This week the Prince Of Wales launched a new campaign to raise awareness of tropical deforestation and encourage action to end it.
The campaign was launched on social networking sites across the web, urging people to show their support by signing up on the Prince’s Rainforests Project website.
Deforestation not only accounts for about 20% of emissions from human activities but also reduces the tropical ecosystems’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Prince Charles said he felt it was important to attempt to reach out to an online audience. “One of the internet’s strengths is that it can enable diverse communities to come together to ensure that everybody’s views and actions can really be made to count,” he said “It provides the potential to create global determination for change on a vitally important issue.”
The jewels in the crown of biodiversity
Tony Juniper, the PRP’s special adviser, said the forests were the jewels in the crown of biodiversity. “The ecosystems are home to a sizeable percentage of the world’s species and perform vital ecological services, such as providing clean drinking water.” he said
But more recently, scientists have also highlighted the importance of rainforests in the battle against climate change. “If we are to limit the level of warming to a level that we can cope with, we need to stop deforestation,” said Tony Juniper “Deforestation is essentially an economic problem and we need to find an economic solution. We need to find ways to make forests worth more alive than dead.”
More information
Find out more, and sign up to show your support, on the Prince’s Rainforests Project website. You can also take part in the campaign by creating your own mash-up video, in which you can appear alongside well-known figures and an animated frog (the symbol of the campaign), to share with your friends.
