AUR PHILOSOPHY

We are dealing with a radical climate change, scarcity of raw materials and resources, the extinction of animal and plant species, pollution, wars, natural disasters and water shortages. There is a sense of rejection and loneliness, millions of peoples have to flee their countries because violence, and many people are forced to work. At the meanwhile the world population grows to about 10 billion in 2050.

On the other hand, humans have shown themselves capable of achieving advances. We are making progress thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the Green Revolution, the technological revolution, the information revolution, advances in healthcare and hygiene, and eradication or control of diseases. Thousands of research centres across the world are currently working on developing urgently needed solutions to various problems. Of course, in some cases, these developments can lead to new ethical issues, as is happening with genetic modification. We have to face these, too.

While all this is going on, with globalization and developments in communication technology, the world is becoming smaller as human beings become more and more connected with each other. The result is that human beings are also increasingly reliant on each other for dealing with the present and future challenges to our planet that are affecting everyone everywhere.

The ties between Europe and Latin America are a vivid example of this. After the arrival of Europeans in Central and South America, both continents experienced a social and economic transformation that would not have occurred without that interaction. The results of centuries of social and economic development due to intensive contacts between the two continents, brought them together even though Latin America and Europe have different internal and external perspectives on fundamental issues such as commercial relations, economy, technology, migration and type of government.

There is a common denominator in both continents: mutual respect for self-determination, independent decision-making and legitimacy, and for the traditions and history of our societies. This framework of a reciprocal respectful relationship is very important for stable relations. Raising boundaries and walls only aggravates our common challenges. The search for interaction based on equality between both continents has become an inevitable, historical and urgent need to enable us to meet our universal challenges and for everyone to enjoy the benefits of that cooperation.

Developments in recent decades support this perception and they indicate that a new era is beginning for humanity. We are moving towards an economy based on sustainability, renewable energy and reuse of waste. The average life expectancy of humans is continuing to rise and our knowledge of how nature works is increasing. We are making progress in science, clean technology, nanotechnology and quantum mechanics. However, this does not mean that we can relax. There still much work to be done. OLACE (01-11-2016)