They are among us. And they greatly outnumber us. Three thousand billion individuals, grouped in millions of communities, organised into authentic nations. But we hardly notice their presence. They – trees – in their communities – the forests – live, grow, die and regenerate in silence. But more than ever before, we realise that we can’t do without them.
The world we live in has changed radically. Life in the 21st century moves in an interconnected, multicultural and diversified world that is evolving rapidly, where emerging economic, digital, cultural, demographic and environmental forces determine the human existence, increasing encounters and conflicts, risks and opportunities.
“All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town”. In this short phrase, presumed to have been written in the late 19th century, Lev Tolstoj sums up a timeless and universal law: stories, all stories, whether personal or collective, begin with movement, a journey to somewhere or an arrival from somewhere. All in all, a border crossing.