Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

William to meet young environmentalists during Earthshot Week in South Africa

The future king is travelling to South Africa for the Earthshot Prize awards ceremony on Wednesday.

Tony Jones
Monday 04 November 2024 02:45
The Prince of Wales (Justin Tallis/PA)
The Prince of Wales (Justin Tallis/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Prince of Wales is to join young environmentalists taking part in the inaugural Earthshot Prize climate leaders’ youth programme in Cape Town.

William will start a four-day visit to South Africa by meeting some of the 120 future leaders who will be supported during Earthshot Week in developing skills in leadership, storytelling and networking.

The future king is travelling to South Africa for the Earthshot Prize awards ceremony on Wednesday, and other related events during the week, when five category winners will each receive £1 million to scale up their plans to “repair” the planet.

William will meet members of the youth programme as they discuss their experiences of working on environmental issues on the first official day of the youth programme.

Before his visit to South Africa, he said: “Africa has always held a special place in my heart – as somewhere I found comfort as a teenager, where I proposed to my wife and most recently as the founding inspiration behind the Earthshot Prize.”

He will have a high-level meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday, described as a “follow-up” to the leader’s state visit to the UK in 2022.

The two men will sit down for talks and will be joined by Foreign Secretary David Lammy for a meeting with his South African counterpart Ronald Lamola.

William will also give what Kensington Palace has described as a landmark speech on nature, the environment and his support for wildlife rangers on Tuesday at the start of a two-day summit for United for Wildlife Global, his umbrella organisation fighting the illegal trafficking of animals.

Hannah Jones, Earthshot Prize’s chief executive, said Earthshot Week is “dedicated to celebrating environmental innovation, speeding solutions to scale, and inspiring young people to put their time and talent to fixing the planet one solution at a time” and “represents over a year and half of working in the continent with our partners and stakeholders”.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in