Climate Change & Security
Humanity faces major challenges, be it war, poverty or disease. The special characteristic of climate change is that, by making ecological and economic systems more fragile, it makes all these problems harder to solve. For this reason, climate change has been described as a ‘threat multiplier’.
There are numerous ways that climate change can worsen factors contributing to violent conflict. It contributes to displacement and food insecurity, both of which can drive conflict as groups fight over ever-dwindling resources. The connection between climate change and security has been emphasized by the UN Security Council, the European Union, the G7, the Pacific Islands Forum and the African Union.
Through its Climate Change & Security partnership with the European Union, UN Environment have partnered with adelphi, an independent think-tank with extensive expertise in climate change and security issues, and developed an Integrated Climate-Fragility Risk Assessment tool that links peacebuilding and climate change adaptation. This tool aims to ensure that responses to climate change fully account for any knock-on consequences in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, and that peacebuilding efforts are climate-responsive. In many cases, there’s an enormous potential for climate adaptation initiatives to act as an entry-point for dialogue and reconciliation.
Based on this tool, UN Environment held a training event on Conflict Analysis and Sensitivity to improve the capacity of adaptation experts and project managers to grapple with the interlinking relationship between climate change and conflict. The two-day training session was held at the UN Environments Headquarters in Nairobi on 15–16 November and was attended by experts from around the world, including Climate Change and Security project partners from Nepal and Sudan, UN Environment experts working on climate change adaptation and mitigation projects, GEF task and portfolio managers, as well as members from the quality assurance team (QAS).
Translating Assessments Into Policies, Strategies and Action
The training on the tool involved a two-step process. First, the participants were trained on how to assess the links and interactions between climate change, fragility and conflict, as well as identifying any climate-fragility risks relevant to their project or organization. The second step was for participants to translate assessments into appropriate responses that link peacebuilding, adaptation and development measures. This two-step process enables the user to inform strategies and develop projects that go beyond “conflict-sensitive” and proactively build peace.
Participants were trained in identifying the complex interactions between different risk factors and drivers by incorporating data on climate change and projected impacts. Adaptation experts were also asked to outline the drivers of conflict and fragility, before mapping the critical actors to identify the roles that specific groups play in the conflict. A checklist was provided to enable participants to conduct a ‘Rapid Climate-Fragility Risk Assessment.’
In order to assess the existing resilience to the identified climate-fragility risks, participants were assigned case studies on the Lake Chad Basin region and Sudan and asked to discuss the main strengths and weaknesses of varying approaches while also assessing how the project addresses resilience along five dimensions – social, financial, human, natural and physical. The training workshop explored all dimensions and provided guiding questions and checklists for each one.
The second part of the training helped participants understand how to translate assessments into action and identify measures that build resilience to climate change that also contribute to peacebuilding and avoid aggravating existing conflict. Such interventions should have measurable benefits for climate adaptation, peacebuilding and development.
The section on translating assessments into action was divided into three parts.
1) The Climate Security Challenge
Participants were given case studies and asked to identify entry points for policies and strategies, which required an understanding of the institutional landscape followed by building linkages and relationships.
2) Assessing Climate Fragility Risks
Once entry points were identified, resilience-building interventions were discussed. Adaptation practitioners grouped the challenges and strengths identified in Step 1 into thematic clusters. Within these clusters they identified the challenges and strengths that their organization or project is most likely to influence, taking into account their mandate, resources and access. The next step was to check the robustness of the interventions proposed to ensure they are best able to address future change.
3) Translating assessments into programming and practice
The last step involved discussions and exercises on measuring results and impacts with a special focus on climate change adaptation and peacebuilding. Trainers offered guidance on how to set baselines while participants provided examples of indicators they would use for the scenarios they were assigned.
The training wrapped up with presentations from Practical Action Nepal and Sudan representatives on the many challenges that their respective countries are facing, including governance, climate change, conflict and poverty, and what interventions they are working on to address these challenges in an integrated manner.
The training was attended by over 20 multi-disciplinary experts from UN agencies, NGOs and regional bodies and will improve the understanding of the interlinkages between adaptation, sustainable development and peacebuilding and the “threat multiplier” nature of climate change. Better understanding of these interlinkages will help in ensuring that i) existing climate change/resilience/peacebuilding policies and interventions do not inadvertently exacerbate climate-fragility risks, and ii) future policies and interventions on climate change/resilience/peacebuilding can better address climate-fragility risks and promote peaceful and sustainable development.
