'Whenever biodiversity decays, you decay': French biologist Marc-André Selosse

Cover image: File photo: A member of the Pakanyo tribe set a fire in protected forest land at Chiang Mai province, Thailand, Monday, April 22, 2024. © Sakchai Lalit, AP

A leading environmentalist is warning that the destruction of the world's biodiversity is one of the defining challenges of our time – and one that deserves far greater public attention. Marc-André Selosse, a professor at the French National Museum of Natural History and the University of Gdańsk, and author of the new book "De la biodiversité comme un humanisme" (Biodiversity as a Form of Humanism), argues that nature should be protected not only for its own sake, but because it is essential to humanity's future. He has also criticised politicians, pointing out that biodiversity accounted for just one percent of the debate during France's 2022 presidential election campaign. He spoke to us on Perspective.