Prince urges offshore to invest in climate solutions

Prince Charles with blue iguana at the Botanic Park

(CNS): The Prince of Wales turned to his deep concerns about climate change when he delivered a speech at a packed Pedro St James on Thursday evening at the end of his visit to the Cayman Islands. Having spent the day touring the islands, Prince Charles said that there was an “ever greater need to protect your environment”, given the pace of development, as he urged the financial services offshore sector to use its expertise to find ways to invest in nature across the Commonwealth and help lead the world out of the “planetary crisis” that he spoke about.

In a short address at the special event to end the royal visit, it was clear he had enjoyed his time on the islands but also that he had genuine concerns about the “accelerating, catastrophic” crisis of global warming, and he urged offshore experts to help.

“I can’t help wondering whether the Cayman Islands’ extraordinary financial expertise might not be used in some innovative way as a catalyst to support the urgently needed financing of environmental investment throughout the Commonwealth,” the heir to the British throne said in a speech that made it clear he remains an important advocate for tackling climate change.

“For years I have tried to warn of this impending crisis,” he said, as he pointed to the responsibility of guarding our children’s and grandchildren’s inheritance, as they are now crying out for action instead of empty words.

He lauded efforts in Cayman to conserve and protect its marine and land habitats and commended Environment Minister Dwayne Seymour’s announcement earlier in the day that he had Cabinet approval for drafting instructions to expand and enhance Cayman’s marine parks, but he urged the islands to go further.

“It seems to me the Cayman Islands could become a shining example of best practice in integrated and genuinely sustainable management of its land-based and ocean resources,” Prince Charles said. “Such an integrated approach is not only essential to protect our ecosystems but also, particularly in the Cayman Islands case, to protect long term viability of economic sectors, such as tourism, on which they are utterly dependent. Such an innovative and far sighted approach could become a beacon for the Commonwealth to help lead the world, and indeed the whole of nature, out of this appalling crisis of our own making.”

He delivered the short speech to a crowd of more than 500 people in the grounds of the home of democracy in Cayman, following an investiture ceremony, where Deputy Governor Franz Manderson was given an MBE by the Prince of Wales.

Andrew Smiley, one of Cayman’s most successful Special Olympians, and Felicia McLean, who provides palliative care at the hospice, both received a Certificate and Badge of Honour from the prince. McLean told CNS that she learned of the award when she was rehearsing for the Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to open the new home of the hospice, Jasmine Villa.

“The governor took me aside and told me that next week, when they were having an event at Pedro St James, they would be honouring three people, and ‘you are one of the three’,” she said.

Governor Martyn Roper and Premier Alden McLaughlin also both gave short addresses at the event, where the premier in particular made it clear that the Cayman Islands is British and proud of it.

For more on the royal visit to the Cayman Islands check CNS local life.