Prince Charles Works to Save the Rainforest

An article in The New York Times features Prince Charles' efforts to save the rainforest through a web campaign. The video features such celebrities as Daniel Craig, Robin Williams, the Dalai Lama and Harrison Ford.

By bringing awareness to the issue, the prince aims to build pressure for the meeting in Copenhagen this December. During the meeting negotiators will hopefully draft a new global climate treaty that takes forests into account.

To save the world's rainfoests, the prince said that trees need to be given value so they would be worth more alive than dead. Under a plan he endorsed in March, rich nations would compensate rainforest nations for agreeing to not cut down their trees. The payment would replace the income otherwise received from logging, agriculture and other land uses and would cover the costs to switch to alternative economic activities.

Halving deforestation under this plan would cost between $10 billion and $15 billion per year, though it's nearly impossible to monetize the benefits!