Dona Bertarelli outlines why a blue and green road to recovery is critical for humanity in this short extract from Elsa Floret’s new book, Le Monde d’Après: Et Après ?, which invites reflection on the world, post-confinement, through a series of interviews.
What is your vision of the world post COVID-19?
This is such a critical time for our planet. We are at a crossroads in history. We can either choose to go back to business as usual and go straight back to where we came from, with a gloomy outlook according to science, or take the blue/green road to a sustainable and equitable future.
It’s urgent that governments act to meet to the concerns of their citizens about economic, health and environmental issues, all of which are connected. We can’t solve these issues without assessing, addressing and including the impact on the environment in socio-economic and growth strategies. Of course, this blue/green road will be difficult and take longer, but the choices we make in the years to come will define the fate of humanity.
Is there a growing awareness of the environment in this global era?
When we look back on 2020, of course, we’ll all remember a huge health and economic crisis, but I very much hope that we’ll also be able to remember 2020 as the year in which we realised that the fate of humanity is closely linked to the health of the natural world.
COVID-19 serves as a reminder that a pandemic, just like the climate, knows no borders. The Earth is our only place to live, and is powered by a huge blue engine – the ocean. We continue to destroy habitats, explore the last wildernesses and witness an alarmingly rapid decline in biodiversity, while ignoring the fact that without this biodiversity, without a healthy ocean, there will be no life on Earth. Let us take care of each other and of what truly matters, because we are all connected, regardless of where we live, our nationality, social class, political inclination, our religion or our ethnic background. Scientists have been sounding the alarm, picked up by NGOs and some philanthropists, for some time now. However, it took a pandemic to raise awareness on a global level and at different levels of society. Now, governments, under pressure from citizens and particularly from young people, whose future challenges are being staked out right now, are more aware than ever of the problems we face. But awareness alone is not enough. It is necessary to act, in order to fundamentally and sustainably change our future prospects.