July/August 2009 Volume 14 Number 7

The clock is ticking

Launching his campaign to save tropical rainforests, the Prince of Wales said: 'If we lose the battle against tropical deforestation, we lose the battle against climate change.' Lord Stern, who is on the steering group of the Prince's Rainforest Project, has similar concerns and has written in the national press about the Prince's proposals to sustain tropical rainforests.

Currently the picture is bleak. An acre of rainforest is lost every second and with that destruction we lose 50,000 species of wildlife each year. Not only is this habitat home to 50 million indigenous people, but it is also a resource of global importance, absorbing nearly one-fifth of the world's man-made carbon dioxide emissions.

This habitat is buying the world the time that it needs to convert to a low carbon economy. Yet it is being destroyed with little recourse.

The double whammy is that much of this habitat is being burnt, and so the carbon dioxide that has been captured during growth is released back into the atmosphere. Worse still, as Joanna Cooper highlights in 'Oiling The Wheels' on page ten, another big tract of tropical forest is under threat from proposed oil exploration, further compounding the climate change time bomb.

The Prince of Wales is seeking to influence global leaders ahead of talks in Copenhagen in December. Earlier this year he hosted a meeting attended by Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi, Nicolas Sarkozy, Hillary Clinton and senior cabinet ministers from rainforest nations Brazil, Indonesia, Gabon and Guyana. They have agreed to form an international working group to progress the issue.

To rack up the pressure he has also launched a public awareness campaign, including a short film, featuring the Prince, his sons and an array of well-known figures, including the Dalai Lama and Robin Williams (which can be viewed on the WEM website). With time ticking - we have lost vital tropical forest whilst you have been reading these words - the campaign will need all the support it can muster ahead of Copenhagen, set to be the summit that determines our future environment and the quality of life for generations to come.

To find out more about the campaign or to sign up and pledge your support visit www.rainforestsos.org. Keep abreast of developments by subscribing to WEM's electronic newsletter at www.wemmagazine.com.

Erika Yarrow, Editor, WEM (The Environment Magazine) wemeditor@ciwem.org This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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