WILLEMSTAD - Building more hotels is not sustainable and therefore not responsible. This is what was said yesterday during the webinar 'Evaluation of the year 2021 and the prospects for 2022' which was organized by Think Tank Society 5.0.
According to the speakers of the virtual event, the resilience of the tourism sector obscures the structural crisis. “Due to the pandemic, Curaçao has definitively become a mono-economy based on tourism and on the drip of the Netherlands. Curaçao will have to continue developing the ICT sector and other parts of the orange economy, all based on the principles of the circular economy," according to the platform.
Several speakers, including Achim Henriquez, Raymond Jamanika and Godalys Reina, looked back on the past year and shared their prospects for 2022. The whole was viewed in the context of the Curaçao 2030 vision that should lead to a 'society 5.0' in which people is central and is served by the technology, and not the other way around, according to moderator Miguel Goede.
Just like the year before, 2021 was dominated by the pandemic and the vaccination process. “Only the relationship with the climate crisis became clear. An economic and social crisis was also unleashed; the mental health crisis in particular stands out. Food prices have risen, and local farming is encouraged. In tackling the crisis, democracy is being sacrificed. Democracy is under pressure worldwide and authoritarian countries such as China and Russia are on the rise," said Goede.
According to the webinar speakers, this translates locally into a new government that has little margin and submits to the Country Package and the COHO entity in the making. According to them, a plan is needed for investments in craftsmanship, entrepreneurship, innovation, energy transition, sustainable development, food safety and mitigating the climate crisis.
More and more citizens are working together horizontally to solve social problems, independently of the government or the market. It is about more than corporate social responsibility, says Goede. Social innovation is an important trend. Citizens jointly search for solutions. “Government is central to fighting the virus, but not to give meaning the new society; the government will follow,” said Goede.