Thread: Prince Charles warns over inability to tackle climate change

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Prince Charles warns over inability to tackle climate change

The Prince of Wales warns that natural disasters like Typhoon Haiyan will become more common due to the "inability to take the necessary action" to tackle climate change

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales speaks during the reception launch of CDP's Global Forests Report 2013 at The Royal Society. Photo: GETTY

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent
2:40PM GMT 20 Nov 2013

The Prince of Wales has warned that natural disasters likeTyphoon Haiyan that devastated the Philippines and flooding in India earlier this year will become more common unless action is taken to tackle climate change.

The Prince urged governments taking part in international climate change negotiations in Warsaw to form new agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions by reducing deforestation around the world.

He was speaking at the launch of a new report examining the progress of the private sector in reducing deforestation.

It came as the UK Government pledged to contribute £74 million towards a new initiative aimed at protecting the world’s forests as the UN climate change talks continued.

Reducing deforestation has been one of the main topics under discussion at the negotiations, where governments are attempting to lay down frameworks for establishing new legally carbon emission targets.

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Speaking at an event at the Royal Society in London, Prince Charles expressed frustration at the “seemingly endless discussions, debate and negotiations”.

The Prince, who has long campaigned on green issuesincluding the need to save the world’s forests, described how he had seen the impacts of natural disasters, which are predicted to get more common with climate change, when he visited the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand in India, where more than 5,700 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless by flooding earlier this year.

He said: “The Chief Minister of that state bent my ear about the disaster and the problems they were having trying to come to terms with what are likely to be even more extreme weather events.

“And so all around the world we are faced increasingly with the complications caused by the inability to take the necessary action.

“As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report so clearly tells us, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events has increased and is set to increase in many parts of the world, as a direct result of anthropogenic climate change."

He added that the impact of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines had also been a "poignant and telling reminder of intimacy and interdependency of man’s relationship with the natural world".

He said there was now a "narrow window of opportunity" to take action on the scale needed to ensure the “sensible, resilient and more harmonious world we urgently need for our children and grandchildren”.

The Prince added that private companies needed to play a key role in reducing deforestation and climate change.

He made his comments at the launch of the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Global Forests Report.

It showed that 87 multinational companies including Unilever, Marks and Spencer and McDonald, had on average managed to reduce their reliance on commodities that caused deforestation.

Meanwhile, Ed Davey, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, arrived in Warsaw to take part in the 19th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties.

He said the government hoped the negotiations would allow countries to agree the scope and design of new legally binding targets, which are due to be agreed in 2015.

He announced that the UK was to end support for public financing of new coal fired power stations overseas.

He also said that the UK, Norway and the US are to work on a new initiative with the World Bank to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation.

Together they will contribute around £173 million to a public-private partnership aimed at supporting communities so they no longer need to cut down trees. He said that the UK would contribute £74 million to the fund.

Mr Davey said: “Our global forests are the lungs of the world, and protecting them is fundamental for our survival.

“This century, tree cover the size of Greenland has been destroyed by logging, fire, disease and storms.

“We have the opportunity now to pull forests back from the brink – reducing emissions and safeguarding the wildlife, agriculture and other livelihoods that depend on the forests.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/env...te-change.html

Maybe he should stop mouthing off about global warming and things will cool down!!!! Everyone knows its a scam by now, forget about it!!!!!

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