‘Popa langur’ shows 2021 could be a year of bigger surprises – and hope

The recent discovery of a species of monkey clinging to life in in Myanmar should give us the spark to build anew

A firefighter sprays foam retardant on a back burn ahead of a fire front in the New South Wales town of Jerrawangala on January 1, 2020. AFP

Few of us will miss 2020, but at least it sowed seeds of hope for 2021.

One reason to be cheerful is a monkey called the Popa langur. It lives on Mount Popa, an extinct volcano in central Myanmar. There are only a few hundred Popa langurs in existence, but until recently scientists had never even heard of this species, nor more than 500 other species newly discovered in 2020, including various bees, bugs and snakes. Our old, tired, depleted planet Earth, is still full of surprises, and some good news.

The Popa langur reminds us that 2021 could become a year of even greater surprises – and hope. Imagine, for example, if governments manage to work constructively to tackle both climate change and the loss of habitat for endangered animals and plants. It could happen.

The change of administration in Washington is one reason for guarded optimism. US President-elect Joe Biden promises a return of American leadership on international agreements, including the Paris accords on climate change, and 2021 will see the world climate conference meeting in Glasgow in November. And there's more. Departing President Donald Trump's slogan "America First" appealed to the unilateralist tendency on the right of American politics. But Mr Biden is instinctively a multilateralist. The winds of change in Washington will reinvigorate international co-operation against crime, money laundering, people and drug trafficking, and could boost a world-wide economic recovery and global co-ordination on public health.

Specifically on the environment, many businesses and financial organisations in the private sector – even those generally resistant to regulation – would in some cases welcome new international rules to end some of the worst environmental vandalism. Forward-thinking businesses know customers want good products and investors want a profit, but the demands for more environmental action will continue to transform businesses in 2021. "Greenwashing", the pretence of environmental action, is still a problem. But in 2021, activist investors, responsible pension funds and financial advisers will increasingly demand scientifically verifiable metrics and standards to demonstrate which businesses can be trusted on environmental issues, and which cannot.

Even the greatest horror story of 2020 – the Covid-19 pandemic – contains reasons to hope.

Despite all the anti-vaccination ignorance and mischief, it's even more obvious that science and expertise really matter. Scientists and businesses, universities and pharmaceutical companies, skilled people of different nationalities and cultures, have worked together to produce Covid-19 vaccines and improved treatments for those who are sick. We can hope in 2021 that the pandemic – which has ruined so many lives in 2020 – may, as a result of scientific breakthroughs, result in a rapid economic recovery.

Moreover, faced with a universal health threat there has been an international response based on facts, science and truth. Baseless conspiracy theories about Covid-19, anti-vaxxer pseudo-science, and the complicity of social media spreaders of falsehoods have highlighted the danger of believing internet clickbait and distrusting real experts.

Yes, scientists make mistakes. But the biggest mistake of 2020 has been to accept attention-grabbing false stories and rumours on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, while ignoring the warnings of those who have devoted their lifetimes to medical research. Perhaps in 2021, we will truly understand that those who study science for years, virologists, epidemiologists and others, never claim to be infallible, but they can generally claim to be honest.

And if 2021 has one big promise, let it not be that we “get back to normal". That’s because one of the practices that unfortunately became “normal” in recent years is the normalisation of lying in public life. The new normal for 2021 could be much better. The new normal would mean social media companies police harmful content more aggressively, or be forced to do so by all of us who use them. The new normal for 2021 could mean world leaders would be more confident in telling us inconvenient truths and admitting errors, rather than offering empty promises and boasting about how wonderful they are, often despite the facts.

The new normal might even mean that Covid-19 will show us that countries, businesses and scientists can compete but when faced with a worldwide crisis we can also co-operate.

Surely it is not too much to hope that our children and grandchildren will see 2021 as a turning point – a year in which it is no longer considered “normal” to witness melting ice-caps, rising sea levels, out-of-control forest and bush fires from Australia to California and the deliberate burning of rainforests from Brazil to Indonesia. Nor should our children think it “normal” for millions of refugees round the world to be forced to flee drought and conflicts.

A new year often means making resolutions about better behaviour in the months ahead – eating more healthily, avoiding bad habits, exercising more, and being more thoughtful towards others. So as we celebrate 2021, let’s learn from the mistakes of 2020. It can be a truly happier new year for billions of us around the world – and also for little miracles like the Popa langur monkey, clinging to life in the jungles of Myanmar. We can do better.

Gavin Esler is a broadcaster and UK columnist for The National