Prince Charles is expected to call for better protection of the world’s forests at the UN climate conference in Paris.
He will condemn corporations which, he will argue, appear not to care if their business activities result in forest destruction.
About a billion people depend directly on forests for their livelihoods.
Negotiators from 195 nations in Paris seek to reach a deal within two weeks to reduce global carbon emissions.
The agreement is also aimed at limiting global warming to 2C (3.6F).
‘Cinderella’ subject
On Tuesday, Prince Charles will speak at a meeting with government ministers and indigenous leaders.
The meeting is aimed at promoting forest partnerships in which indigenous people gain legal rights to their land and then share commercial activities.
Forests play a vital role in stabilising the climate, yet every year about 12 million hectares (30 million acres) of woodlands are destroyed, the BBC’s environment correspondent Roger Harrabin says.
According to a recent paper, that is responsible for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Forests are something of a “Cinderella” subject at climate conferences, our correspondent says. They are essential for the climate – but forest solutions are typically complex and local, and they do not lend themselves easily to sweeping global agreements.
On Monday, US President Barack Obama said the UN conference, known as COP21, could be a “turning point” in global efforts to limit future temperature rises.
He urged negotiators to deliver a meaningful deal, because the “next generation is watching”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also addressed the conference.
During negotiations for the preceding Kyoto Protocol, Russia was the last industrialised nation to ratify the global agreement, allowing the landmark deal to come into force in 2001.
Mr Putin said: “We have demonstrated we can ensure economic development and take care of our environment at the same time.”
In a diplomatic play on semantics, probably to highlight the differing points of view between industrialised and emerging economies, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the conference he did not see the Paris talks as a turning point nor a “finish line, but a new starting point”.
He also reiterated China’s pledge to start cutting its emissions from a peak in 2030.
Analysis – Matt McGrath, BBC environment correspondent, at COP21
So what can we glean from the warm words and good intentions of the leaders?
There are certainly positive omens. Leader after leader sang the same hymn – climate change is a huge challenge, only co-operation on a global level can solve it, and my country is doing great!
Still, there were obvious divisions.
Progress may or may not happen over the next two weeks.
One negotiator told me the whole idea was for the leaders to come, speak and happily be on their way without toppling this carefully constructed applecart.
Unlike in Copenhagen in 2009.
“The leaders fully understand the political nature, the political difficulties. They are coming here to provide manoeuvring guidance,” he said with a hint of irony.
“And we as negotiators will then have to fix it.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron used his address to consider how future generations would respond to the idea that it was “too difficult” for this generation of politicians to reach an agreement in 2015.
Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga made a stark observation in his passionate address: “If we save Tuvalu, we will surely save the world.”
“Like other nations in the Pacific, our survival depends on the decisions we take here in Paris,” he said, reflecting the concerns of many Small Island States (SISs) around the globe.
“We stand on a cliff edge. Either we stand united and agree to combat climate change, or we all stumble and fall.”
World leaders are attending the start of the two-week meeting to give impetus to the talks, after the high-profile failure of the Copenhagen summit in 2009.
SOURCE:BBC:COP21: Prince Charles to call for forest protection
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