Public Lecture on Climate Change and Security Held at OSCE Academy

On 15 April 2025, the OSCE Academy in Bishkek hosted a public lecture by Dr. Alan Collins, Professor at Swansea University, UK, titled “Why climate change is more than a threat to human civilisation”. The lecture was opened by Dr. Anja Mihr, Academic Director of the MA in Human Rights and Sustainability Programme. Dr. Collins talked about the reedition of his book, Contemporary Security Studies, including a new chapter about Post-human security. It was the occasion to discuss various notions such as ecological security, anthropocene, and the participants could debate about the relevance of several concepts such as climate security discourses.

Professor Collins emphasized the need to move beyond human-centered approaches by introducing the concepts of ecological and non-human security. He also discussed that climate change was more than a threat because it requires us to think differently about security. If we don’t do this, pursuing “security” will kill humanity. Professor Collins offered a definition of ecological security that in the specific context of climate change, may ultimately be defined as the resilience of ecosystems.

The lecture was attended by students and members of the public, and concluded with an engaging Q&A session.

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