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Prince Charles, Prince of Wales gives the opening address at the first high-level session of the Lima Paris Action Agenda on forests at the United Nations Climate Summit on Dec. 1, 2015 in Paris.(Photo: Carl Court, Getty Images)
PARIS — Appearing at climate change talks on Tuesday, Britain's Prince Charles joined delegates and envoys to call for more action to protect the world's forests from predatory corporations.
Charles took part in a meeting with South American indigenous leaders and other dignitaries to highlight shrinking global forests from South America to Russia and Africa.
"Accelerated action — to reduce deforestation and degradation, and to restore forests — is needed now more than ever," the prince, a longtime environmental advocate, said.
"It remains the case that many of the world's largest companies — and their financial backers — pay scant, by which I really mean no, attention to the deforestation footprint of their supply chains. Unsurprisingly perhaps, this is especially true in markets where there is limited consumer pressure to do the right thing," he said.
About 30 million acres of forest and woodland are destroyed each year and deforestation. which accounts for at least 12% of carbon emissions, is often the largest source of emissions in the developing world, according to the World Resources Institute, an environmental group. Forests play a key role in reducing man-made carbon emissions that cause global warming because they absorb the emissions that come from burning oil, gas and coal.
Approximately one billion people depend directly on forests for their livelihoods. Major forest nations include Brazil, Norway, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tuesday's event was intended to promote and endorse partnerships between governments, indigenous peoples from Liberia to Paraguay and private sector actors.
In a joint statement, leaders from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Liberia, Norway, Peru, the United Kingdom and the United States pledged to do more.
"We are committed to intensifying efforts to protect forests, to significantly restore degraded forest, peat and agricultural lands, and to promote low carbon rural development," they said.
Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Peru's minister for the environment, said that companies need to do their part to limit deforestation and urged greater efforts against illegal logging.
The plea on the second full day of this summit — where 195 countries are attempting to reach an agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — comes after the conference opened Monday with a litany of speeches from dozens of world leaders including President Obama.
French President Francois Hollande welcomed 149 world leaders and thousands of dignitaries and negotiators to kick off the two weeks of U.N.-sponsored climate talks in Le Bourget, just outside Paris. There was unanimous agreement that a binding accord of some kind was needed.
Obama said the "next generation was watching." But there was also recognition that differences remain over who should carry the most responsibility for cutting emissions: developed countries, who have generated the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, or developing countries already hit by climate change that rely on fossil fuels to expand their economies. China and the United States, the two largest emitters, said they were "embracing" their responsibilities.
USA TODAY
Obama urges climate deal as U.N. summit opens in tense Paris
President Obama will return to Washington on Tuesday, but he held a bilateral meeting with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of his departure.
In the meeting, Obama stressed that Turkey is a NATO ally and "that we all have a common enemy and that is (the Islamic State)."
The president said that "Turkey has been extraordinarily generous when it comes to its support of refugees." He also said that he wanted to accelerate military cooperation between the two countries to not only ensure Turkey's safety, but to help bring about an end to the war in Syria.
The recent Russia-Turkey tensions over a downed fighter jet and the idea of establishing a transitional government in Syria were also discussed.
"We are looking for diplomatic solutions," Erdogan said during his meeting with Obama. "We want to avoid tensions. We don't want to be hurt. We want peace to prevail."
Obama is also appearing at an event at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in central Paris.
Hear more about the historic talks from journalist Kim Hjelmgaard with a report from Paris in the audio player below:
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