The Age of Consequences Page #5

BUT IN FACT KATRINA IS

A PERFECTLY NORMAL DEMONSTRATION

OF WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS.

DROP.

IF THE WEATHER:

GETS TO THE POIN WHERE IT CAN BREAK DOWN

CITY GOVERNMENTS,

AND LET'S SAY IT HAPPENS

TO TWO OR THREE CITY GOVERNMENTS

AT THE SAME TIME

AND FEDERAL AUTHORITIES

ARE NOT ONLY UNWILLING

BUT UNABLE TO ASSIST,

THEN YOU GET HURRICANE KATRINA

ON A NATIONAL SCALE.

WE WANT HELP!

WE WANT HELP!

WE WANT HELP!

[TITLEY]

WE'VE BUILT SOCIETY

ON THIS IMPLICIT ASSUMPTION

OF CLIMATE STABILITY.

WITHIN BOUNDS, WE KNOW

WHAT WE'RE GONNA GET.

WE KNOW WHEN TO PLANT.

WE KNOW ABOUT HOW MUCH

RAIN IS GONNA COME.

BECAUSE WE BUILT OUR SOCIETY

ON THIS CLIMATE STABILITY

AND THAT STABILITY IS CHANGING,

ALL THESE THINGS

THAT WE TAKE FOR GRANTED,

THEY'RE NO JUST GIVENS ANYMORE.

[REPORTER]

ACROSS THE SAHEL,

THE CROPS HAVE FAILED.

HUNGER IS STALKING

TENS OF MILLIONS.

[REPORTER]

PEOPLE ARE ABANDONING

THEIR LIVESTOCK:

AND MOVING TO WHEREVER

THEY CAN FIND WATER.

[REPORTER]

RELIEF WORKERS FEAR IF MORE

HELP DOESN'T COME SOON,

MILLIONS WILL STARVE.

[SEAGER]

THE SAHEL IS:

THE SEMI-ARID REGION

THAT STRETCHES:

FROM THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

ALL THE WAY OVER TO ETHIOPIA.

IT'S THE TRANSITION ZONE

BETWEEN THE SAHARA

AND THE MORE HUMID,

FORESTED CONDITIONS

FURTHER SOUTH.

THAT IS A VERY:

DROUGHT-PRONE REGION.

THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE

MAKING THEIR LIVELIHOOD

OFF AGRICULTURE,

AND WHENEVER:

THERE ARE DROUGHTS,

IT LEADS A LOT OF PEOPLE

TO MIGRATE.

THE SAHEL IS ALREADY

A MAJOR CONFLICT ZONE,

BOTH WITH ISLAMIC MILITANTS

AND ALSO NATIONALISTS.

[PARENTI]

THIS IS THE HEAR OF THE PROBLEM IN MANY WAYS.

CLIMATE CHANGE:

ARRIVES IN A WORLD

THAT HAS ALREADY

BEEN DESTABILIZED.

[REPORTER]

DARFUR, THE WORLD'S WORS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS.

MORE THAN 2 MILLION PEOPLE

FORCED TO FLEE THEIR HOMES

IN WHAT'S WIDELY PORTRAYED

AS AN ETHNIC CONFLICT.

BUT CLIMATIC CHANGES

MAY ALSO BE A FACTOR.

THIS IS A REGION

WHERE WATER'S GETTING SCARCER

AND ARABLE LAND SHRINKING,

PITTING ARAB NOMADIC GRAZERS

AGAINST THE PREDOMINANTLY

BLACK FARMERS.

A LOT OF THE VIOLENCE

THAT IS NOW ACCELERATED

BY CLIMATE CHANGE

ACTUALLY HAS ITS ROOTS IN THESE

OLDER, DEEPER CONFLICTS.

THE DROUGHT EXACERBATED

EXISTING SOCIETAL CLEAVAGES.

THERE IT WAS MUSLIM

AND CHRISTIAN.

IT WAS THE HERDERS

VERSUS THE AGRARIANS.

IN EVERY CASE, CLIMATE CHANGE

ACTED AS:

A THREAT MULTIPLIER.

[MAN WHIMPERING]

[REPORTER]

THE NUMBERS FROM DARFUR

ARE STAGGERING.

SINCE 2003, AN ESTIMATED 400,000

PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED.

ANOTHER 2 1/2 MILLION HAVE BEEN

FORCED INTO REFUGEE CAMPS

IN NEIGHBORING:

COUNTRIES LIKE CHAD.

[BABY CRYING]

[REPORTER]

DROUGHT AND HUNGER HAVE

MADE COMMUNITIES VULNERABLE.

COUPS AND REBELLIONS

HAVE MADE IT UNSTABLE.

THIS FRAGILE STATE

IS NOW THREATENED

BY POVERTY AND NEGLECT.

[PARENTI]

CLIMATE CHANGE UNFOLDS

ON THE LANDSCAPE,

MAKING THEIR LIVES HARDER.

BUT THE POVERTY:

THAT WAS ORIGINALLY THERE

MAKES THE RESPONSE

TO CLIMATE CHANGE WORSE.

[REPORTER]

A STAGGERING 30 MILLION PEOPLE

ARE THOUGHT TO SURVIVE

ON LAKE CHAD'S ECOSYSTEM.

BUT WHAT WAS ONCE

OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST LAKES

HAS IN JUST 40 YEARS

SHRUNK BY 90%.

[REPORTER]

LAKE CHAD, WHERE

BOKO HARAM FIGHTERS

HAVE LAUNCHED RECENT ATTACKS.

[KING]

WATER SCARCITY HAS CAUSED

MIGRATION AND INSTABILITY

WHICH BOKO HARAM HAS BEEN ABLE

TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF.

WHERE THERE IS ALREADY

INSTABILITY,

EXTREMISTS THRIVE.

[REPORTER]

MORE THAN A MILLION PEOPLE

HAVE BEEN FORCED TO FLEE FROM

BOKO HARAM'S WAVE OF TERROR.

[BREEN]

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE MODELING

THAT'S BEING DONE NOW

FOR NORTH AFRICA,

WE SEE SIGNIFICANTLY

MORE DRYING.

WE SEE SIGNIFICAN PRECIPITATION DECLINE

WELL BEYOND WHAT IT IS NOW.

[SNYDER]

AFRICA'S A PLACE WHERE

VERY LARGE NUMBERS

OF PEOPLE NEED MORE LAND.

AT THE SAME TIME, SOMETHING LIKE

HALF OF THE UNUSED ARABLE LAND

IN THE WORLD:

IS IN AFRICA.

[REPORTER]

IS COLONIALISM TAKING ROO IN AFRICA ONCE AGAIN?

SOME OF THE COUNTRIES

ON THAT CONTINEN MAY BE THE POORES IN THE WORLD,

BUT THE LUSH FARMLANDS

ARE THE ENVY:

OF RICHER NATIONS

WITH INFERTILE SOIL.

[SNYDER]

WE'VE ALREADY SEEN

IN THE NOT-SO-DISTANT PAS HOW CHINA,

WHEN THERE'S A DROUGHT,

WILL PANIC-BUY

AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES.

WHAT IF THINGS WERE MUCH WORSE?

WHAT IF THAT SAME COUNTRY

THOUGHT THAT IT DOESN' JUST NEED TO PANIC-BUY,

IT NEEDS TO BUY OR LEASE

VAST TERRITORIES?

THIS IS A SCENARIO

WHICH COULD UNFOLD GRADUALLY

WITHOUT ANYONE:

REALLY SEEING IT COMING.

SLOWLY, SLOWLY, SLOWLY,

CHINA CONTROLS,

AT LEAST LEGALLY,

AN AWFUL LOT OF TERRITORY

BEYOND ITS BORDERS.

WHETHER ONE WANTS TO MORALIZE

AND CALL THAT A LAND GRAB,

YOU CAN GET A SITUATION

WHERE THE LOCAL PEOPLE

COULD HAVE ANOTHER IDEA.

[SNYDER]

IF YOU'RE CHINESE AUTHORITIES,

YOU WOULD RATHER HAVE

INSTABILITY IN AFRICA

THAN INSTABILITY AT HOME.

WE TAKE OUR LIFESTYLE

AS BEING A FIXED POIN AND THEN IF ANYTHING'S

GOING TO CHANGE,

IT'S GONNA BE SOMETHING ELSE,

PREFERABLY SOMETHING FAR AWAY.

IN THE UNITED STATES,

ALTHOUGH WE'VE DONE THE MOS TO PROMOTE GLOBAL WARMING,

WE'RE GONNA GET HIT BY I AFTER OTHER PEOPLE

ARE GONNA BE HIT BY IT.

IN ADVANCED SOCIETIES,

WE'RE VERY VULNERABLE

TO CONFUSING LIFESTYLE

WITH LIFE ITSELF.

[CROWD SHOUTING]

[REPORTER]

AS THE SITUATION IN SYRIA

HAS DETERIORATED SHARPLY,

JORDAN'S ZA'ATARI CAMP

FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES

IS NOW THE SIZE OF A CITY.

[BREEN]

AFTER LEAVING THE ARMY

I WORKED:

WITH REFUGEES ON THE GROUND

IN THE MIDDLE EAST,

IN SYRIA, JORDAN, LEBANON,

HAVING SEEN WHAT HAPPENS

WHEN MILLIONS OF PEOPLE

UPROOT AND LEAVE A PLACE,

THE IMPACT IT HAS ON THEM,

THE IMPACT IT HAS ON THE COUNTRY

THEY'VE TAKEN REFUGE IN,

THIS HAS MAJOR CONSEQUENCES.

THAT ON A MASSIVE SCALE WHERE

WHOLE NATIONS ARE ON THE MOVE

MAY BE WHAT WE'RE FACING

IN CERTAIN CLIMATE SCENARIOS.

[REPORTER]

THE WORLD IS IN THE GRIPS

OF THE WORST REFUGEE CRISIS

SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

THE VAST MAJORITY

OF THOSE REFUGEES

ARE HOSTED BY SOME OF

THE WORLD'S POOREST COUNTRIES.

[REPORTER]

THIS CAMP IS JUST OVERWHELMED

BY THE AMOUN OF PEOPLE COMING HERE.

[REPORTER]

FOR THE REFUGEES, IT'S BEEN

A LITANY OF KILLINGS,

KIDNAPPINGS, HUNGER,

AND ECONOMIC CHAOS.

[REPORTER]

THE U.N.'S REFUGEE AGENCY

ESTIMATES THE CURRENT TOTAL

AT ALMOST 60 MILLION.

SHOCKINGLY, HALF ARE CHILDREN.

[ANTONIO GUTERRES]

WE DON'T HAVE THE RESOURCES

TO SUPPORT ALL THE VICTIMS

OF CONFLICT AROUND THE WORLD.

WE ARE NO LONGER

ABLE TO PICK UP THE PIECES.

[FEMIA]

THE LOSS OF LIVELIHOOD

IS DEFINITELY:

A HUMAN SECURITY RISK.

IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS,

IT CAN BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL

SECURITY RISK.

[REPORTER]

A DESPERATE SEARCH FOR NEARLY

1,000 PEOPLE FEARED DEAD

AFTER A SHIP:

PACKED WITH MIGRANTS

CAPSIZED IN:

THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA.

IT IS THE LATEST IN A STRING

OF DEADLY MIGRANT BOAT SINKINGS.

[REPORTER]

REFUGEES FLEEING ISIS

AND OTHER MILITANTS

TRYING DESPERATELY

TO CROSS INTO EUROPE.

[REPORTER]

ITALY'S COAST GUARD AND NAVY

RESCUED 11,000 PEOPLE

FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN

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