News

News

TRH visit Istanbul and The Prince speaks about the need to preserve the world's rainforests

28th November 2007

The Prince of Wales made an impassioned plea today for the global community to do more to save the world's rapidly disappearing rainforests during his overseas tour of Turkey.

His Royal Highness spoke about the need to preserve the precious habitats he described as providing the planet's "public utility services" and said they were worth "more dead than alive".

Some 150,000 square kilometres of tropical rainforest are destroyed each year – an area equivalent to England, Scotland and Wales combined.

Once covering over 7 million square miles around the world, tropical rainforests now cover less than 3 million square miles.

Scientists estimate that 18 to 25 per cent of total global greenhouse gases emissions result from deforestation.

His Royal Highness made the comments as he addressed a conference on corporate social responsibility in Istanbul, Turkey.

Joking with the invited audience, he told them: "I've been accused of talking to the trees and talking to the plants. I can tell you I've been talking to the trees for so long I know what's going on."

The Prince, who is nearing the end of a four-day tour of Turkey with The Duchess of Cornwall, said: "In the last six months I have been approached by various experts who are deeply, deeply concerned about the loss of the remaining rainforests throughout the world.

"I'm talking about the ones in Brazil, Congo, Indonesia those ones, that belt that runs around the centre of the world.

"The deforestation rate is proceeding at such a (rate) that (in) the next 18 months to two years we could have lost so much more that we may then lose a large part of the battle against climate change."

He added that the rainforests were the world's "public utility services" providing it with rainfall and weather patterns.

"But remember those rainforests, most of them, are more valuable dead than alive because of the way the whole system is structured – crazy totally crazy."

In October this year, The Prince launched The Prince’s Rainforest Project to help combat the continued destruction of tropical rainforests around the world.

With the support of 12 international companies, The Prince’s Rainforests Project will work with the private sector, governments and environmental experts to develop a range of practical solutions that can start to be implemented within the next 18 months.

The task is to review, develop and propose practical mechanisms that acknowledge the true value of carbon and the eco-system services provided by the world’s remaining forests – to make them more valuable alive than dead, of which currently the reverse is true.  Click here to read a Focus feature about the launch of The Prince's Rainforest Project.

The conference on corporate social responsibility was held at the Koç Museum and attended by representatives from Business in the Community, of which The Prince is President, British Council and British Embassy.

The Prince also took the opportunity during his speech to inaugurate Istanbul as a member of his charity Business in the Community's Engage programme.

Under the scheme, employees are encouraged to perform a range of activities in their neighbourhoods from volunteering to mentoring.

Their Royal Highnesses also toured the Koç Museum and saw a model removal vehicle used to move King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s possessions from White Lodge Richmond to Piccadilly, and the train carriage used by the Ottoman Sultan to visit Queen Victoria in 1867.

Later in the day, Their Royal Highnesses travelled on a well preserved wooden launch to cross the river Bosphorus - the natural barrier that divides the city between Asia and Europe.

On the other side they made the short journey to the 15th Century Eyup shrine where a tree marks the burial place of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, a friend and follower of the Prophet Mohammed.

After removing their shoes, and The Duchess covering her head with a scarf, Their Royal Highnesses entered the ornately decorated mosque overlooking the monument.

After a brief visit to the shrine they travelled on to the Kariye Museum, a former medieval church that was converted to a mosque in the 16th Century then renovated in the 1950s to reveal the splendour of its Byzantine mosaic art.

Their Royal Highnesses were given a guided tour through the ancient building's chambers.

The Prince then held a brief meeting with leading clerics from the three main faiths in Turkey - Muslim, Jewish and Christian - to discuss interfaith issues.

The Duchess later made a private visit to meet staff at Pera House, the Consulate General in Istanbul which was the scene of a devastating terrorist blast.

The bombing, just over four years ago on 10th November 10, 2003, claimed the life of then Consul General Roger Short and many other staff.  The Prince reopened Pera House during a visit to Turkey in 2004. Click here to read the story.

Meanwhile The Prince travelled to the Ataturk War Gaming and Cultural Centre, a state of the art venue for large scale computer aided exercises, and watched as military personnel were put through their paces.