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Conflicts between and amongst communities, and armed groups, are increasingly being affected by a changing climate, environmental degradation, food security, and the struggle to access, manage and use a finite, shifting and often diminishing pool of natural resources. The way communities and government authorities manage land, water, and food systems is now more than ever a pivotal factor in how conflict and peace manifest themselves, especially at the local level. Over recent decades, competition for land, water, and food has increased – often leading to an uptick in intercommunal fighting and displacement. While the complex ways in which environmental factors, climatic variables and conflict dynamics interact so far fail to exhibit demonstrable causal links, climate change is a recognised threat multiplier.
Those least able to cope with climate crisis impacts are the most affected, and are often in protracted crisis and complex emergency settings. The links between climate change and conflict are increasingly clear in a variety of contexts across the globe - from the Sahel to Central America. For example, countries across the Lake Chad Basin, including Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, where attacks by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have destabilized the region, have seen a confluence with climate change disruption to livelihoods, and the forced displacement of civilian populations. Together, these factors have displaced 3 million people and left 11 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Although humanitarian, development and peace actors increasingly recognise the links between climate change, peace and security as a major concern, and linked to an increased humanitarian burden, responses and understanding remain fragmented and siloed. Significant gaps also persist between global, regional, national and local understanding of, and endeavours to address this intersection.
This session will explore practical examples of emergency and resilience action in the Sahel and Horn of Africa, including contributions to local peace and engagement with peacekeeping operations, and discuss how these experiences - and related research - can link with and inform humanitarian action and upstream policy discussions. The aim is to have a robust discussion framed by the Humanitarian, Development, Peace Nexus approach, engaging actors representing all three communities, to identify how we can better work together and leverage existing experiences and research.

Speakers

●        CGIAR - Grazia Pacillo (Co-Lead CGIAR Climate Security FOCUS)

●        FAO - Julius Jackson (Lead, Conflict and Peace Unit)

●        IOM - Nicholas Bishop (DRR Global Specialist, IOM)

●        SIPRI - Kheira Tarif (Researcher, Climate Change and Risk Programme)

●        Swiss FDFA - Caroline Nanzer (Programme Manager, Niamey, Niger)

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This event is part of the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) 2023 (17-28 April 2023)