THE BIG QUESTION WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
Q You speak of our “broken relationship” with nature.
Humans have had a poor history with nature. Despite being the most intelligent creatures, humans are also the most destructive, even though they represent only 0.01% of life on earth. We have more insects than humans, yet insects connect better with nature than we do. They aerate the soils, while we are busy releasing more carbon into the atmosphere. But how did we get here?
After the Second World War, the world needed to reconstruct the economy through production. But it is challenging to produce and conserve at the same time. For example, we use timber as a factor of production, but the person who preserves the forest gets no reward for their labour. In Africa, 80% of agriculture is rain-fed, yet only tiny budgets in Africa go to managing natural resources. This means our thinking process is also broken. Leaders invest billions in hydroelectric projects, but some have no idea where the water comes from. There will be no water in 10 years since there is little being done to conserve the water sources. We must first create ecological infrastructure in order to develop economic infrastructure.
Q What is Africa's contribution to the health of the global
