The Prince’s Rainforests Project (PRP), launched last November by The Prince of Wales, has brought together 13 major companies and a group of international analysts and experts to develop a range of solutions to halt the destruction of the rainforests.

Ending deforestation is essential primarily because carbon emissions from the destruction of the world’s rainforests contributes between 12 per cent and 20 per cent of all global emissions, second only to the energy industry. Saving the rainforests is crucial for other reasons: they store carbon which is lost to the atmosphere when they burn, and they help clean the atmosphere of pollutants and feed it with moisture. In essence, the rainforests are giant global utilities, providing essential public services to humanity on a vast scale. However, to stop deforestation, a way has to be found to make the forests worth more alive than dead. That means, first, placing a value on rainforests for the services they provide, and second, finding a means to transfer that value to the custodians of the rainforests.

This is where the PRP comes in. Led by The Prince of Wales, the project is assembling a coalition of representatives from the rainforest nations, governments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and the business world, to find and agree on the practical solutions to deforestation.

As The Prince himself has said: “I am determined that this will be the largest ever public/private/N.G.O. sector partnership. The scale of the problem demands nothing less… The best way to preserve the rainforests is by helping to improve the well-being of the people who live there, which is why we have to find an equitable means of paying for the planetary life support system on which we depend — and fast!.. For the lives of billions of people depend on our response and none of us will be forgiven by our children and grandchildren if we falter and fail.”

Contact Briony Mathieson, Communications Manager, The Prince’s Rainforests Project, The Prince of Wales’ Office for additional information.