Prince Charles: War in Syria linked to climate change

Britain’s Prince Charles, who is to give a speech at the start of the UN climate summit in Paris next week, said in an interview on Monday that the war in Syria could be linked to global warming.

“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,” Charles told SkyNews.

He said the drought meant that “huge numbers of people in the end had to leave the land”.

“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,” he said.

Charles also said there was “a real possibility of nature’s bank going bust” — just as financial giants did in the 2008 crisis — and warned a deal on cutting emissions would be “very difficult”.

“Do we really have to face catastrophes and chaos before we understand that real action needs to be taken ” said the 67-year-old heir to the throne, a longtime staunch defender of the environment.