Tony Long sits down with Tarja Halonen, Finland’s first woman president (2000–2012) and former co-chair of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. She talks about leading on sustainability and social welfare after Finland’s new constitution limited the presidency, what the panel got right, and why, looking back, it underestimated peace as the foundation for sustainable development.
She also discusses protecting the fragile Baltic Sea through regional cooperation, why decent work had to be part of the global goals, and how gender equality, human rights and the welfare state tie into climate action. Her advice for young advocates who feel the system is too slow: “be brave, be patient, and go on.”
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