Harry: Human race ‘driving ourselves to extinction’

PA

The Duke of Sussex has said the world is facing environmental calamity, warning: “We are literally driving ourselves to extinction.”

Harry’s prediction echoed the words of his father the Prince of Wales, who has for years said the world needs to act to prevent climate change.

Speaking in Malawi, the duke said: “I think, for me, it’s just as personal as it should be for everybody else.

“There shouldn’t be any one person or a group of people that are focusing on conservation… it’s a global issue now.

Harry in Malawi
Harry in Malawi

“I think we need to appreciate that we are the one problem and we need to be able to fix it.

“Everything is in balance. We’re the only thing that’s putting everything out of balance. Somehow we have to be able to accept and learn and appreciate what already exists rather than destroying it and then realising we need to then recover from it.”

Charles has spent decades raising the issue of the environment and climate change and it appears much of his interest has influenced his son.

Harry added: “We are literally driving ourselves to extinction. I know people have said that before and it seems to be a bit of a narrative that’s being covered across the globe at the moment.”

The duke has been highlighting the importance of trees by guest editing the Instagram account of National Geographic.

View this post on Instagram

Photo by @sussexroyal We are pleased to announce that Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex @sussexroyal is guest-curating our Instagram feed today! “Hi everyone! I’m so happy to have the opportunity to continue working with @NatGeo and to guest-curate this Instagram account; it’s one of my personal favourites. Today I’m in Liwonde National Park, Malawi an important stop on our official tour of southern Africa, planting trees for the Queens Commonwealth Canopy. As part of this takeover, I am inviting you to be a part of our ‘Looking Up’ social campaign. To help launch the campaign, here is a photograph I took today here in Liwonde of Baobab trees. “#LookingUp seeks to raise awareness of the vital role trees play in the Earth’s ecosystem, and is an opportunity for all of us to take a moment, to appreciate the beauty of our surroundings. So, join us today and share your own view, by looking up! Post images of the trees in your local community using the hashtag #LookingUp. I will be posting my favourite images from @NatGeo photographers here throughout the day, and over on @sussexroyal I will be sharing some of my favourite images from everything you post. I can’t wait to see what you see when you’re #LookingUp 🌲 🌳” ••• His Royal Highness is currently on an official tour to further the Queens Commonwealth Canopy, which was launched in 2015. Commonwealth countries have been invited to submit forests and national parks to be protected and preserved as well as to plant trees. The Duke has helped QCC projects in the Caribbean, U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Botswana, Malawi, and Tonga. Now, almost 50 countries are taking part and have dedicated indigenous forests for conservation and committed to planting millions of new trees to help combat climate change. The Duke’s longtime passion for trees and forests as nature’s simple solution to the environmental issues we face has been inspired by the work he has been doing on behalf of his grandmother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, for many years.

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Sep 30, 2019 at 4:57am PDT

He added: “I think it’s becoming more and more obvious that ecosystems across the world are under massive threat, and I think for too long there’s been a part or a group of people that have said, ‘oh, you just want to protect those trees because they’re pretty or because they have some sort of purpose’.

“But what is the purpose? The purpose is vast, for every single one of us, as I’ve said we need to appreciate what already exists.

“Everything has a purpose, we need to make sure that we have a purpose in that whole system.”

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