The Prince of Wales wrote exclusively for this weekend’s Waitrose Weekend that the “fundamental value of nature” is increasingly at stake.
In his piece, lauding John Lewis, Waitrose, and the Terra Carta he launched a few months ago, Prince Charles wrote: “We are at a tipping point as we face the triple threat of climate change, catastrophic biodiversity loss and now coronavirus. This is why I recently launched my Terra Carta.”
He continued: “When I heard the John Lewis Partnership was to become the first retailer to sign up, I was particularly delighted. Not only are John Lewis and Waitrose Royal Warrant holders, but, of course, Waitrose is home to Dutchy Organic, the company I started more than 30 years ago to show it was possible to produce high-quality food working in harmony with nature, one of the principles that lies at the heart of the Terra Carta.”
The Terra Carta was launched as part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative as a way to make sustainability a heart of the private sector as businesses recover from the coronavirus pandemic and reimagine for greener practices.
The Terra Carta aims to “reunite people and planet, by giving fundamental rights and value to Nature, ensuring a lasting impact and tangible legacy for this generation.”
Prince Charles wrote: “The history of the past few centuries has been the pursuit of efficiency and prosperity at the expense of the natural world. We came to value the process of production so much that we stopped valuing nature—and forgot how just about everything, including our air, our water, and indeed our economic growth, depends on the natural world.
“Our endeavour now must therefore be to bring prosperity into harmony with nature, people and our precious planet. But we can only do this with a concerted and monumental effort by every sector.”
