All language subtitles for Mediterranean A Sea For All Part 2 1080p EN SUB

One day, long ago
in the Mediterranean...

men entered a cave.

They painted pictures
of their lives on the walls.

Of the animals they hunted.

Of the natural world,
which was all they knew.

They left their mark...

and then they went away.

That was 27,000 years ago.

The cave was the Cosquer Cave,
deep inside a limestone cliff

near Marseille,
in the South of France.

Today, it is almost inaccessible.

Its entrance is
deep beneath the sea...

and the sea is the Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean is much more
than a stretch of water.

It is the sea that saw the rise
of a range of civilisations.

On its shores,
humanity made an immense journey.

The peoples of the Mediterranean
discovered agriculture.

They invented
trade, geometry, writing.

They founded empires
and imagined great cities.

They made it the home of philosophy
and of the first democracy.

And the home
of the Religions of the Book...

Judaism, Christianity and Islam,
now the faiths of half the world.

The Mediterranean is
home to 427 million people

and 24 countries.

And yet...

And yet today, this common legacy
has been eclipsed

by fratricidal wars and
bitter tensions between neighbours.

We hear only of religious conflict,
economic crisis, and division.

Has the universal heritage of
the Mediterranean been forgotten?

Do its peoples no longer remember

how integral the Mediterranean
has been to their own history?

Look at these children playing

in a Palestinian neighbourhood
of Beirut.

They are a reminder
that it was by the Mediterranean

that people learned to live
in a community.

Look at these flocks
grazing on the plains of Algeria.

They are a reminder of
what climate change may bring

to the rest of the world.

Look at Venice, and you may conclude
that the modern world

has lost its sense of
proportion and perspective.

In a word, take a broader view,

and see the Mediterranean
as the centre of a bigger picture.

That is the story we will tell
in this journey around the sea

that the Romans called
Mare Nostrum, 'our sea'...

a sea for all that we call
the Mediterranean.

In the end, the story
of one Mediterranean people

is the story of them all.

The Mediterranean peoples are
all a little Roman, or Greek.

They are Turkish, Arab or Egyptian
before they are French or Moroccan.

They are Jewish, too.
Christian and Muslim.

It is a heritage
that goes around the world.

But what remains of
the Mediterranean heritage today?

When we look at it, we see a family
divided by its inheritance.

Colonisation, wars, coups...

Its history is one conflict
after another.

And religion is the fault line.

Jews, Christians and Muslims
rend each other over a single god.

There is even a security barrier
in the holy city,

the city of prayer, Jerusalem.

And the barrier doesn't stop there.

730 kilometres long, it separates
Israel from the West Bank.

Officially, it's a security measure,

to protect the Israelis
from Palestinian terrorists.

But in reality, the wall separates
the Jews and the Muslims.

Each religion claims its martyrs.
Thousands of innocents.

Faith and suffering seem linked.

The Christian martyrs gave their
names to churches and monasteries,

such as those of Meteora
in Greece.

In Catholic Spain,
from Barcelona to Seville,

the ceremonies of Holy Week
commemorate

Christ's suffering on the Cross
and his Resurrection.

For seven days, 60 brotherhoods
devoted to the Passion of Christ

go in procession to the cathedral.

They wear penitents' hoods,
a legacy of the Middle Ages.

The faithful unite their sufferings
with those of Christ.

But why should one have to suffer
for one's religion?

From Christian Spain to Muslim
Morocco, it is barely 15 kilometres.

From each side,
you can see the opposite shore.

But the narrow strait
might as well be a gulf.

In Casablanca, on the Moroccan side,

thousands come to
the Hassan II Mosque

for the prayers
that mark the end of Ramadan.

It's a period of fasting
and strict ritual.

The fasting is
one of the five pillars of Islam.

Ultimately,
the peoples of the Mediterranean

pray to a single universal god,
but they pray in different worlds.

The southern shore
of the Mediterranean is Muslim,

mostly Sunni - believers
who adhere to the sunnah,

the teachings and deeds of the
Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime.

The northern shore is Christian,
mostly Catholic,

under the authority of the Pope.

In Greece
there are also the Orthodox,

heirs to the first, eastern churches.

The only point of contact between
the shores is in Istanbul, in Turkey.

Istanbul lies on the banks
of another strait, the Bosphorus.

Today it is the economic capital
of the Mediterranean.

The Bosphorus is a vital connection

between the Mediterranean
and the Black Sea.

Istanbul's bridges join Europe
with the East,

via roads to Kazakhstan, China
and the Persian Gulf.

Istanbul prospers
as a Mediterranean crossroads.

It has always been a centre
for every kind of exchange,

economic or religious.

In Antiquity, it was Byzantium
a Greek city, the capital of Thrace

and a hub of commerce
for the ancient world.

Byzantium became Constantinople,

the first Christian capital
of the Roman Empire

and the site
of the first great churches.

This is the greatest of them all -

Hagia Sophia,
the Church of Holy Wisdom,

later converted to a mosque,
and now a museum.

Istanbul, with its Grand Bazaar
and 4000 shops,

was the pulsing heart
of the Ottoman Empire,

which stretched from the Middle East

to the frontiers
of Austria and Hungary.

Istanbul... a legendary city
where all roads meet.

Today, Turkey is seeking an identity
between moderate Islam

and the secularism
laid down by Ataturk,

the father of modern Turkey, in 1929.

Istanbul is knocking at the door
of the European Union.

Its streets bear the names
of every European city

and the flags of its nations.

It is a cosmopolitan city
of 13 million people.

It seems that religious divisions
are not inevitable,

that it is possible

for the Mediterranean peoples
to live together.

Civilisation is
a little like the water

that snakes its way
toward the lagoon in Venice.

As it finds its way,
it modifies the world around it.

Once, the Mediterranean peoples
could build refined cities.

Today, they may barely recognise
what they are looking at.

One-third of the world's tourists
come to the Mediterranean...

for a brief stop and a quick photo.

The ships they come in
overpower the delicate city,

heir to Byzantium in Italy.

They come to the Mediterranean
as if on a pilgrimage,

but they are looking for something

that is no longer
truly Mediterranean.

On Croatia's Adriatic coast,

Dubrovnik was once
the Republic of Ragusa,

a rival to the pre-eminence
of Venice.

During the break-up of Yugoslavia,
the city was besieged and shelled.

Reconstruction, partly funded
by foreign investment,

turned Dubrovnik
into an outdoor museum.

In summer, tourists outnumber
residents by two to one.

The Mediterranean has become
a giant holiday camp.

But does it really have a choice?

Spain's holiday coasts
depend on tourist spending.

One-third of the world's tourists
means 250 million visitors

to be looked after
in the space of a few months.

Thousands of resorts, 700 yacht
harbours, miles of beaches...

Much of the Mediterranean
is like Spain's Costa Brava,

a transitory community
that needs water and sanitation

and adds to the risk of pollution.

Above all, tourism swells
a population that is already large.

Coastal areas
are running out of room.

The Mediterranean's limits
can be seen in Algeria.

The country is immense,
but much of it is uninhabitable.

As soon as you cross the Atlas
Mountains, the desert begins.

And no one can live in this desert,

except in the rare oases
such as Ghardaia.

These Berber cities,
founded by the Mozabites,

are the only islands of life
in an ocean of rock and sand

that is gradually taking over
the Mediterranean's southern shores.

In the Aures Mountains,
east of the Atlas Range,

water is scarce,
the land, arid.

The mountains, once a refuge for
early humans, are now inhospitable.

So, like most of the great cities
of the Mediterranean,

Algiers looks to the sea.

It was once
known as Algiers the White,

after the whitewashed buildings
of the Casbah and the seafront.

Today it deserves
its modern nickname - Big Algiers.

With six million people, it is the
largest city in northwestern Africa.

The population is young -
a third are under the age of 20.

The growth of Algiers
is a challenge for education,

health-care and employment...

for everyone seeking a future.

The Mediterranean world today
has 427 million people,

most of them squeezed
into its major cities.

It will soon be 500 million.

At that rate, the Mediterranean area

could have the highest population
density in the world within 30 years.

Towns and cities spring up
like mushrooms

all along the Mediterranean coast.

There are some 580 urban areas.

Alexandria, in Egypt,

has 30 kilometres of
apartment buildings facing the sea.

The city itself is a sea of concrete.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina
is the modern successor

to the Great Library of Alexandria,

the leading storehouse of knowledge
in the ancient world.

Symbolically, its facade faces the
sea, as its predecessor's also did.

Before it, lies the Mediterranean,

the source of knowledge and culture
then as now.

But when people face
the Mediterranean today,

they must be mindful.

The sea is home
to other species than man.

The Ebro Delta, in Spain,
is a nature reserve,

essential to the breeding
and migration of pink flamingos.

But the reserve is not only
for the benefit of the birds.

It is to help preserve
a priceless heritage...

the Mediterranean's biodiversity.

The Mediterranean's many islands
are also havens for wildlife.

Corsica is one where native species
are protected.

In the hills,
the pine forests are home

to more than 200 animal and plant
species that exist nowhere else.

Higher still are the pozzines
peat bogs dotted with waterholes.

There are some 25,000 plant species
around the Mediterranean.

This natural heritage is a form
of life insurance for humanity.

Any decline in that heritage

increases the constraints
on our own existence.

The areas in which humanity
can live are also fragile.

They are shrinking every year.

On average, 600,000 hectares of
forest go up in smoke every year,

like this burnt-out area
in the Peloponnese in Greece.

Man burns his own habitat,

either through negligence
or by design, for agriculture.

At the height of summer, after weeks
of hot, dry air, everything can burn.

Even olive groves.

The olive tree isn't only a plant
it's a symbol.

It can live for hundreds of years,

and it has intimate links
with human life in the Mediterranean.

It can withstand drought,
but not cold or heavy rain.

Above all, it loves the sun.

All this makes it a sentinel
for climate change.

Where the olive tree doesn't grow,

we're no longer
in the Mediterranean world.

It defines a natural frontier,

which is sometimes very different
from human borders.

And that frontier is shifting.

In recent decades, olive trees
have flourished in the north

and died of thirst in the south.

The olive branches
bear a message for humanity.

They signal profound climate change
that we can barely make out as yet.

An average increase
of more than two degrees

is forecast
for the Mediterranean region.

It would make this part of the world
the most exposed to global warming.

Those two little degrees would make
Cairo a sweltering megalopolis.

But above all, a climatic shift
would threaten Egyptian agriculture.

Already, Egypt has to import
12 million tonnes of wheat per year,

making it the world's
biggest wheat importer.

Wheat farming began here,

yet one Egyptian in four can only
survive thanks to foreign grain.

In Greece,
and elsewhere in southern Europe,

the cereal industry
is in a race against time.

Species have to be adapted
to a changing climate,

a shortage of rain
and depleted soils.

Water is not only
an agricultural issue.

It is also a challenge for states
that are running short.

60 per cent of the people
who are short of water

live in Mediterranean countries.

Among them are 20 million people

who no longer have ready access
to safe drinking water.

Much of Israel's water supply is
desalinated from the Mediterranean.

Even then it sometimes
has to import water

and it is one of
the better-off countries

in a region
of chronic water shortages.

The spectre of thirst
is on the horizon.

Tripoli, the capital of Libya,
is also importing water.

The city owes its name to the ancient
Roman province of Regio Tripolitana,

or 'region of three cities'.

Today, it has two million people
of Arab and Berber descent.

Libya is still emerging
from 40 years of dictatorship

under Muammar Gaddafi,

and the years of civil war
that followed.

Despite its divisions, the country
is trying to define its future.

Tripoli's main market
has been relocated.

Symbolically,
it now occupies the site

of Gaddafi's former headquarters.

You can find anything here,
but little that comes from Libya.

The wheat is imported from Europe,
the meat from the Emirates,

the vegetables from Tunisia...

Most of Libya's own land
is too arid for agriculture.

Tripoli is surrounded
by the vast Libyan desert,

as big as France, Spain
and Italy combined.

It is dry as far
as the eye can see...

but beneath the sand,
there is oil.

Libya's underground oil reserves

are the biggest so far recorded
in Africa.

It's easy to extract
and provides high-quality crude.

A gift from another geological era,

the oil supports refineries and
terminals in the middle of nowhere,

as at Ra's al-Unuf
in the Gulf of Sidra.

The heat is so intense

that the installations must be
constantly protected from the sun.

There is also something else
beneath the sand...

water.

For decades,
the Libyans have dug to find it.

They've drilled as deep
as 500 metres, dug 1300 wells,

and laid 4000 kilometres
of buried pipelines.

It's the biggest artificial river
in history.

The biggest storage basin contains
24 million cubic metres of water,

barely enough for three days'
consumption

without counting evaporation,
which is colossal.

The water is fossil water,

accumulated beneath the desert sands
drop by drop

with each rare fall of rain,
since the dawn of time.

It may take only a few years
to exhaust the fossil aquifer...

but people are thirsty.

And so the great Libyan desert
is being drained to the last drop.

What will be left?

The situation is critical.

Over the next decade,

water requirements on the eastern and
southern shores of the Mediterranean

will increase four times over.

Four times more water,
and it's already scarce.

Will Europe's cities become
ghost towns, like those of Libya?

These ghost towns came from attempts
to colonise the desert.

Hundreds, even thousands
of buildings

whole towns sprang up from the sand.

The site of New Benghazi alone
employed 14,000 workers,

all of them Chinese.

These are the world's
biggest ghost towns.

The work was abandoned
when the dictatorship fell.

But the towns were condemned
in any case

through a simple lack of water.

Roads across deserts
are often straight.

There is nothing to block their way.

Perhaps they mirror the intrusion of
civilisation into the natural world.

Nothing diverts them,
nothing really stops them.

Not even the Mediterranean,

as it speaks to its peoples
about the future,

when it will be too hot,

when water and resources
will be in short supply.

The Mediterranean, the mother
to whom no one listens.

Libya's desert roads
all lead to one destination -

the Mediterranean.

They are now emigration routes
from sub-Saharan Africa.

Every year, tens of thousands flee
thirst, famine, war and poverty...

looking for a future
across the Mediterranean.

In their eyes, Mare Nostrum
is still a giant crossroads

where life can take a new direction.

These men, these women, these
children, often come with nothing.

Nothing except hope
the hope of the Mediterranean.

Will they be granted a foothold
in this same Mediterranean world

that welcomed the first early humans?

Nothing is more uncertain.

27,000 years after the first men
entered the Cosquer Cave,

the Mediterranean has changed

and humanity
has changed even more.

In pre-history, only a handful of
people lived in this whole region.

Today, Marseille alone has
more than two million people.

It is crowded, swarming, bustling.

The city is Jewish and Christian
and also largely Muslim.

Ever since its founding, Marseille
has been a city of immigrants -

Greeks, Turks, Italians, Armenians,
Spaniards, Algerians.

These immigrants share
a common history and a common home.

In Marseille, as in Barcelona,
Algiers, Naples,

Athens, Tunis, Istanbul,
Beirut or Cairo,

this mixing of peoples and cultures
has gone on for thousands of years.

It was in the Mediterranean

that human beings first learned
how to live together.

If we take a broader view,

the Mediterranean experience
seems to apply more and more

to the rest of the world
to the whole world,

already subject to climate change
and a shortage of resources.

A world with an uncertain future,

where tensions rise
and frontiers rise with them.

Where more than ever we need to learn
how to live together.

But what if, after all,

the Mediterranean has been telling us
a story for tomorrow all along?