20131029_DT

Source: The Daily Telegraph

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IMV7W2eGug

Date: 29/10/2013

Event: Prince Charles: Syrian conflict partly caused by a "depletion of natural capital"

Attribution: The Daily Telegraph

People:

• Prince Charles: HRH The Prince of Wales

[Excerpt from a speech by HRH The Prince of Wales on the opening day of the 9th World Islamic Economic Forum in London]

Prince Charles: We are now grappling with all sorts of social and economic challenges, that have their roots in a problem not acknowledged and which has contributed to so many of the conflicts around the world in recent times. And that is the way nature's capital reserves have been depleted, things we take utterly for granted, like water and soil. If these deteriorate and are not managed on a sustainable basis, this can cause direct impacts on food and energy security.

The tragic conflict in Syria provides a terrifyingly graphic example, where a severe drought for the last seven years has decimated Syria's rural economy, driving many farmers off their fields into the cities, where already food was in short supply. And this depletion of natural capital, inexplicably little reported in the media, was a significant contributor to the social tension that exploded with such desperate results.

The Fifth - the recent Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change contained an explicit warning of what could happen if we don't more effectively sustain our environment. To do this, we must establish new business models and financial structures that incorporate the needs of the Earth. These fundamental considerations cannot be left out of the economic equation, as they are, in the main, at the moment. Seeking economic opportunities for profit alone, without taking account of and managing foreseeable risks, appears to be an increasingly unwise course of action.