[Framce24] Humanity needs to discover a "new mindset for our survival" as the world exits the pandemic only to face the looming dual crises of climate change and nature loss, renowned conservationist Jane Goodall said Thursday.In an interview with AFP, the world's pre-eminent primatologist said she was hopeful that Covid-19 could change people's approach to how we interact with Earth.
"We basically brought this on ourselves by our disrespect of the natural world, forcing animals closer to people, making it easier for a pathogen to jump from an animal to a person," said Goodall.
"And then, our absolute disrespect of animals -- hunting them, killing them, eating them, capturing them, trafficking them, forcing them into terrible conditions, unhygienic and very, very cruel intensive factory farms.
"So hopefully this pandemic has woken people up. We must develop a new relationship with the natural world."
As Western nations start making tentative steps towards exiting the pandemic, Covid-19 is still rampaging through developing nations.
Goodall warned against the temptation to rush back to unfettered economic growth at the expense of the planet and called on policymakers to redefine their approach to governance.
"Unfortunately there are too many people in power who are just eager to get back to business as usual. It's all about the bottom line, about money," she said.
"We have to somehow create a more sustainable, greener economy. We have to have a new mindset for our survival."
