Sustainable development and Przewalski's horses
During my summer wanderings, I discovered the story of Przewalski's horses on a high plateau in the Cévennes.
At the end of the 19th century, a colonel in the Imperial Russian Army observed herds of wild horses in Mongolia. These small horses, with their ochre coats and short manes, resemble those found in cave engravings. Are they descendants of prehistoric horses? European society wants to see specimens of these curious animals, which are captured by the hundreds and transported to zoos.
So violent were the catches that, a few decades later, there were no wild horses left in Mongolia... just a few rare specimens that are having trouble reproducing in captivity in European zoos.
Is this the end of their story? Well, no, because a team of animal behavior scientists led by ethologist Claudia Feh is about to try their hand at reintroducing these horses to the wild in a 400-hectare area on the Causse Méjean, a limestone plateau that seems to lie at the "end of the world".
The experiment, which began in 1990, was a resounding success and led to the creation of a new herd, thanks to numerous foal births.
So much so that in 2005, a dozen horses born in the Cévennes were transported to Mongolia to be reintroduced, and this second reintroduction was just as successful.
Today, there are once again herds of wild horses, in Mongolia and on the Causse Méjean. They are named after the explorer Przewalski, who first documented their existence in the 19th century.
What's the link between this history, which has been played out over more than a hundred years, and sustainable development?
We human beings are capable of the worst, as well as the best. This applies to biodiversity and, let's hope, to climate. There is no certain catastrophe, but we need to move fast, because our current initiatives will only bear fruit in 10, 20 or 30 years' time.
There are many initiatives, such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs"), which, since 2015, have proposed trajectories for integrating the social, economic and ecological aspects of our lives, and of our society. We also often talk about ESG, an acronym that stands for Environment, Social and Governance.
Some of the UN's goals deal with biodiversity and the preservation of ecosystems...
Other objectives, such as that relating to climate change, call for "improving education, awareness and individual and institutional capacities [...]."
This holistic vision, including the social, economic and ecological aspects, is at the heart of all AquaFin programs. We have even developed a program to help companies make the transition to a more sustainable model.
Are you curious? Write to us!
Anne Frisch
+33 7 88 48 43 81
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