Prince Harry says 'we must overcome greed, apathy and selfishness' to tackle climate change

Prince Harry has urged people to put aside their “greed, apathy and selfishness” in order to make progress with climate change.

The Duke of Sussex, 35, has said while caring about climate change might sound “hippy”, it’s “fundamental to our survival” to intervene.

The comments were made in an op-ed the royal wrote for The Telegraph, which went live at 9:30pm last night.

Writing from Malawi, on day eight of the Sussex royal tour of South Africa, the Duke said: "This may well sound hippy to some. But we cannot afford to have a 'them or us' mentality. Humans and animals and their habitats fundamentally need to co-exist or within the next 10 years our problems across the globe will become even more unmanageable.”

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Later in the piece, he added: "Conservation used to be a specialist area, driven by science. But now it is fundamental to our survival and we must overcome greed, apathy and selfishness if we are to make real progress."

The opinion piece coincides with the announcement Prince Harry will be guest-editing the Instagram account of National Geographic today, in order to encourage people to "look up and share the beauty of trees".

Today Harry will work with National Geographic to post images from its renowned photographers, highlighting indigenous trees.

The takeover will form part of Prince Harry’s new social media campaign, “Looking Up”, which raises awareness of the importance of trees in maintaining the eco-system.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: "Together with National Geographic, the Duke of Sussex launches a call to action and social media campaign, 'Looking Up'; raising awareness of the vital role trees play in the earth's eco-system by sharing your own photos of trees from around the world."

Prince Harry’s first post for the National Geographic Instagram account featured a photograph he took personally of Baobab trees in Liwonde, together with a shot of the royal lying on his back while taking the photo with his phone.

Yesterday the @SussexRoyal official Instagram account shared a series of three artistic photographs of the Cuito and Kavango rivers in south-west Africa in a similar style to the National Geographic.

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Yesterday, Prince Harry took part in a visit to to the Nalikule College of Education in Malawi at a women’s education empowerment event. During the event, Duchess Meghan joined via Skype video link.

Today, for day eight of the royal tour, the Duke will fly to Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi to pay tribute at the memorial site for Guardsman Mathew Talboto of the Coldstream Guards, who died in May 2019 on a joint anti-poaching patrol with local park ranges.

He will then proceed to the park headquarters to receive a briefing on operations before dedicating Liwonde National Park and the adjoining Mangochi Forest to the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy.