London, March 13 : The Prince of Wales has warned that global warming has reached a `defining moment,' and humanity has `less than 100 months' to save the planet.

According to a report in the Telegraph, Prince Charles made this statement to 200 business leaders in Rio de Janeiro.

He delivered his most impassioned and urgent plea yet on the need for the world to unite to tackle global warming.

In a keynote speech in Brazil, the heir to the throne delivered a stark warning that if nations fail to tackle deforestation and other problems over the next eight years, then irreversible harm will be done to the environment.

"As the world's economy heads further into recession, it would be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture; to commit the sin, as we say in England and if you will pardon the terrible pun, of `not seeing the wood for the trees'. For we are, I fear, at a defining moment in the world's history," he said.

"We are facing a series of challenges so immense that we can, perhaps, be forgiven for feeling they are all too forbidding to confront," the Prince of Wales added.

In his speech, Prince Charles quoted Chico Mendes, the great Brazilian environmentalist, who said we are all "fighting for humanity."

Charles warned that the need for action was urgent.

"The best projections tell us that we have less than 100 months to alter our behaviour before we risk catastrophic climate change," he said.

The Prince said that there is not necessarily a clash between the interests of big business and the environment. He argued that being green can be good for businesses and create jobs.

"If we can redouble our efforts to unite the world in meeting perhaps its greatest and most critical challenge, then we may yet be able to prevail and thereby to avoid bequeathing a poisoned chalice to our children and grandchildren," he said.

"But, we only have 100 months to act," he added. (ANI)