The Prince is an organic farmer himself, and has run the Duchy Home Farm at his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire without pesticides or artificial fertilisers since the mid 1980s.

Click here to read the speech.