Prince Charles wants shoppers to help save the planet's oceans.
Prince Charles has issued a warning about the world's oceans
The 73-year-old royal will warn consumers that they should make "ocean and land-friendly choices" by buying certain products when at the shops.
Charles will make a major speech at the Our Ocean conference today (13.04.22), where he will warn of the "unimaginable" consequences if the decline in the health of waters across the world continues to be ignored.
The Prince of Wales will appear in a pre-recorded video speech at the two-day summit, which is being co-hosted by the United States and Palau – an island republic in the Pacific.
Charles – who is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth and the heir to the British throne – will say: "As consumers, we should make ocean and land-friendly choices when we make our purchases. Selecting certified products is a good place to start – and this can increasingly be done through digital ID.
"Despite the essential role the ocean plays in maintaining harmony between nature, people and planet, human activity over the past several centuries has contributed to the rapid decline in ocean health, be it from global warming, unsustainable, unreported, unregulated and illegal fishing practices or pollution."
The prince adds: "No one knows this better than the world's 'large ocean states' who are seeing the impact at first-hand. This situation is indeed dire. The consequences of inaction and 'business as usual' are unimaginable."
Charles, who has regularly championed environmental causes, will also discuss pollution during his speech and implore the world to find alternatives to plastic.
He will say: "We have seen unequivocal evidence that plastics are not only polluting our waters but are entering our food chains and our bodies. We are quite literally poisoning ourselves.
"It seems obvious that we should be looking for natural alternatives to plastic and transitioning rapidly to these alternatives. In the meantime, we need to support the world's innovators to scale up the removal of plastics from our ocean, waterways and landfills while strengthening recycling efforts and the more rapid development of the circular economy."
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