Prince Charles' call to protect rainforests

The Prince of Wales will tonight call for the protection of rainforests by finding ways to make their preservation financially worthwhile for developing countries.

Charles is founding The Prince's Rainforests Project, which will include attempts to make conservation of the world's rainforests commercially viable for the nations where they grow.

At a WWF-UK gala dinner tonight, he will warn that some 18% to 25% of global carbon emissions are caused by deforestation.

Charles will outline some of the issues affecting the Amazon Rainforest, which is the largest tropical forest in the world, and home to 10% of the planet's species.

According to the WWF, the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed at the equivalent of 3,600 football pitches a day and without action 40% will be lost by 2050.

The WWF says the services the rainforest provides - such as biodiversity, soil protection, water cycling and climate stability - are critical to humankind and if preserved can protect against the worst impacts of global warming.

But the charity says one of the main challenges faced by conservationists is that the forest is currently worth less intact than when it is cleared for timber, cattle ranching and soy plantations.

According to WWF, a future international UN climate framework must include mechanisms for addressing deforestation.

The WWF has developed a new Amazon Initiative which will work in the nine countries where the rainforest grows - Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Suriname and French Guyana.

The charity, which has been operating in the Amazon basin for 40 years, will be working to strengthen protected areas, engage with producers to adopt environmental criteria and try to develop new ways of valuing the forest for its climate protection.

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