King Charles: stamp, bracelet and lobby on the environmental agenda – 05/05/2023 – Environment

Protesters shouted “the united people will never be defeated” during the 2009 edition of the World Social Forum, in Belém (PA), when Caetano Scannavino’s phone, 57, rang. When answering, he heard an unlikely invitation. “‘This is from the British embassy. We want to know if you would accept a visit from someone at the highest levels of the United Kingdom, but you need to maintain secrecy’, they said”.

The coordinator of the NGO Projeto Saúde e Alegria, which works with the development of communities in the Amazon, took a risk. “Is it Prince Charles? ‘We can’t say.’ But I know it’s him. ‘We can’t reveal’, and that was it, in the middle of that noise”.

Accepting the invitation was the easy part. The preparations, with strict security rules and protocol, took two months. Agents from the prince’s private security, from Scotland Yard, from Pará security, from the Port Authority and from the Federal Police crowded into the NGO’s office in Santarém (PA) to define the itinerary.

On the morning of March 14, Charles arrived at Santarém. It was the last of the four days of that visit to Brazil. “The ceremonial warned that they could not deliver a gift or interfere. I said that the rule was: the land belongs to the community, they are in charge”, says Caetano.

The then heir to the British crown, who will be crowned this Saturday (6), visited the village of Alter do Chão, a hospital boat project, the city of Belterra, the Tapajós National Forest and the community of Maguary. There, as the world has recorded, he followed local protocol and danced carimbó.

Brazil and the environment were nothing new to Charles. The visit to the country was the fourth, after 1978, 1991 and 2002, and the first with the now queen Camilla Parker-Bowles.

The environmental agenda was marked on the prince’s agenda in 1970. At the age of 21, he gave a speech on the damage caused by plastics, greenhouse gases and marine pollution.

For Professor Renato de Almeida Vieira e Silva, King Charles 3rd was an “influencer” for the climate before the topic became fashionable. This could be a hallmark of his reign, says the author of “God Save The Queen-British Royal Media Imagination”.

“He’s a 21st-century sovereign, and monarchy tends not to be as popular with younger people as it is with older people.”

Talking about the environment and climate change is the tool for this connection. The specialist points out that, within the kingdom, Charles also invests in philanthropy, organic farms and projects such as Nansledan, in Cornwall. The king will be the “landlord” of the city, who must have a job for each family and meet sustainability criteria.

Outside, it takes the environmental banner to position itself as an investment articulator.

In Brazil, in 2009, he also visited the headquarters of the NGO Oela in Manaus, which started with a school and workshop that taught young people in situations of social and economic vulnerability to build musical instruments with certified native wood.

Another hubbub for the preparations involved infrastructure works in Conjunto São Cristóvão, where Oela’s headquarters are located, in the east zone of the capital of Amazonas.

“It was a month of work, the streets were paved. We made several routes where he would pass. And it was all with a breach of protocol. He took pictures and greeted street cleaners and children, who said ‘I love you Charles'”, recalls the director, Jéssica Gomes, widow of founder Rubens Gomes, who died in 2020.

The prince was delighted with an ocarina. “‘How many bird sounds are gathered in this instrument?” he asked. And I said there were 25″, says Jessica.

Charles’ agendas also include indigenous leaders such as the Kayapo Raoni Metuktire. In 2014, the then prince received him in England with other representatives.

“It was a very private meeting, the prince was much more welcoming with chief Raoni. We spent over an hour talking about indigenous peoples and the devastation in the Xingu region. He wanted to know how to help”, says Sue Cunningham, a photojournalist with three decades of experience. experience in the region and administrator of the NGO Tribos Vivas.

“Raoni said ‘speak to the world, to the bosses. Tell the companies to stop investing in the destruction of our home. The whole world will suffer'”, says Sue, who did the simultaneous translation of the meeting. “The prince said ‘the people of the forest are very talented environmental scientists’.”

Charles has always contravened the rule that prohibited demonstrations on political issues, says Francisco Vieira, a history professor.

“The king is not a person, he embodies a nation. The idea is that he is the head of a social body.” The monarch, says the professor, must follow what the government, formed by Parliament and the prime minister —currently, the conservative Rishi Sunak — decides.

As he shouldn’t talk, he uses symbols to update the relevance of the reign. One of them is the indigenous bracelet given by Domingos Peas, leader of the Amazon in Ecuador, which appeared in the first official portrait of the monarch and generated news.

“He cannot speak, but he can demonstrate in his clothes, on his arm, the support he gives to the issue of preservation.”

Still, travel is also an agenda of interest for British capital. “The King travels to defend interests. Queen Elizabeth II, for example, came to Brazil in 1968 to bless the dictatorship and the investment of English companies in the construction of the Rio-Niterói Bridge”, says Francisco.

Whether with the foundation he created to protect tropical forests, the call for a global plan at the 2020 World Economic Forum or the meeting with Amazon governors at the UN COP26, Charles has a market in his favor that is concerned about his favorite topic.

The British government has announced the creation of 25 nature reserves over the next five years. The first of these is in the county of Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England, and is part of the coronation festivities.