NINETEEN NINETY-TWO WAS A TOUGH YEAR FOR THE BRITISH ROYAL Family. Annus horribilis, Queen Elizabeth called it. In 1993 the press began reporting the seamy details of the demise of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s marriage. Prince Charles, the king long-in-waiting, has been portrayed by the British tabloids as a lout with big ears, a kook who talks to plants, an uninformed meddler in the field of architecture, and so on. But anyone who has read his writings or listened to his speeches will find a man who is highly informed, deeply concerned about the state of the planet, and actively involved in trying to do something to make a difference.
Consider the remarkable speech he gave at Kew Garden in London on February 6, 1990. It is a perceptive and moving account of his concern about the future of the world’s tropical rain forests. Here is some of what he said:
For hundreds of years the industrialized nations of the world have exploited, some would say plundered, the tropical forests for their natural wealth. The time has now come to put something back, and quickly…. The forests assist in the regulation of local climate patterns, protecting watersheds, preventing floods, controlling huge flows of life-giving water. As the forests come crashing down, an inexorable human tragedy is set in train…. The whole of humanity will benefit if what is left of the tropical forests can be saved.
He then described the contribution to global warming of burning as well as loss of the carbon-removing potential by deforestation. He also pointed to the very real potential of forest species to provide drugs and potential food crops: “The genetic reservoir of plant and animal life provides us with the most perfect survival kit imaginable as we face the unknown challenges of the future.” The prince quotes the tropical biologist Norman Myers: “Tropical forests have lost 142,000 square kilometres [55,000 square miles] of their expanse during 1989. This is 1.8 percent of remaining forests.”
His Royal Highness clearly understands that “the main cause [of forest destruction] is the poverty of people who live around the forests, together with the inexorable pressure of ever-growing human numbers…. The time has come for an international agreement or convention on the world’s tropical forests.” The goals of a Rainforest Convention, he suggests, would include the development of sustainable use of forests, maintenance of maximal biodiversity, protection of rights of aboriginal forest dwellers, beginning reforestation, compensation for lost revenue, and establishment of funding mechanisms.
The Prince of Wales points out that a major destructive agent is the international debt. “In 1989 the South paid $52 billion more to the North in the way of debt servicing than it received in the form of foreign aid…. Once the forests are thought to hold a greater hope for human development and economic development if conserved, then it clearly becomes possible to reconcile environmental protection and development.”
His speech was very careful to point out the importance of respecting both the rights of indigenous forest people and their vast knowledge of the ecosystem. “Generations of observation and bodily trial and error have honed their judgment in a process as rigorous as any laboratory testing…. These people are accomplished environmental scientists and for us to call them primitive is both perverse and patronizing.” He went on to think of the forests themselves: “There are thousands fewer tropical forest trees than there were when I started speaking and they can’t speak for themselves. They have a voice of their own, but it’s only a whisper and hard to hear above the shriek of the saw.”
The Prince stressed that we in the industrialized world must stop using tropical hardwoods that come from old-growth tropical rain forests, help countries use forests sustainably, and relieve the crippling burden of international debt. He ended his speech this way:
I fear that we will fail this challenge if we are not prepared to accept that sustainable development demands not just a range of different management techniques and funding mechanisms, but a different attitude to the Earth and a less arrogant, man-centred philosophy. We need to develop a reverence for the natural world. The tropical forests are the final frontier for humankind in more ways than one. Our efforts to protect them will not only determine the quality of life and economic security of future generations, but will test to the limit our readiness to cast off the kind of arrogance that has caused such devastating damage to the global environment, and to become the genuine stewards of all life on Earth, not just the human bit of it.
These are thoughtful, even revolutionary words. Coming from the possible future king of England, the words have a powerful impact. Charles seems on his way to becoming a genuine philosopher-king, an inspiration and leader we so desperately need