Sustainability

When the frigate commanded by Jacob Roggeveeen arrived at the shores of Rapa Nui (named Easter Island) on April 5, 1722, the island was not in very good condition. Scientists until recently believed that the settlement of the island occurred around the year 500 AD. However, contemporary research suggests it was around the year 1200 AD, or perhaps even later. We may never know what caused the catastrophe that led to the extinction of the native tribes of this island. In his book "Kon-Tiki Expedition", the Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl suggested many scenarios for the history of the island and the origins of its inhabitants. This bestseller brought fame to the island in the 1960s, along with numerous conspiracy theories (including extraterrestrial origins) about the monumental Moai statues.

Anyone who visits this island, in addition to its charms, will answer for themselves what could have been the cause of its downfall. Likely, overpopulation and irrational material management played a role. Diseases and rodents brought by explorers, which had no natural enemies on the island, probably also had an impact. Either way, the fate of its inhabitants was essentially sealed from the beginning. They were doomed to extinction.

Sometimes, in our naivety or very short-term imagination, we assume that things that once emerged will last forever. But that is not the case. Great empires fall, the world order changes, dynasties collapse. The same applies to businesses and companies. Just as acceleration and economic development cause large companies to emerge rapidly in the global world, the same invisible hand of the market causes their downfall.

Until recently, the cycle of formation, flourishing, and collapse of companies lasted several decades. Today, this has shortened to a few years, and with good winds, a single decade. Market needs, demographic and geopolitical changes, but above all globalization mean that we must look differently at the classic cycle known from economics. Business leaders understand this phenomenon (though not all). Those aware diversify their business, seek innovative ideas for expansion, or buy other companies, trying to expand horizontally and vertically at the same time. Those who fail to see this disappear, fading away in just a few years, becoming a relic of their customers' local habits.

Sustainable development, which has been much talked about lately, introduces many new inspirations to this trend, accelerating the phenomenon even more. Equality, responsibility, caring for people and their living environment forces another dimension of change. A systemic ban on conducting business based on old (dirty) principles, introducing new preferences for those operating in an accepted (clean) manner. Everything makes sense as long as there are equal opportunities for this change. If some economies or businesses do not have the necessary means or lose their competitive advantages with the change, it becomes problematic.

Would Rapa Nui have survived if the cutting of trees was banned, cultivation based on crop rotation was mandated? If the island had been subject to a tourist entry ban or a quarantine import of plants and animals, would it be a flourishing island of the Pacific today? Maybe just some knowledge and imagination? We will never know.

Photo taken in 2022, a week after the island reopened following a Covid-19 lockdown lasting over 18 months. The island had just over 2000 residents and fewer than 50 tourists per week. An island that for the last 20 years had mainly lived off tourism.

I dedicate it to decision-makers who issue regulations in the name of protection. Widely understood protection and safety.