United action on climate change vital, says Prince Charles

In a pre-recorded speech to a United Nations sustainability conference in Brazil today, he will warn of the potentially “catastrophic” consequences of inaction on issues such a climate change and global food security.

In the video address to be shown to the Rio+20 meeting, Prince Charles will say: “I have watched in despair at how slow progress has sometimes been, and how the outright, sceptical reluctance by some to engage with the critical issues of our day have often slowed that progress to a standstill.

“The world’s rainforests continue to be destroyed, wiping out so much of the world’s vital biodiversity and removing our chances of storing carbon naturally.

“And we continue to ignore the painful lessons of the so-called ‘Green Revolution’ in India by intensifying our food production methods in such blinkered, chemically and technologically-based ways, that the land and the oceans are now both beginning to fail.”

He will say that scientific evidence shows the potential consequences of problems such as rising carbon dioxide levels and warned that the world can no longer ignore the risk.

“Like a sleepwalker, we seem unable to wake up to the fact that so many of the catastrophic consequences of carrying on with ‘business as usual’ are bearing down on us faster than we think, already dragging many millions more people into poverty and dangerously weakening global food, water and energy security for the future.

“One thing is clear. We need to be much more informed about the actual state of the planet. We do not have nearly enough knowledge on which to base the decisions that will be the best for the long term.”