Charles: Syria's War Linked To Climate Change

Prince Charles has spoken exclusively to Sky News about his ongoing concerns about climate change, saying he believes there are links to the current refugee crisis and terrorism.

In his only interview ahead of COP21, the UN's climate summit which opens next Monday, the Prince of Wales suggested that environmental issues may have been one of the root causes of the problems in Syria.

He said: "We're seeing a classic case of not dealing with the problem, because, I mean, it sounds awful to say, but some of us were saying 20 years ago that if we didn't tackle these issues, you would see ever greater conflict over scarce resources and ever greater difficulties over drought, and the accumulating effect of climate change, which means that people have to move.

"And, in fact, there's very good evidence indeed that one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria, funnily enough, was a drought that lasted for about five or six years, which meant that huge numbers of people in the end had to leave the land."

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The interview was filmed three weeks ago, ahead of the attacks in Paris.

When asked if there is a direct link between climate change, conflict and terrorism, Prince Charles added: "It's only in the last few years that the Pentagon has actually started to pay attention to this. I mean, it has a huge impact on what is happening."

He explained how the issue is often being dealt with in a short-term way, which has left the "underlying root cause" of what mankind is doing to its natural environment neglected.

The Prince, a dedicated climate change campaigner for the past four decades, will deliver a keynote speech at the opening of COP21 next Monday.

In the interview, he expressed concerns that we are heading towards "catastrophes and chaos" if we don't address environmental issues such as a rise in global temperatures with much more urgency.

Asked whether we can financially afford to deal with the issues, Prince Charles said: "The trouble is if we don't, it's going to get so much worse, then life will become very, very complicated indeed.

"The difficulties in 2008 with the financial crash - that was a banking crisis. But we're now facing a real possibility of nature's bank going bust. If you see it like that, we've been putting so much pressure on the natural systems and all those aspects of nature that we take for granted."

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Later, he added: "Obviously I try to be as optimistic as possible, but sometimes you think that - do we really have to face catastrophes and chaos before we understand that real action needs to be taken? The difficulty is that by the time you try to take the action, it's already too late."

Looking ahead to the meeting, the Prince expressed doubts about whether the countries of the United Nations will be able to reach a consensus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

He explained: "There's been so many of these conferences that have happened over the years and I think I go back quite a long way on all this.

"I haven't been to all of them, but I went to Copenhagen in 2009 and that really ended in disaster, frankly, which is a total tragedy because we've lost all those years in between. There's a lot to catch up on.

"After the conference, it's going to be very difficult I think to get agreement on the necessary reductions and the necessary actions that need to be taken to keep global warming at 2 degrees, or ideally below. So we then have to follow up, this is the key, and ratchet up the commitments after the Paris conference."