Prince Charles: delay on rainforests will have catastrophic consequences

Prince appeals to decision-makers to act fast and put monetary value on forests at gathering of Nobel laureates
Prince Charles in Australia in 2005
Charles made a passionate speech to a symposium of 20 Nobel prizewinners in London. Photograph: Ian Waldie/AFP/Getty Images Ian Waldie/AFP

Catastrophic climate change cannot be avoided unless the world's tropical forests are saved, Prince Charles told 20 Nobel prizewinners, including US energy secretary Steven Chu today.

In a passionate speech to the physics, chemistry, peace and literature laureates, Charles appealed to decision-makers to put a monetary value on forests and to act fast.

"The longer we all argue about minutiae and statistics, the more rainforest disappears. Solving climate change is the precondition to ensuring security and without adequately addressing tropical deforestation we cannot have an answer to climate change. It is that simple; saving the rainforests is not an option, it is an absolute necessity," he said.

He was backed by the economist Lord Nicholas Stern, author of the most authoritative study on the economics of climate change, who called for countries to be paid to protect forests. "There must be strong rewards for protecting the forests. We must produce incentives so protecting trees has returns".

Proposals to pay the owners of the world's forests not to cut them down are a key part of the global climate change negotiations that will climax in Copenhagen in December. But some environmental groups warn of the risks of giving rich nations a cheaper alternative to cutting their own greenhouse gas emissions and to the human rights of the tens of millions of people who who live in forests or depend on them.

Both were speaking at a climate change symposium hosted by Prince Charles and attended by the Nobel laureates and 40 other senior scientists.

The Prince warned that time was short. "We already have some of the answers to hand. We know about energy efficiency, renewable energy, and how to reduce deforestation, but we seem reluctant to apply them," he said. "I fear that this hesitation will have catastrophic consequences."

He warned that politicians had fewer than 100 months in which to ensure that greenhouse gas emissions begin to fall from their peak: "Otherwise it may be too late to stop temperatures rising beyond dangerous levels. Those levels would render large parts of the world uninhabitable and eventually lead to billions of environmental refugees as sea levels rise and there is massive disruption to global food and freshwater supplies."

"Global decision-makers have to be persuaded that strong, committed and coordinated action is needed now, not in ten years time, or even in five, but now – otherwise there will be little left on which to base our economies," he said.

The prince noted that nearly 20% of the world's CO2 emissions come from deforestation, mostly in the tropics. In addition to storing vast amounts of carbon, they also absorb about 15% of the emissions coming from fossil fuels. Furthermore, he said, the forests produce much of the world's rainfall.

Stern said the two defining challenges of the century would be to "overcome climate change and to end world poverty". He said: "The reality is that eight out of the nine billion people who will be alive in 2050 will be in developing countries. If we fail on climate change we will create an environment that is so hostile it will leave us with protracted conflict."

Stern said economies had to reflect ecological reality. "High carbon growth kills itself. It's a contradiction. Low carbon growth is more energy secure, is cleaner, safer and quieter."

Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan Nobel peace prize winner who has spearhearded a UN initiative to plant more than 7bn trees, said that forests were essential for all life. "Maybe it will take 100-150 years to return the forests to what they were. We have not valued the forest. When the forest disappears, the crops fail and the rivers dry up. The hunger comes. Politicians are putting immediate needs ahead of the long term. We must touch them in the heart and not just the head."