Charles: Environmental jargon unhelpful

THE Prince of Wales says using obscure language around environmental issues is “unhelpful” and risks alienating those who need to hear it, it has been reported.

In a forthcoming issue of the magazine Farmers Weekly, reported by The Sunday Telegraph, Charles called for “a willingness to do things differently” as the industry faces significant change.

It comes as the 72-year-old royal prepares to accept a lifetime achievement award from the farming industry publication on Sunday.

He is reported to have said common environmental terms such as biodiversity and agroforestry, often used by scientists and NGOs, fail to communicate practical messages.

He wrote: “In this new world, the relationship between farmers and carbon, water and biodiversity, will be of fundamental importance, with bigger challenges and new opportunities. So it is often unhelpful, perhaps, that much of the language being used to describe the situation and the potential remedies is so obscure, sometimes appearing as if it has been chosen to hide the real message and alienate those who most need to hear it.”

The prince has a long-standing interest in the natural world and will receive the award from Farmers Weekly due to his contributions to British farming.

Earlier this month Charles said it was “sheer madness” to continue on a path of destroying the planet.

At a virtual event hosted by the Royal Society, he warned humans had already reached the point where there is not enough nature to meet our demands – and that while nature could recover if given the chance, the window to do so “is closing fast”.

“We all of us have a fiduciary duty to life on Earth, for we hold this planet in trust, having a duty of care that is absolute.

“Yet we know that, day by day, strand by strand, we are rapidly destroying the fabric of the natural world for ourselves and children and grandchildren, and testing this precious planet to destruction.”

‘We have a fiduciary duty to life on Earth, for we hold this planet in trust, having a duty of care that is absolute’