Climate change and security risks

In recent years, the linkages between climate change and security have gained significant attention.

As climate change accelerates, its impacts exacerbate existing social, economic, and environmental challenges in many contexts, which can contribute to insecurity at local levels, or even internationally. Security concerns linked to climate change include impacts on food, water and energy supplies, increased competition over natural resources, loss of livelihoods, climate-related disasters, and forced migration and displacement.

Despite growing recognition of the interlinkages between climate change, peace and security, few examples of integrated programmatic approaches that address specific risks at the intersection of climate change and insecurity exist. Conflict and crisis affected contexts are more susceptible to being overwhelmed by climate change, but too often peacebuilding and stabilisation efforts often do not consider climate-related impacts or environmental hazards. At the same time, insecurity hinders climate change adaptation efforts, leaving already vulnerable communities even poorer and less resilient to interlinked climate and security crises, but climate change adaptation initiatives often fail to fully integrate peacebuilding or conflict prevention objectives.

Background

UNEP’s initial work on climate change and security began when it was requested by Jan Egeland, the UN Special Envoy for Climate Change, to conduct an analysis of climate change and security risks in the Sahel Region. The UN Special Envoy visited the region in 2008 and concluded it was “ground zero” for climate change risks due to its extreme climatic conditions and highly vulnerable population.

In 2009, UNEP partnered with IOM, OCHA, UNU, and CILSS to investigate the implications of climate change for livelihoods, conflict and migration across the Sahel region. The resulting report “Livelihood Security: Climate Change, Migration and Conflict in the Sahel” (2011) identifies 19 hotspots where climatic changes have been most severe over the past 20 years. It concludes that climate change effects on resource availability have already led to migration, and increased competition over scarce resources in some of the hotspots.

As a follow-up to this initial work, UNEP was requested in 2009 by the UN Secretary General to provide technical inputs to the drafting of the report to the General Assembly entitled “Climate Change and its Possible Security Implications” (A/64/350).

UNEP’s Executive Director was invited to address the Security Council in 2011, a thematic debated which resulted in the Security Council Presidential Statement S/PRST/2011/15 on climate change. In the statement, the council requested the Secretary General to report on the possible security implications of climate change when such issues are drivers of conflict, represent a challenge to the implementation of Council mandates or endanger the process of consolidation of peace.

The next major international milestone was the report “A New Climate for Peace,” commissioned by G7 foreign ministries, was launched in New York in June 2015. Based in part on substantive contributions by UNEP, the report identifies seven key compound climate and fragility risks that should form the basis for united action. These include local resource competition, livelihood insecurity and migration, volatile food prices and provision, transboundary water management, and unintended effects of climate change policies.

As a direct follow-up to the G7 report, UNEP established a partnership with the EU in 2017, with the aim of collaborating to strengthen the capacity of countries and international partners to identify environment and climate-related security risks at global, national and community levels, and to programme suitable risk reduction and response measures. The resulting five-year project was among the first of its kind to integrate climate change adaptation and peacebuilding objectives into analysis, planning and resilience-building initiatives in conflict-affected contexts. The project also made important contributions towards strengthening the capacity of key actors at international and field levels to identify and address climate-related security risks.

Climate, Peace and Security in Practice

At the local level, UNEP worked directly with communities in North Darfur, Sudan and the Karnali River Basin, Nepal to pilot test integrated climate change adaptation and peacebuilding approaches. The project combined climate change adaptation activities – such as the introduction of climate-smart agricultural techniques and water conservation methods, livelihood diversification and the development of sustainable water infrastructure – with inclusive approaches to dialogue, conflict resolution, and natural resource governance with the aim of improving enhancing resilience to linked climate change, peace, and security risks. In both contexts, the project contributed to enhancing intra- and inter-communal trust and relationships and strengthened the capacity of local communities to resolve conflicts related to natural resources. Key to building resilience, the project also strengthened economic prospects of vulnerable groups through investments in climate-smart livelihood options.

At the national level, UNEP contributed to enhancing preparedness for identifying, preventing and responding to climate-related security risks. National assessments of climate-related security risks produced through the project for Nepal and Sudan provide guidance on how to understand, prevent or respond to security risks linked to climate or environmental change. Together with a series of training initiatives on understanding and planning for the security implications of climate change delivered to national stakeholders in both countries, the project contributed to building both the evidence base and capacity to address climate-related security risks through national policymaking and planning processes.

At the global level, the partnership played an important role in strengthening system-wide capacity to identify, assess and address climate-related security risks. To meet the growing demand for training and expertise, the project developed a Massive Online Open Course on designing and implementing inclusive approaches to addressing climate-related security risks, integrating the project’s guidance and tools into a self-paced, online course that is the first of its kind globally. Drawing heavily on lessons learned and good practices identified through the project – and featuring elements from the pilot projects through interactive case studies – the course provides an introduction to climate, peace, and security linkages using an intersectional lens, as well as guidance on conducting integrated analysis and designing programmes to address these multifaceted challenges.

To further enhance system-wide capacity for integrated risk analysis, UNEP also developed the Strata data platform to identify, map and monitor environmental and climate stresses potentially driving threats to peace and security. Strata offers the best available analytics and visualisations on where and how environment and climate stresses are converging with other factors of risk over space and time, to help field-based partners – national and regional bodies, political and peacekeeping missions, UN Resident Coordinators, UN country teams, EU Delegations and other stakeholders – to prioritise practical risk mitigation and resilience-building measures. A prototype of Strata focused on Somalia was launched in February 2022 to support the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia and the UN Country Team, as well as environmental and peacebuilding civil society organisations in the country.

Finally, UNEP has made significant contributions to strengthening the evidence base on the gender dimensions of climate change and security, recognizing that climate-related security risks do not impact everyone equally. In June 2020, UNEP together with UN Women, UNDP, and DPPA launched the policy report Gender, Climate and Security: Sustaining Inclusive Peace on the Frontlines of Climate Change, illustrating the differentiated impacts and opportunities associated with climate-related security risks in unique contexts across the globe. The report helped to put gender on the agenda in policy discussions related to climate change and security on the one hand, and better integrate climate and environmental considerations into the Women, Peace and Security agenda on the other. At the local level, UNEP and partners tested a new approach to programming through the Joint Programme for Women, Natural Resources, Climate and Peace, demonstrating that not only is gender equality integral for building resilience in climate and conflict-affected contexts, but also that climate change adaptation approaches can contribute to strengthening women’s contributions to peace.

As the UN scales up global action to build resilience to climate-security challenges, the results and lessons learned from these initiatives provide guidance, practical tools and concrete examples to support future planning and increased programming in different regions of the world.

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