ARC welcomes the appointment of Prince Charles as WWF-UK's new President

ARC welcomes the appointment of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales as WWF-UK’s new President, announced yesterday, and in particular notes his comments about the importance of a spiritual connection to the natural world.

ARC Secretary-General Martin Palmer described Prince Charles as a"visionary and inspiring" campaigner on environmental issues for many years who, like his father, ARC’s founder His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, also recognised the importance of our spiritual relationship to the natural world.

“Often environmental groups have ignored the role that spirituality and the major faiths can make because they have focused too much on data and not on touching hearts and minds,” said Martin.

“It’s wonderful to see that WWF, which started this whole process of working with the faiths 25 years ago, now has a President in the UK who speaks so openly about it.”

In his speech announcing his Presidency yesterday Prince Charles commented that many of today’s many environmental, economic and social challenges were “not only linked, but all related to a fundamental disconnection from Nature”.

He added: “What I am alluding to is our spiritual connection to the natural world because, without it, life would surely be pointless.

“It may not seem to make much difference economically if the swallows, swifts and housemartins no longer turn up each Spring, but what would life be like if we just accepted their extinction because their habitats have been destroyed?

"This is why I consider the work of the WWF to be so important. Because you do consider what I would call the sense of the sacredness of the natural world and seek to get that important feeling across to people.”

To read Prince Charles’s speech in full, click here.