Helena Freitas is widely recognized, yet she embodies the humility of the truly great. She arrived at the interview with a calm presence. Soon her eyes lit up brighter, laughter filled the room, and the passion she had quietly carried through a busy day revealed the brilliance of one of the sharpest minds in her field.
A biologist by background, with a PhD in environmental extremes, she did a postdoc at Stanford, working with ecosystems functioning and the impact of elevated CO2. She is the coordinator of the research center Centre for Functional Ecology Science for People and the Planet. Freitas was also president of a national NGO, the League for the Protection of Nature, which is a Portuguese branch of WWF.
She is the UNESCO Chair in Biodiversity, working with biosphere reserves and yes, she has the commitment to change the world: “I don’t care if I’m going to win a Nobel Prize or anything like that… but I have to feel at the end of the day that I did something… that is part of my task… that is not a one-day task, it’s the task of my life to change the world”.
Yes, to Change The World
“I am a biologist by background. I did biology at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, and I did my PhD in a kind of sandwich scheme with Germany, focused on environmental extremes, mainly in plants. Then I did a postdoc at Stanford, working with ecosystems functioning and the impact of elevated CO2… a bit about climate change, the impact of CO2, and ecosystems functioning”.
“When I went back to Portugal and started my research center, called Center for Functional Ecology Science for People and the Planet… In the core is ecology, ecological sciences, but it goes from social science, humanities, and natural sciences. We have around 200 researchers and 130 are PhD members. We have a lot of connections with Spain, of course, many colleagues and friends from Spain and other countries“
“Nature was always part of my research profile and also in terms of citizen engagement. I always was committed to some kind of citizen engagement in environmental issues. I was also president of a national NGO, the League for the Protection of Nature, which is the Portuguese branch of WWF”.
“Biodiversity has always been my topic… I am also co-chair in biodiversity. The goal of this UNESCO chair was from the beginning to work with biosphere reserves because it’s a model of conservation that really tends and seeks to harmonize the way how the model of governance, harmonizing the prosperity of the land and the well-being of the community”.
Lemons and oranges in the streets of Coimbra
“Now I’m living in Coimbra, I’m a professor at the University… But I was born in the north of Portugal, in the region… the city of Braga, which is in the north, very north, where we have the vineyards and, most essentially, where we have our forested area, mostly… because that’s where we have more precipitation. It’s not far from Galicia”.
“Science can be very challenging and, at the same time, rewarding… I feel rewarded for what I do basically when I feel that I did my work, if I did it in the best way… even if it was a meeting, if I spent my day answering emails, if I spent my day correcting articles or giving lectures, it doesn’t matter, everything is part of the same… it’s my commitment to change the world”
“Yes, we have to change the world. The world is not well… I feel the injustice of inequality, not only in biodiversity and in the food system, but also in climate change and all these threats at the planetary level… I perceive these threats not only as human, but also as part of the ecosystem… So, of course, you are pushed to change because of these threats that you receive in many ways”.
“I don’t care if I’m going to win a Nobel Prize or anything like that… but I have to feel at the end of the day that I did something… that is part of my task… that is not a one-day task, it’s the task of my life to change the world”.
Research, agendas and projects
“I always feel privileged to have people working with me… young people essentially… I feel the privilege of having them around and believing in what I do and helping me do this because I’m not alone… The strength that I can feel is not because of me myself… it’s because I feel that I am a team player”.
“Becoming older, I feel that I have the ability to do even more… It’s less and less about me and more and more about what is going to be the legacy of my own existence… It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t show up, you know…”
“I have two big agendas. One is biodiversity and the conservation of nature… I mainly do it with this UNESCO chair and the biosphere reserves of Portuguese-speaking countries… The other agenda that I am pushing very strongly these days… is agroecology because this will merge at some point… agroecology, the transformation of the food system will merge with the other one”.
“I believe that there is nothing that approaches us more into our human condition than nature… It’s the most powerful path to making us feel part of this humanity and highlight the values of humanity”….
“It can be a landscape, it can be the smell of the land, of the soil, it can be the horizon of the sea, it can be the… the scent of a fruit… It can have a huge impact on our happiness”.
“Having the perception of the future of nature in the scope of this planetary health framework is extremely important because… this is where we will understand more and more that everything is connected… We have to have healthy soils, healthy rivers… healthy mountains in order to have a really healthy life”.
“I go more to Africa than to Asia. But Japan is a special country for me. But Africa is where I feel more human than anywhere else. Africa is very special to me”.
Ph: Courtesy Helena Freitas/Tiago Bernando Lopez para Publico
