The 2015 report “A New Climate for Peace”, commissioned by G7 foreign ministries, identified 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, the United Nations Environment Programme (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 (2017-2022) 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. UNEP worked with Nepal both at the local and national levels.
At the local level, the EU-UNEP partnership on Climate Change and Security worked directly with communities in the Karnali River Basin, Nepal to pilot test integrated climate change adaptation and peacebuilding approaches. The overall goal was to improve understanding of climate change risks in the country and test integrated approaches to programming that address the underlying drivers of insecurity and enhance resilience to climate change. The project had three key outcomes:
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Promoted sustainable and climate-resilient livelihood options for vulnerable and marginalised groups;
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Strengthened local governance capacities for natural resource management and dispute resolution; and
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Enhanced relationships, social cohesion, and trust between communities.
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 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 the country, the project contributed to building both the evidence base and capacity to address climate-related security risks through national policymaking and planning processes.
