The Duke of Sussex is encouraging people to “look up and share the beauty of trees” by guest-editing the Instagram account of National Geographic for a day, Buckingham Palace has announced.
Throughout Monday, Harry, who is touring Malawi, will work with National Geographic posting images from international photographers that highlight the trees indigenous to regions around the world.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “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.”
At the end of the day, Harry will share on his official Instagram account a selection of the most beautiful images from across the globe.
The news of his guest edit comes after the International Union for Conservation of Nature revealed more than half of Europe’s endemic trees are threatened with extinction. Ash, elm and rowan trees are all declining, the study revealed. “We are encouraged to plant more trees, quite rightly, but we have to be very careful to ensure they don’t come with pest species,” said study author, David Allen.
But scientists say that planting billions of trees would be the “biggest and cheapest” way to tackle the climate crisis – potentially removing two-thirds of the man-made carbon emissions, authors of new study told the Guardian.
In September the Duchess of Sussex guest edited British Vogue, choosing teenager climate activist Greta Thunberg as one of her 15 cover stars. The royal couple also dedicated their own Instagram account to environmental causes for the month of July.
During his guest edit of National Geographic, the Duke of Sussex will share a photograph taken in Malawi’s Liwonde National Park, where he will unveil two new additions to the Queens Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) initiative on Monday.
The QCC was launched in 2015, when Commonwealth countries were invited to submit forests and national parks or plant trees to preserve in the Queen’s name. Today, almost 50 countries are taking part and have already dedicated indigenous forest for conservation, or have committed to planting millions of new trees to help combat climate change.