Can humanity afford less cooperation and dialogue on fundamental issues?

The Chinese Government recently announced that it would no longer cooperate with the US on climate change, following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.?After months of preparatory talks, policymakers and experts from both countries were supposed to meet to discuss methane emission reductions, clean electricity, the circular economy and climate action from cities. This has now been put on halt. This event is not anecdotal. It reflects the difficulty of cooperating on global issues that need urgent common efforts, when there are strong divergences on values and positions. The question is whether humanity can afford this.?

With the war in Ukraine, the polarization of our societies exacerbated by social media, the propaganda from various political systems, and the tendency of simplifying global issues, our planet is at risk. Shouldn’t we in certain areas - such as climate change - put partnership on common challenges at another level than alignment on values? Is this possible without jeopardizing our credibility?

Take the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the?second biosphere reservoir?in the world. Whatever the political situation in the country and how it will evolve, we need to continue to cooperate with Congo in preserving this equatorial forest that has an impact on the entire planet.

Take?human mobility between Africa and Europe. The African population is growing at an exponential rate in some countries. In 2100, 40% of the world population will be African. While the European population is ageing, the African population is extremely young. There is only 14 kms between Africa and Europe and the mobility between the two continents, whether you want it or not, will be a given. This requires more anticipation and cooperation, in contrast to the current political divergences on the issue and the associated populism. We need to go beyond those short-term views and anticipate what will happen in the next 80 years.

It also applies to?security?in the Sahel. The recent coups in several countries of the region have had significant consequences on the partnerships of some European countries. Can we just leave the Sahel countries to themselves and take the risk that the huge numbers of youth are recruited by extreme religious groups? The long-term impact of this will be bigger than the short-term political risk of engaging with those countries.

There is another snowball effect that we underestimate in all this: the growing divergences of views and the distrust of the populations. I lived outside of Europe for 15 years and notably 6 years in China. It is interesting to hear how local populations perceive us, and especially the youth. While we sometimes think in the West that we are right and others are wrong, we underestimate how on both sides we are influenced by our own referential and how we tend to caricaturize the other side. This is extremely dangerous in the long run.?

While international cooperation is for sure intertwined with foreign affairs, on global issues such as climate change, cooperation between people, communities and local authorities should continue beyond political divergences. This will allow not only that we sustain our common goods together, but also that we continue to nurture mutual understanding between people and avoid polarization.