The Future of The Prince’s Rainforests Project
Rainforest and river Image (c) Greenpeace The Prince’s Rainforests Project (PRP) was established with the objective of making the forests worth more alive than dead. A number of significant events over the last two years have brought this goal closer to reality. In May 2010, The Prince of Wales addressed a meeting in Oslo at which over fifty Governments launched the REDD+ Partnership - an intergovernmental platform aiming to scale up actions and finance to reduce deforestation. |
The Heads of State and ministers who attended the meeting in Oslo recognised the role played by The Prince of Wales and the work of the PRP in bringing the forest agenda to the attention of world leaders, business and the NGO community. The PRP will now maintain a watching brief as the Governments and NGOs take the process forward. In addition, the work with the public, private and NGO sectors to reduce human pressures on forests will continue. As part of this work, the PRP convened over twenty-five agricultural producers, processors and traders at the end of last year to discuss how to meet growing demand for commodities such as cocoa, palm oil, soya, cattle and cassava without causing further deforestation. Representatives from a number of companies gathered to present the outcomes of eight regional workshops that the PRP had convened in Ghana, Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia during 2010. Addressing the audience of NGOs, governments, investors and businesses, The Prince of Wales said “I am absolutely delighted that the companies from which you have heard today have worked so hard, in collaboration with NGOs and my International Sustainability Unit, to find ways to reconcile the apparently irreconcilable.” A range of solutions were discussed such as increasing yields and productivity, restoring degraded or abandoned land, and reducing waste along the supply chains. The report summarizing the findings from the regional workshops can be downloaded here. I would just like to thank you for your support for The Prince’s Rainforests Project. As I write, the fate of the rainforests is, I think, more optimistic today than when The Prince of Wales launched the Project in October 2007. Deforestation in Brazil has fallen to its lowest rate for twenty-two years, despite a booming economy and increasing agricultural production. A significant number of countries are drawing plans to replicate this success. In addition, progress was made by the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2010 in Cancun when it was agreed to slow, halt, and reverse forest loss and the related emissions in developing countries (REDD+). However, despite these positive developments, the pressure on the rainforests grows no less as the demand for agricultural commodities continues to increase. Equally, as the recent droughts in Brazil demonstrate, the rainforests’ ecosystems are themselves vulnerable to the increasing severity and frequency of adverse climatic events. The PRP is now part of The Prince’s Charities’ International Sustainability Unit (ISU). The ultimate goal of the ISU is to help build consensus on how to develop the durable solutions required to meet the challenges of climate change and natural resource depletion, with a focus on sustainable agriculture and fisheries management. The new website can be viewed here. |
With best wishes, Justin Mundy
Director
The Prince's Rainforests Project |
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