Humanity must take this chance to find a new 'normal' – and safeguard our planet

Climate risks and opportunities need to be incorporated into the financial system as well as public policymaking and infrastructure

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There is a lot of talk about getting back to normal after the Covid-19 crisis is over. And yet normal - business as usual - is what has made our planet and our societies vulnerable to crises in the first place.

Normal means cutting down huge swathes of forest to plant crops. Normal means overgrazing livestock, destroying natural ecosystems at the expense of habitats for wild animals. Normal is driving climate change, which increases stress in wild species and their habitats and makes people more susceptible to zoonotic diseases (which spread from animals to humans).