Environment: Concerned citizen of the world arrives from Westeros
Game Of Thrones actor (and UNDP ambassador) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau talks exclusively to Muse about global warming, Thai environmental conservation and female empowerment
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Nikolaj Coster-Waldau looking at critically endangered birds at Khok Kham.
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The Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on television screens and the one in real life share a striking similarity — both are adamant in their wills to fight off the White Walkers.
Best known for his role as Ser Jaime Lannister in HBO’s Game Of Thrones, this latest season sees the golden knight taking a solid stance to battle against a gargantuan number of White Walkers — a race of ice-zombies steadily descending from the North and likely to ravage all of civilisation on the continent of Westeros. Their true motive is still unknown, but it’s never rang more clear and true that all warring kingdoms must inescapably band together to combat this lethal threat, regardless of their sides or loyalties. Spoiler ahead: Ser Jaime even abandons his queen twin when she reveals her impassive attitude toward taking part in the cause, this a momentous step considering their inseparable nature and incestuous relationship.
Out of the telly and in the real world, Coster-Waldau was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) last year. Clearly chosen for his extensive reach and sporty disposition (although the latter not a requisite for getting chosen as a UNDP ambassador), he joins the ranks of other high-profile ambassadors, among them Antonio Banderas, Michelle Yeoh and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. As part of his ambassadorship, Coster-Waldau was in Thailand last month to raise awareness of the causes he hopes to shine a spotlight on, namely poverty, gender equality and climate change.
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Coster-Waldau plants mangroves in Samut Sakhon.
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“I could have chosen more or less, but it just seemed like an obvious choice, with my connection to Greenland,” he explains of ambassadors given the freedom to choose causes they’d like to take a stand in for themselves. “My wife’s from Greenland and in Greenland, you actually see the effects of the temperature rising. You have this rather big block of ice and the ice caps that we really don’t want to melt.” The foreboding peril of climate change is a perfect metaphor for the threat of the White Walkers — a looming menace soon to come — that people even deny (cough, Trump) until it finally arrives and it’s all too late.
“The world is coming together and almost every country has signed the Paris Agreement, so I’m very optimistic about the future when it comes to fighting to take climate action because we are taking climate action,” says the Danish native. “The tough thing is that the goals are very ambitious. But we don’t have a choice — we have to reach them. It’s all about political will and it seems that right now we have it. My big fear is that we’ll have another big financial crash because last time, just before that in 2008, there was so much momentum behind this movement, and when the crash happened, it kind of just fell down the list of priorities.” He knocks on wood playfully, ensuring that he’s not just a robot reciting the kind of wonted monologues expected of ambassadors.
Coster-Waldau’s ardent charisma shines through the dark, dingy room as we sit on dusty plastic chairs and talk in Krua Cook Moo’s seafood restaurant at Samut Sakhon. Towering and large even without his armour on, he stands out in a sea of Thai UNDP staff and press that surround him during the field trip around Khok Kham, a district in the Samut Sakhon province internationally known for its salt pans. After his first day of touring Nang Loeng market and sustainable tourism in Bangkok, his second day’s trip involved more mud — be it birdwatching by the salt pans, getting a bit wet while planting mangrove trees and talking to the villagers about how global warming affects their sea-salt production.
wet while planting mangrove trees and talking to the villagers about how global warming affects their sea-salt production.
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