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AGENDA DAVOS 2022
Ilona Szabó de Carvalho: Serão necessárias diversas redes para resolver ameaças globais como as mudanças climáticas
19 de janeiro de 2022
Uma encosta florestal queima laranja com incêndios florestais na Tasmânia, na Austrália, enquanto o céu enche de fumaça simbolizando as mudanças climáticas
Bush dispara na Tasmânia, Austrália – incêndios florestais em ascensão, resultado das mudanças climáticas Imagem: Matt Palmer / Unsplash

Klaus Schwab
Fundador, Presidente Executivo, Fórum Econômico Mundial
Thierry Malleret
Co-fundador, Barômetro mensal
Ilona Szabó de Carvalho
Co-fundador e Presidente, Instituto Igarape
Este artigo faz parte de:
A Agenda Davos
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Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, co-fundadora e presidente do Instituto Igarapé, diz que redes diversas e intergeracionais de pessoas são críticas para resolver os maiores desafios do mundo.
Três prioridades globais incluem segurança humana, segurança digital e desmatamento, diz ela.
Esta entrevista serviu de insumo para A Grande Narrativa, um novo livro de Klaus Schwab e Thierry Malleret.
Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, cofundadora e presidente do Instituto Igarapé, passou a maior parte de sua vida trabalhando para construir coalizões para ações coletivas e diz que serão necessárias redes amplas e diversas de pessoas para enfrentar os maiores desafios do mundo.

Esses desafios não são tarefa fácil, ela reconhece, e terá que ser combatida com uma necessária mudança de mentalidade.

A entrevista abaixo com Ilona Szabó de Carvalho serviu como uma das 50 contribuições dos líderes globais de pensamento para A Grande Narrativa, o novo livro de Klaus Schwab e Thierry Malleret que descreve como podemos criar um futuro pós-COVID-19 mais resiliente, inclusivo e sustentável.

Você leu?
Há algo pessoal que você gostaria de compartilhar sobre si mesmo que não encontraremos no LinkedIn, na Wikipedia ou na web?

Há muitas coisas que não compartilho nas mídias sociais ou com o público em geral. Vou me concentrar em algo que reafirma minha identidade brasileira (. Também sou meio húngaro ). Sou muito apaixonada por dança e não apenas por dança. Sou uma dançarina ávida de Forró.

Forró é um ritmo do nordeste do Brasil. Nós dançamos como um casal. Esse ritmo tem profundas conotações históricas e culturais que não são bem conhecidas fora do meu país. É algo pelo qual sou apaixonado e me conecta ao meu povo. Ao dançar, é um dos raros momentos em que me perco.

Eu também sou uma cantora de banho e praticante de ioga dedicado.

Redes de pessoas serão críticas
Você cobre um amplo espectro de questões. Se você tivesse que destilar tudo o que estava fazendo até agora em uma a três frases, o que você diria ser sua idéia principal, seu tema principal?

Eu tenho um casal, mas deixe-me escolher o que eu acho que é transversal. Acredito que redes de pessoas são críticas para resolver os maiores desafios do mundo.

Essas redes funcionam melhor quando reúnem diversos grupos constituintes de todos os setores da sociedade em torno de prioridades compartilhadas, incluindo pessoas que nem sempre concordam.

Uma grande prioridade, então, é definir coletivamente o problema que as redes desejam enfrentar, propor soluções baseadas em evidências, construir coalizões poderosas que possam moldar o debate e influenciar políticas, e depois resolva os problemas.

A idéia de que todos podemos ter o poder de promover mudanças - quando alinhados com os parceiros e interesses, propósitos e agendas compartilhados, com objetivos muito claros e, é claro, uma mentalidade publicamente interessada – é o que inspira minha organização, o Instituto Igarapé. Este é o cerne do que fazemos.

The most significant global threats – whether the threat of war, the rolling back of democracy, disinformation, misinformation and of course climate change – require that we work together if we really want to solve them.

We need to harness the power of collective action. As a civic and social entrepreneur, I’ve spent most of my adult life helping to build, support and empower coalitions to drive collective impact. Working together, especially now across ideological lines, is not easy. It was never easy, and polarization is making it increasingly challenging. We need to overcome filter bubbles and algorithmically powered division.

My latest book, In Defense of Civic Space (soon to be published in English), advances an idea that I’ve been very vocal about. This space - of dialogue, interaction and collective action - is being shut down.

We need to protect civic space precisely because it is a public domain where open dialogue and progressive exchange can take place. That’s something I’m very focused on at the moment because I see populist and authoritarian governments trying to close this arena, online and offline. We need to come together, more than ever, to avoid our civic space [shutting] for good.

A Grande Narrativa de Klaus Schwab e Thierry Malleret
The Great Narrative by Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret Image: Forum Publishing
You began by explaining how to harness the power of networks. What defines the quintessential quality of a good network?

A positive network has to be formed by responsible people who can hold different worldviews but who come with a genuine public interest to the table. There must be a common purpose to build a common agenda.

What is needed is a backbone of individuals and organizations to organize the process and champions who will invite other people and influencers of all kinds to join and amplify the discussion. Many times, important issues may not be regarded as priorities.

So first, we need to work to include them in the debate and policy agenda before they can be tackled. To do this, we need to gather evidence and call public attention to consolidate layers of advocacy and support. It’s important not to talk only to people with the same view of a given problem. We need proposals and solutions to be tested and “beaten up” before they are accepted and become an idea that everyone will gather around.

Indeed, bringing “odd bedfellows” to the table is very important and the trickiest part of today’s world. In the process, we must be open to steps forward and steps backwards so that we can learn with the process and are ready to adapt and find different strategies and channels, both to raise the issue and change the policies, whether they’re public or corporate.

[Also] responsibility, honest thinking and engagement, diversity, the ability to learn and adapt throughout the process, and openness to review what’s working and what’s not – often, it’s not linear. But it’s very rewarding when we do it with concrete world questions.

“
It is tempting to throw one’s hands up in despair. However, despite all this, I’m also feeling bold, empowered and, dare I say, excited about the possibility of creating a different world where we can drive positive transformation through connections, networks and coalitions.

”
— Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, Co-Founder and President, Igarapé Institute,
Intergenerational changemakers
Can you share with us your vision and understanding of how the world is going to evolve in the coming years?

There are multiple scenarios. They are incredibly consequential. The decisions we take in the next 10 years will determine the future for the next 1,000 years.

If we continue with the status quo, without radical transformations across many fronts, we’re going to be living on a very dangerous and inhospitable planet. If we get our governance, economics, and social policies right, we could live our greatest century. But all of this will require a major change of mindset.

The problems we face are formidable. Climate devastation, deepening inequalities that were worsened by COVID-19, the lack of a common understanding about what constitutes truth and the erosion of democracy – all of these issues need to be addressed.

It is tempting to throw one’s hands up in despair. However, despite all this, I’m also feeling bold, empowered and, dare I say, excited about the possibility of creating a different world where we can drive positive transformation through connections, networks and coalitions.

Today we have the knowledge, tools and capital to achieve a more positive, inclusive and sustainable future. But this won’t happen spontaneously. It will require a great leap from all of us – from how we consume, the energy we use, and the nature of politics.

One thing that is certain is that we need to invest in younger leaders. I’m very enthusiastic about the power and potential of working together with new generations. (Until recently, I was a Young Global Leader but, having graduated this year, we now call ourselves “old GLs”, or old Global Leaders.)

Young people have a different consciousness than previous generations. The power and ingenuity of our ideas to transform the world are without precedent, and we’ve seen extraordinary progress over time.

How can we channel this power? A big part of the answer is through the right connections and responsible leadership, which is why I’m committed to this kind of political transformation. There is an urgent need to harness and empower people with the right emotional investment and the right mindset.

You mentioned your hope that the young generation will be able to change things.

Among the 40 people interviewed so far, I’m struck by the pattern of division among interviewees. Some believe that rising youth activism will be a major agent of change, that the young population worldwide is very much geared towards activism vis-à-vis climate change, LGBT rights, inequalities and more sustainable economic growth, among others. And the other half says there’s no real difference between the current young generation and the separations of the generations that preceded it.

Where do you stand? Given you are involved in these global networks, with a focus on Latin America but with an understanding of how global networks evolve, in which camp do you sit? Is there a real, new aspiration among the young generation, or is it culturally or regionally dependent?

I won’t sit in the middle, but the change will be intergenerational. We need the experience, patience, resilience and understanding of incremental shifts that only middle-aged and older people understand. But we need the commitment, enthusiasm and innovation of the new generations to face the most challenging questions.

After all, the future is about their lives; it’s about their possibility of living on a healthy planet, and they understand this instinctively. They are facing a profoundly unequal world. Some young people have enormous opportunities and potential to make a change, while vast numbers are locked-out and fighting for their survival on a burning planet.

When we speak of truly global challenges, inclusion is a key one. The new generation doesn’t let us fake it, to pretend that today’s problems are not serious or urgent. They’re in our face; they will not let us look away. We know what is at stake. We have the information in front of us. This awareness must lead to action.

We have no other choice.

Without the new generation – my generation and the one before mine – we will not see the change that is so desperately needed. Solving the biggest threats is an intergenerational job, for sure; everyone will have to be involved. But I think younger people are key to ensuring that we don’t shy away from the challenge or throw up our hands in despair.

“
The decisions we take in the next 10 years will determine the future for the next 1,000 years.

”
— Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, Co-Founder and President, Igarapé Institute
Can you provide a few practical examples of how your work and the work of your institute have mitigated or alleviated some of the global challenges we face?

The institute I co-founded works on three major existential challenges. One is human security. Without human security, we can’t achieve the Sustainable Development Goals pure and simple. The second priority is digital security because of the massive implications of our wider digital transformation.

As Klaus Schwab explains in his book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, we need basic rules of the game to control technology before it controls us. The third challenge is climate security, which is, by far, the most urgent one because we’re facing a cliff in the next 10-20 years. We know we have to rapidly decarbonize.

Our current focus at the Institute is on getting to zero deforestation. Our work is also emphasizing the protection of the Amazon - home to over 60% of all tropical forests on the planet. The three risks and many others are staring us in the face. We cannot hide from them.

We’re a women-led institute. We’re very committed to working across these issues because they are connected and cascading. We emphasize systems change. We have to act fast but also identify long-term pathways in order to hold governments accountable.

A key way to do this is to ensure we have strong civil societies that hold states to account. Right now, the Institute has a portfolio of 20 or so projects, many of them focused on scaling-up new technologies and working with businesses to improve supply chain traceability.

One of them focuses on using satellite data and high-resolution analytics to reduce environmental crime in eight Amazon countries. Another one focuses on protecting civic space by tracking incidents to avoid the further erosion of democracy in Brazil.

Radical transformation now
Apart from what the institute does, what major change needs to happen to make the world a better place? What would give you confidence that we’re moving in the right direction? A big policy decision?

We need to make several major changes and quickly. Above all else, we have to fundamentally green our economies and promote inclusion. Practically speaking, I am referring to climate finance and reducing exclusion.

Why?

We’ve had a system that treated these two issues – climate change and inequality - as uncounted externalities. We essentially allowed unrelenting growth and globalization at the expense of the environment. We promoted runaway capitalism and economic progress at the expense of appalling inequality. We are only now just waking up to this. And we need to take action to reverse these trends.

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