Halting deforestation is a key front in the battle against climate change, the Prince of Wales has said.
Prince Charles called on international governments, businesses and consumers to contribute £30bn a year in the fight against climate change through a mechanism enabling poorer countries to value their trees.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme today, he said rainforests were an important part of the Earth’s carbon cycle and released 20 billion tonnes of water vapour into the air every day, while absorbing carbon dioxide.
However, he noted the poor economic conditions for many of those inhabiting rainforests meant “there’s more value in them being dead” in order to produce wood products, food and bio fuels.
“In order to survive there has to be an effort to produce things which tends to be at the expense of the rainforest,” said Prince Charles.
“What we’ve got to do is try to ensure that those forests are more valuable alive than dead.
“Halting deforestation would be the easiest and cheapest way in helping in the battle against climate change.”
He added new technologies designed to counter carbon emissions would not come on stream fast enough and that “we’re asking for something pretty dreadful unless we really understand the issues now, and the urgency of those issues”.
