As representatives of nearly 200 countries gather in the Arab Emirates for a new climate summit to try to avoid the worst consequences of ongoing climate change, participants in the 5th Philosophy and Science Seminar at the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)discussed the “catastrophe” of biodiversity loss, a challenge they consider even greater because its advance is silent but unstoppable, with little social attention despite its unimaginable consequences.

Slowing down the current rapid rate of species extinction requires a profound, but possible, change in values, both philosophers and ecologists said. Their coinciding messages: nature is not a mere provider of resources, because people are also nature-; the health of nature is also our own health; it is essential that we reduce the consumption of goods and energy, because we need an economy that is compatible with nature.