I was recently in beautiful Chile for a Futures Congress, and I had a chance to travel south to the very tip of Latin America. I also recently made a BBC radio documentary called Fixing Globalisation,
in which I criss-crossed the UK in search of ideas for improving
certain aspects of it and discussed topical issues with well-known
experts. In both cases, I saw things that convinced me that it is past
time for someone to come to globalisation’s defence.
Chile today is Latin America’s richest country, with per capita GDP of about $23,000 – similar
to that of central European countries. This is quite an achievement for
a country that depends so heavily on copper production, and it sets
Chile apart from many of its neighbours. Like many other countries,
Chile is facing economic challenges, and its growth rate leaves
something to be desired; but it also has many promising opportunities
beyond its borders.
For example, when I led a review on antimicrobial resistance,
I learned that copper has powerful antibacterial properties and is an
ideal material for use in healthcare facilities where bacteria often
spread. This means that copper producers such as Chile, Australia, and
Canada can improve global health – and boost exports – by introducing
affordable copper infrastructure into hospitals and other clinical
settings around the world.
Chile is also a storehouse of knowledge for managing earthquakes and
tsunamis. While I was there, I visited La Serena, which in 2015
experienced the sixth strongest earthquake ever recorded. But the
ensuing tsunami killed only 11 people, though it surely would have
killed far more in many other places. Chilean officials’ advanced
preparation and rapid response seems to have made the difference. With
so much institutional experience, Chile can be a valuable resource for
other countries threatened by seismic events.
La Serena is also near one of the world’s best stargazing sites,
which attracts leading astronomers from around the globe. In fact, Chile
hosts much remarkable collaboration among the world’s scientists, in
part because it is just north of the Antarctic – long a site for
scientific and environmental cooperation.
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