Film transcript / en-GB

Climate change and security

Text from the film’s caption track.

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0:12 It’s been nearly a decade since climate change first came on the agenda
0:16 of people in the foreign policy and security establishment,
0:20 so people are aware that climate change poses a security threat.
0:25 The problem now is that they don't quite know what to do about it.
0:31 The reality is that climate impacts
0:34 are not manifested in terms of new problems
0:37 they really come to you in problems you already know.
0:40 Those problems will be more intense, they will happen more frequently and affect more people.
0:45 Climate change is already manifesting itself
0:49 in a variety of impacts across the world.
0:52 From extreme weather events, sea level rise, droughts,
0:58 climate change is usually thought of as a threat multiplier.
1:02 Climate change is one of the pressures that interacts with, for example,
1:06 other pressures such as economic growth
1:11 and population growth, rising urbanization, rising inequality,
1:15 and together these pressures can push states towards fragility and threaten their stability.
1:29 This challenge touches so many different aspects,
1:32 whether its energy supply to water scarcity
1:36 to migration, to engineering,
1:40 so it's really mapping the problem
1:42 and then mapping the resources you have to deal with it.
1:46 I think probably the main challenge is try to integrate policies;
1:49 you know you cannot do security thing on one side,
1:53 transportation on the other,
1:55 energy on the third one and then agriculture.
2:00 You have to consider all these policies together.
2:04 We have unresolved trans boundary
2:07 water management issues in Central Asia.
2:10 And of course we have to find the solution
2:13 on how to deal with water deficit
2:16 because of climate change
2:19 and the irrational use of water resources in Central Asia.
2:24 When we are talking about climate policy
2:26 we are not talking only about high policy level,
2:29 about diplomats in New York or Geneva
2:31 or about American convention of United Nations.
2:35 Each citizen can contribute into climate change adaptation policy.
2:39 We should create the balance
2:42 between economic development and more environmentally protection.
2:46 Only finding the nexus for this balance
2:50 will lead to the achievement of
2:53 the climate change sustainable development.
3:04 The method of the OSCE is based on prevention largely,
3:08 so it is important for the OSCE
3:12 to look at the issues around climate change
3:15 in a broad perspective; the perspective of sustainable development.
3:19 In many ways, the OSCE is already addressing issues
3:22 related to climate change.
3:25 We are dealing with water issues in many areas,
3:28 for instance in Central Asia.
3:30 We’re dealing with cooperation in addressing countries
3:34 or in supporting countries affected by environmental disasters.
3:38 We are actively engaged
3:43 in establishing the so called Aarhus centres,
3:47 which are centres that do focus on environmental issues.
3:51 There are going to be many challenges in the OSCE community
3:55 and an organization that can bring them all together to the table
3:59 to work about designing those solutions,
4:02 and then going on to the ground to implement them.
4:05 That’s invaluable in what we need to do in the world today.
4:08 I think the OSCE can play a very important part
4:12 as an important convener of their member states
4:16 and other important international organizations
4:20 and to keep really climate change in security
4:24 high on the political agenda.
4:26 And advance the discourse,
4:28 the global discourse around climate change and security