About us

Images left to right: © Chris Perrett, naturesart; © Don Hadden/Ardea.com; © Gabriel Eickhoff; © Rainforest Foundation UK

Tropical rainforests absorb nearly a fifth of all man-made CO2 emissions around the world, which helps greatly to minimise the effects of climate change. However, these same rainforests are currently being destroyed at the rate of an area the size of a football pitch every four seconds.

To make matters worse, when the rainforests are burnt down - to clear land for commercial farming or mining, for example - they release all the CO2 that they have stored back into the atmosphere. The alarming scale of this rapid burning of the rainforests around the world means that CO2 emissions from tropical deforestation are higher than from the entire global transport sector.

"I have endeavoured to create a global public, private and NGO partnership to discover an innovative means of halting tropical deforestation. Success would literally transform the situation for our children and grandchildren and for every species on the planet." - HRH The Prince of Wales

The Prince's Rainforests Project (PRP) was set up in 2007 by HRH The Prince of Wales following reports from leading climate change experts confirming the high level of carbon emissions caused by tropical deforestation, with the goal of “making the forests worth more alive than dead”.

Objectives

The PRP's work has focused on two very specific aims. The first, to identify appropriate incentives to encourage rainforest nations to slow their deforestation rates. The second, to raise awareness of the link between rainforests and climate change.

PRP Milestones

October 2007: The PRP is launched at a WWF event
December 2008: First consultation document released
March 2009: Publication of the PRP’s report An Emergency Package for Tropical Forests
1st April 2009: Historic meeting of world leaders on forests and climate change at St James’s Palace
5th May 2009: Launch of the PRP’s public awareness phase
May 2009: First meeting of the Informal Working Group on Interim Finance for REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) (IWG-IFR)
October 2009: Release of the IWG-IFR report
19th November 2009: Meeting in St James’s Palace to discuss the IWG-IFR report

Current status

The IWG-IFR was set up in response to the meeting of world leaders at St James's Palace in London on 1st April 2009. The IWG-IFR released a report of its findings in October 2009. It outlined an interim mechanism that could deliver reductions in deforestation of around 25% by 2015. Estimated funding required is between €15 and 25 billion.

Should the international governments decide to adopt and implement the ideas of the IWG-IFR, the PPR will be delighted, if invited, to help build the public-private-non-profit partnership that will be required to ensure successful implementation.

Find out more about our work in Project Activity and SOS Campaign.
Read more about why rainforests matter and what is happening to them.