Lloyd's seconds employee to Prince of Wales Rainforests Project

Support work to set and achieve national and global emissions reduction targets


Lloyd's seconded an employee to the Prince's Rainforests Project (PRP) for the first quarter of 2009.  The PRP aims to raise awareness of the damaging effects, for everyone, of deforestation and to identify a process, acceptable to rainforest nations, to avoid this. Their most recent report (2.3MB, pdf) suggests that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process will ultimately include deforestation, which accounts for some 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but that this may take many years.  There remains an urgent need to slow deforestation which has been taking place at an alarming rate over the last 50 years.  Every day 15,000 hectares of rainforest is irrevocably lost.  Lloyd's secondee's work contributed to the report.

The PRP's report suggests that payments should be made to Rainforest Nations to encourage them to avoid deforestation.  They propose that a Tropical Forests Facility be set up to oversee the process and to administer the funds which would be raised from both public and private sources.  One source of funding could come from a rainforest bond, backed by developing world governments.  Insurers with longer dated financial assets and pension funds may find this an appropriate investment.  Another source of funding could come from levies on either polluting industries or beneficiaries. 

On 1 April 2009 the PRP hosted a historic meeting at St James's Palace attended by many world leaders or senior policymakers including: the Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,  Secretary-General United Nations Ban Ki-Moon and the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso. Lord Levene, Chairman of Lloyd's, attended the meeting and represented ClimateWise.  The leaders agreed that an international working group should be set up to consider the PRP's proposals alongside other proposals on the subject.






Last updated on 22 May 2009