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00:29For a very long time, I went to the marsh, I went to the sea, and I discovered the strength of nature, its beauty, its power.
00:38And as I discovered these discoveries, as well as diving in the submarine as walking in the marshes,
00:47well, I felt the need to protect it, to protect the environment,
00:51because I could see that people did not realize the damage it caused when it exploited either the aquatic or the forest resources.
01:21In the 1980s and 1985s, we were still fishing explosives in Senegal.
01:47So we threw bombs into the sea, we caught the fish.
01:50While underwater, there were hundreds, if not thousands of fish that were dead and rotting in the bottom.
01:57So I filmed this, I denounced it, I showed it to the fishermen.
02:01And when I showed it to the fishermen, well, there was an immediate result.
02:06Because I realized that the fishermen heard what I saw.
02:11So I showed it to them.
02:12Once I showed it to them, well, they stopped this technique.
02:16But well, there were quite violent conflicts between the fishermen to stop this.
02:42I started from the principle that anyone, anytime, no matter how, could fish anything.
03:09And that was not sustainable.
03:11So I said to myself, we need a sanctuary where the fish, when they are inside, are protected.
03:40One of our most beautiful operations was in Casamance, in the south of Senegal.
03:44The population was in disarray because their rice fields were occupied by salt.
03:49And they asked us for help.
03:52So we did an experiment.
03:55In 2006, we planted 65,000 feet of mangrove in a village called Taubourg.
04:11In 2010, we planted in 428 villages, mobilizing 110,000 people, 52 million mangrove plants.
04:20So in total, we have 15,000 hectares that grow and capture CO2.
04:28Because mangrove is known, it is an ecosystem that allows us to capture CO2.
04:40I am a diver.
04:48So I was often underwater.
04:50And it hurt my heart to see these fish that were in the nets.
04:55So after a while, I started to release them.
04:58And then I said, well, we have to remove the nets.
05:01And we started to remove the nets.
05:03But it's really because we noticed that the fish were dying.
05:07And for nothing.
05:08Because they were caught in the nets.
05:10And there was no fisherman to take advantage of that.
05:15And since then, every year, we clean the seabed.
05:20When I saw that politicians had no concern for the environment,
05:38I decided to create a political party that is an ecological party.
05:42When I was Minister of the Environment, we immediately reviewed the Forest Code.
05:52We increased fines.
05:54And we made it penal to catch someone who traffics wood.
06:00He must go to jail.
06:02We put in place the Plastic Law.
06:04So a law that prohibited the use of plastic bags.
06:07I remember I was a minister who was never in his office.
06:10I was always on the ground.
06:12Because the traffickers were on the ground.
06:14And we had to fight them.
06:40It's not a question of overfishing.
06:42It's a question of survival.
06:44Because these are boats that have highly devastating techniques.
06:49They pollute the sea.
06:51They come into your waters without permission.
06:53They pollute your resources.
06:55And they leave quietly.
06:57So it's really a terrible situation.
07:10We were on the ground and we fought against it.
07:20We were really concerned about the result for the protection of the environment.
07:25Whether marine or forest.
07:27Now when you are a minister who does more action than politics,
07:33you never stay long.
07:35Because interests that are at stake are very important.
07:39And you end up disturbing lobbies that benefit from the system.
07:43And then we end up kicking you out.
08:40It's primordial, it's capital.
08:42Because of the forest, there is the whole ecosystem,
08:46the animal biodiversity.
08:48There is all the biomass that feeds the earth.
09:04What I would like to say to a young person
09:06What I would like to say to a young person
09:08is that the planet is suffering.
09:10The world is dying.
09:12Why?
09:14Because the economic system has taken it hostage.
09:18The world is taken hostage by the economic system, by finance.
09:23And we have to get out of this if we want to save our world.
09:27So what I want to say to young people is one word, action.
09:33Act also on your side as if you were your own ruler.
09:38Act also on your side to plant trees.
09:42Act also on your side when you consume,
09:45to refuse this system that is being sold to us through advertising and TV
09:50that says that such a product is good, while it destroys the forest.
09:55So for me, I have a lot of hope with young people
09:58because they have understood that they have to give meaning to their lives.
10:03They no longer want to be those sheep that are embarked on stories that are false.
10:09So maybe with them we have hope that change is possible.
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