Speaking at the formal opening and welcome to leaders who have converged on the Danish capital for the final days of the climate change negotiations, Prince Charles spoke of his vision for a genuinely sustainable agriculture that could feed and fuel a growing population.

In his thoughtful address, Prince Charles urged leaders to not just focus on the magnitude of the challenge ahead, but the opportunities if they succeed in agreeing on a deal to tackle climate change.

He said reducing poverty, increasing food production, combating terrorism and sustaining economic development were all vital priorities.

"...but it is increasingly clear how rapid climate change will make them even more difficult to address," he said.

"Furthermore, because climate change is intimately connected with our systemic, unsustainable consumption of natural resources, any decline in the ecological resilience of one resource base or ecosystem increases the fagility of the whole," he said.

"It is critical to find ways to prevent forests being converted to agriculture.

"I have been heartened by my conversations with some of the world's largest agri-businesses which have told me that, through more effective use of vast areas of degraded land, we could feed and fuel a growing population and keep the forests.

"But it must be genuinely sustainable agriculture that helps empower local communities and small farmers.

"We thereby create a truly virtuous, not a vicious, circle and one, because of its understanding of the relationship between agriculture and forestry, that can only improve the lives of many of the poorest people on the planet...

"It also builds what seems to me to be the absolutely critical chain which links ecosystem resilience, adaptive capacity, poverty reduction and sustained economic development.

"This is the chain we have broken...and it is the chain that we must now remake."