To save humanity, save biodiversity: Q&A with Enric Sala
Last year, as part of its “Campaign for Nature” initiative, the National Geographic Society — in collaboration with a slew of more than 100 other conservation organizations — set a goal of protecting 30-percent of the planet by 2030. Dr. Enric Sala, founder of the ocean conservation initiative Pristine Seas, constructs an enlightened defense for this plan, and for biological diversity at large, in his first book, The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild, published late last month. It appeared just before the United Nations reported that countries had failed to meet any of the 20 targets they set a decade ago for stemming the loss of biodiversity.
After the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Sala delayed printing of the book to write a final chapter on the novel coronavirus, “which has turned out to be the most powerful wake-up call to the world about the enormous risks to human health posed by our broken relationship with nature.” Sala discusses all of this and more in the following interview with FERN’s Ag Insider, conducted via email.
