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Prince Charles says protecting forests vital against climate change 'doomsday clock'
Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com
February 15, 2008


Long-time environmental activist, Prince Charles delivered an impassioned speech yesterday to the European Parliament on global warming and the importance of rainforest conservation in mitigating the crises.

In stark terms he warned the Parliament of the grave danger of climate change. "For me, the crux of the problem is - and I only pray I will be proven wrong - that the doomsday clock of climate change is ticking ever faster towards midnight."

Alluding to global government's laconic response to climate change, Prince Charles stated: "We are simply not reacting quickly enough. We cannot be anything less than courageous and revolutionary... In this sense, it is surely comparable to war. The question is whether we have the courage to wage it." The comparison between combating climate change and engaging in warfare has caught the attention of numerous European news sources. "If military policy has long been based on the dictum that we should be prepared for the worst case," Prince Charles added. "Should it be so different when the security is that of the planet and our long term future?"

Prince Charles used the speech to high-light specifically the need to quickly begin paying tropical nations to stop deforestations and preserve the forests. "We must start to pay for the services that these great forests provide to us... In the simplest of terms, we have to find a way to make the forests worth more alive than dead... Unbelievable as it might seem, we are destroying our planet's air-conditioning system." Prince Charles is referring here to REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), a plan recently agreed upon at the global warming conference of Bali. REDD would send billions of dollars to tropical nations from developed one in the form of carbon credits to stop deforestation. In the past deforestation has made up 20% of the total carbon released annually. The Prince of Wales also stated that the importance of forests not only lies in their ability to soak up carbon, but to preserve species. "The loss of biodiversity is also terrifying," he stated. "It has been compared to burning down a library of previous knowledge without first reading the books."

Prince Charles received a standing ovation at the end of his speech and high praise by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. "I want to pay a very warm tribute to you for the tremendous leadership," Barroso told the Prince. "You have offered for many years on environmental issues in general and climate change in particular. It's fair to say the Prince of Wales was speaking about these issues well before they became fashionable."

The Prince of Wales laid out the stakes, as he sees them, in the world's action or non-action over the coming years. "The lives of billions of people depend on your response," he stated, "and none of us will be forgiven by our children and grandchildren if we falter and fail."