Climate Crisis and Peacebuilding
Understanding the links between the climate crisis and conflict is crucial for building sustainable peace. The effects of climate change and environmental degradation – such as resource scarcity, displacement of people, and more frequent natural disasters – can exacerbate existing societal tensions and/or create new sources of conflict, particularly in vulnerable regions. As a consequence, many of the most climate-affected countries worldwide are also experiencing violent conflict. At the same time, conflicts and militarised responses to conflict often have devastating impacts on the climate and natural environment.
EPLO recognises the connections between the climate crisis, environmental protection, and peacebuilding, emphasising that effective peacebuilding efforts must account for climatic and environmental factors. EPLO is working to integrate climate-sensitivity approaches into EU policies and strategies on peacebuilding to more effectively address the root causes of conflict and to tackle these intertwined challenges holistically.
To this end, EPLO:
- Promotes dialogue between the environmental, climate protection, and peacebuilding fields.
- Works to encourage the EU to adequately address the linkages between the climate crisis, peace and conflict in its peacebuilding and climate crisis mitigation/adaptation policies and practices. This includes 1) ensuring that EU climate action is conflict- and gender-sensitive and adequately incorporates principles of conflict prevention and peacebuilding, and 2) promoting climate sensitivity in EU peacebuilding efforts.
- Advocates for the EU to develop its institutional capacities for a more integrated approach to these two problems.
- Advocates for the EU to provide adequate climate finance to fragile and conflict-affected countries and communities.
- Calls for peacebuilding to be a core component of the EU’s green transition strategies.
- Advocates for climate-sensitive conflict analysis in EU foreign policy.
- Works to strengthen the informing of EU climate actions by conflict analysis, to avoid unintended, negative consequences for peace as a result of such actions.
- Advocates for the EU to enhance the way it addresses the linkages between water resources and peace, conflict and climate dynamics, particularly in relation to mediation and issues of governance.
EPLO also regularly engages in advocacy and dialogue with EU policymakers and member states to strengthen the implementation of the Joint Communication on the Climate-Security Nexus, the Concept for an Integrated Approach on Climate Change and Security and the Climate Change and Defence Roadmap. EPLO’s initiatives include organising discussions and the publication of reports that explore the intersections of climate and environmental dynamics, the EU’s green transition efforts and peacebuilding.
Please consult EPLO’s activities, publications, and blog posts on the climate crisis and peacebuilding to learn more.
For more information about EPLO’s work in this area and the Climate Crisis & Peacebuilding Working Group, please contact Marie Lena Groenewald.