Babies for Me, But Not for Thee: Prince William Blames ‘Human Population’ for Loss of World’s Wildlife

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge delivers a speech during The Tusk Conservation
TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

Prince William appears to have blamed rising populations, particularly in Africa, for the loss of wildlife, echoing comments he made in 2017 while his wife was expecting her third child.

The second in line to the British throne made the remarks at the Tusk Conservation Award on Monday.

“The increasing pressure on Africa’s wildlife and wild spaces as a result of human population presents a huge challenge for conservationists, as it does the world over,” the Duke of Cambridge said in comments reported by The Times.

It was only four years ago that Prince William made similar remarks to an audience of the same conservation charity, telling guests in November 2017: “Africa’s rapidly growing human population is predicted to more than double by 2050 – a staggering increase of three and a half million people per month.

“There is no question that this increase puts wildlife and habitat under enormous pressure… On human populations alone, over-grazing and poor water supplies could have a catastrophic effect unless we start to think about how to mitigate these challenges.”

Five months later, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to their third child, Prince Louis.

While his brother Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle had out-woked Prince William on that front by pledging to only have two children to save the planet, the Duke of Cambridge has otherwise been more confident recently in flexing his green credentials.

Last month, Prince William appeared to scold private entrepreneurs and inventors like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos for advancing space exploration, saying: “…we need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet and not trying to find the next place to go and live.”

While his father Prince Charles, the future king, claimed at Rome’s G20 meeting that it was the “last chance saloon” to save the planet, before taking a private jet to the UN COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, where he called for a “vast military-style campaign” to combat alleged manmade climate change.

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