Monaco Life Editor Cassandra Tanti interviews Olivier Wenden, Vice President of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, and Christian Moore, President of the Global Environment Movement Association, about the lockdown, its impact on the environment, and what we can hope to achieve from the health crisis.
A smartphone app which will alert authorities and those who have been in direct contact with a person diagnosed with Covid-19 is set to be launched in limited form starting in mid-May, according to key players Orange and Capgemini.
The app, called StopCovid, is a joint effort by several companies all offering their expertise to create a platform for people, on a purely voluntary basis, to alert others that they have been infected with the Covid virus.
The first generation will be ready in a few short weeks though the backend developers, Capgemini, have said that they are looking at June to launch in earnest, giving them the time to handle any bugs and to strengthen security measures.
This clearly falls short of the hoped for 11th May launch by the French government, but they concede the timeline was tight and that it would have been extremely difficult to achieve.
Orange will be responsible for distributing the app and maintaining interoperability, verifying that the technological components handled by all the participating companies work together properly.
“As a major innovator in the digital sector, Orange is extremely proud to participate in the creation of a project-team made up of large industrial players, start-ups and public research institutions, and to contribute to the national and European effort to prevent the further propagation of the Covid-19 virus,” said Orange CEO and Chairman Stéphane Richard on the company website.
“This association of experts will help support healthcare professionals and public services by developing a mobile app, which takes full account of the need to protect individual liberties, that is designed to break the chain of contamination as restrictions are lifted,” said Mr Richard. “Orange will contribute its know-how in the security of networks and digital systems, its expertise in the mobile telecommunications ecosystem as well as its close relationship with healthcare institutions in order to help reach these ambitions targets.”
Orange also hopes to be able to create an alternative to mobile smartphones to be able to transmit the same information, but as of now, that idea is still in its infancy.
Monaco is not the first to consider the use of such tracing apps. Many European countries are considering the distribution of such a means to help prevent massive reinfections in the coming months.
In Australia, more than 3.5 million people have already downloaded the ‘Covidsafe’ tracing app, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying a return to normalcy will depend on uptake of the app.
General Director of the LFP, Didier Quillot, did say they would play the finals of the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue in early August, if given permission by UEFA, which would impact qualification for the Europa League.
“If the finals of the Coupe de la Ligue and Coupe de France take place, the places in the Europa League will be allocated to their winner, if the winner is not PSG. The rule does not change,” he said.
Lille, Reims and Nice seemed poised to have places in the Europa League through their league standings, however that is now subject to change.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced new measures to ease the strain on countries who have seen record economic downturn since the beginning of the health crisis.
The main authority that governs banks in the 19 countries who use the euro decided on Thursday 30th April to lower interest rates on loans provided to member state banks. Credit lines were also made available to soften the blow to the economy, which has seen its biggest first quarter contraction since record keeping began in 1995.
These new plans are in addition to the already announced stimulus package that includes €750 billion in bond purchases. The intended effect is to drive down market borrowing rates for governments and companies.
The ECB has also reduced the requirements necessary for bank capital cushions. This allows banks to be freer in lending to outside sources as they are not restricted in order to keep themselves afloat.
The bank is warning that the economy could go down by as much as 12% in 2020, prompting them to state that they are prepared to step in with extra assistance if required.
All eyes are now on Christine Legarde, the ECB’s President, whose missteps in the early days of the epidemic were soon rectified. She initially said that the bank was not involved in capping borrowing costs for indebted governments, words she quickly rescinded and followed up by creating emergency bond purchases during the pandemic that have helped keep borrowing markets fairly stable.
The European Central Bank injected themselves further when first quarter figures showed the economy had contracted by 3.8%. This drop was worse than even the tumble during the recessionary period in 2009.
“Let us understand the whole firepower the ECB has available, which is north of €1 trillion,” said Ms Lagarde. “We will use the full flexibility to deploy this firepower to intervene where we think there is a particular risk of tightening [of financial conditions].”
Despite the massive hit to the economy, unemployment figures have remained remarkably close to pre-health crisis levels. March unemployment sat at 7.4%, whereas it was 7.3% in February. Though these figures are encouraging, they may not be wholly accurate, as the lockdown was only introduced halfway through March.
The French economy has been officially declared in recession. This is marked by two consecutive quarters of contraction. France’s economy dwindled by 5.8%, the most the country has seen since 1949 when records started to be kept.
Photo: ECB headquarters, Pixabay
I was so excited the day I was accepted to be part of the eXXpedition crew – a pioneering all female navigators group studying plastic pollution – to participate in an incredible sailing and research voyage between Galapagos and Easter Island. I spent the rest of 2019 preparing for this trip, educating myself and fundraising, impressed by the profiles of the other SEAsters on the voyage.
Another exciting moment was when we all met in the Galapagos, on 15th February, ready to board the boat. I finally got to meet all these exceptional women and looked forward to sharing 20 days together aboard the eXXpedition vessel.
I was expecting spartan and quite tough sailing conditions, but nothing prepared me for this. From the moment we left Galapagos, we were continuously on a 30 degree inclination and this became our normal state. Imagine doing everything, and I mean everything, at such an inclination. My bunk bed was leaning towards the galley, so in order to remain in it and be able to sleep, I had to lean against a net, which was locked at all times. A lot of things to had to be adjusted, and my body didn’t take quite well to it. I was confronted by violent bouts of sea sickness, despite the tablets being taken religiously, the homeopathic treatment I brought with me and the pressure points bracelets I was wearing. Nothing seemed to work.
I also didn’t seem to adjust to the shift times four hours on-duty, eight hours pause, and so on. The duties would involve everything from sailing the boat and cooking lunch or dinner, to cleaning the boat’s various parts. The others seemed to adjust much faster to the rhythm and weren’t really affected by sea sickness.
I’ve been sailing for almost 20 years, but only in the Mediterranean sea, having experienced different types of boats. But never the Pacific Ocean and surely not this path. I learned the hard way why there are only about 20 vessels doing our route in an entire year. Our boat was incredibly safe, equipped with all sorts of back up measures, and the crew were very experienced. And there I was, the imperfect sailor, pushing my limits to the max and still feeling like a fraud compared to the rest of the crew.
I reached a low point on day six of the voyage when my body just couldn’t cope with the movement of the boat, the sailing, the round the clock schedule of duties, and the ocean’s lack of mercy towards me. It surely wasn’t the experience that I had been dreaming about for a whole year! It was tough to feel that I was not contributing enough compared to the other girls, nor doing enough for my Ocean Amazon documentary.
As I was laying down on my tiny bunk bed in the night and feeling each wave moving every inch of my body, I had a revelation. I realised that as long as I resist and react to whatever happens to me, I will be suffering, overwhelmed by the ocean’s movement, the sailing conditions and a sleeping rhythm that was completely different to what I was used to. In this moment, I allowed myself to be vulnerable, even in the face of fear, and surrendered to what is. I realised that although I cannot change the outside factors, there are things that I can control: my breath, my mindset, my connection to the other women on-board.
It is by looking fear in the eye and saying “not today” that helped me to break free of my suffering and allowed me to level up on my journey. It is this shift in mindset that helped me find inner strength and confidence. And I took one breath at the time, building one positive thought after another, finding strength in each act of kindness from the other women towards me, their jokes and uplifting comments. And defying my sickness, distracting myself by looking at the beautiful sky full of stars, the surreal sunrises and sunsets, and the wonderful bond which was created between us on-board.
From this moment, my journey had a radical shift. I felt better, I was able to participate in all the activities and enjoy the incredible journey I was on.
Before I knew it (well, two weeks later) we safely reached Easter Island, after having a taste of an enormous storm, which went on to hit the island. The last night of our navigation was what I called the “graduation”, a final test in navigation, with gale-force winds, powerful waves and currents. It was thrilling and physical and we were one with our amazing boat.
It was an incredible moment when we saw land on the horizon, all of us excited to touch land after 20 days on the boat, while at the same time nostalgic that it had all come to an end. Having shared such amazing moments with my SEAsters, building a bond and connection beyond words, and commiting to be agents of change back in our communities. Little did we know about the new global reality of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The fact I was an imperfect sailor, not really prepared for such a sailing voyage, shows to what extent I will go to be part of a movement to protect our oceans and planet. Just as I am an imperfect activist. I think it is essential to connect the consequences of our use of plastics with the state of the ocean in order to create awareness and change.
None of us are living the way we really need to in order to steer the future of our planet in a different direction. We are all limited by the realities of living in society as it is now, and it is the structures of that society that really need to change.
These past weeks, as the world faces a global pandemic and each one of us is confined at home, we’ve realised the power that we have individually and how much we can do if we all rise together.
I’m certainly not diminishing the role of individual actions, they matter very much. We should all be mindful of the choices we make every day, and try to make them as sustainable as we can, because they impact our environment, our ocean.
One of the great workshops we did onboard during our journey was the ‘Solutions Proposal’ under Winnie’s guidance (Dr Winnie Courtene-Jones, the scientific mission leader of eXXpedition). Each one of us had to present solutions to protect the ocean, whether at the source or as a last resort before plastics and garbage enter it. The solutions were different for everyone. There are a myriad of things that we can do, from carrying a reusable cup to refusing plastic straws, to cleaning up beaches, installing filters on the drainages that flow into the ocean, refusing to purchase goods packaged in single use plastics. Each and every one of these decisions is a step in the right direction. If we can’t do as much as we’d like as an individual, we shouldn’t feel disqualified from the environmental movement altogether. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
What we need is to be able to make these individual choices easy – where it’s not more expensive or more difficult to opt for the path that is going to preserve the planet for the next generation. Our group concluded that we need to be putting pressure on governments and corporations to make decisions on a macro level which will enable us to live our lives in a way which not only protects the environment we depend on but improves it. And those governments, those corporations, need to be putting in place policies that will maximise the potential for humans to turn this world around. It’s amazing how these conclusions resonate so much more with today’s realities.
Because it is within this decade that we shall act, before it is too late. If we could all put our shame and paralysis to one side – our guilt for the comforts we have come to dependant on, for not having taken decisive action before now – then this could be a time of great opportunity. We need to accept the realities of the lives we have led up until now, to forgive ourselves for the choices we have made. It is only when we take this step that we will be able to open our hearts to the magnitude of the challenge we are facing, and set our minds upon the epic and essential task of finding solutions. And it is important to start with the first step and then the next will follow. Let’s not let ourselves get overwhelmed by the immensity of the challenge, but by the opportunity that awaits us.
Looking back on my navigation and research with eXXpedition, I am thrilled to have had this incredible experience and enriched in more ways than I could have dreamed of. I am very grateful for the opportunity and stronger than ever. Was it hard? Yes! Was it worth it? Absolutely yes!
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