On his 62nd birthday, it is appropriate to recall that Prince Charles was speaking about the environment before it became fashionable. Through his charitable activities he has been doing something practical to achieve this.
As Prince of Wales he is a world leader in matters environmental. Not everyone will agree with every position he takes, but he does so with courage and convicition. And he gets things done. As Heir Apparent to the throne, Australians may feel proud of the Prince who spent some part of his fomative years here.
…world wide influence…
The world wide influence of Prince Charles was then demonstrated during the 2009 Group of 20 meeting in London. This was when he called – and chaired – a crucial meeting to support one of his many projects, The Prince’s Rain Forest Project. This is about emergency action to cut the deforestation of the rain forests.
Just look at the list of those who came, and ask who else could have done this. The participants included the Indonesian President, the World Bank President, the German Chancellor, the Japanese, Italian, Australian, Guyanese, and Norwegian Prime Ministers, the President of the European Union Commission, Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, the British Foreign Secretary and the Brazilian Foreign Minister.
Encouraged by the Prince, they agreed to establish an expert-level international working group to provide interim emergency funding to help what are called the “Rainforest Nations”. The purpose is to “make the trees worth more alive than dead” before other international financing mechanisms take effect. Whether or not you believe in anthropogenic global warming, few would dissent from the need to preserve the world’s remaining rain forests.
The fact is world leaders take Prince Charles seriously. He follows in the traditions of his father and right back to Albert, the Prince Consort. Prince Charles is providing world leadership beyond politics.
The following videos relate to the Prince's START initiative. The Prince's activities can have an amusing side, as the second video below demonstrates.
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