A Humanitarian Exploration of Climate Security and Environmental Peacebuilding

Date & Time
Jun 19, 2026 | 11.00 - 12.30

Participants
Juliane Schillinger, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (Netherlands)
Natasha Westheimer, Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations (United States)

Climate security research and high-level discussions have increasingly acknowledged the importance of local dynamics in the complex web of interactions between environment, climate, conflict and peace. Humanitarians interact with and often address these local dynamics firsthand in their daily work with conflict- and disaster-affected communities. As adaptation is increasingly centered as a tool to support communities affected by both conflict and climate risks, the ways in which adaptation interacts with issues of climate security and peacebuilding are becoming more relevant to humanitarian action. This roundtable will convene a range of humanitarian actors that have, over the course of the past years, increasingly looked towards climate security as a humanitarian topic of interest, while also navigating complexities linked to humanitarian mandates and principles. Building on recent research by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the diversity of experiences from over 480 Signatories of the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations, we will explore current perspectives on climate security and environmental peacebuilding in the humanitarian sector – the relevance of climate security dynamics for humanitarian action, and the role humanitarians play in contributing to local peacebuilding, addressing the economic, social, inter-communal and environmental precarities that undermine climate adaptation and social cohesion. The discussion will also reflect on how humanitarian frontline perspectives can more strategically help shape discourse on climate security and environmental peacebuilding, and how, in turn, the humanitarian sector can strengthen collaboration with other actors engaged in building resilience, peace, and (human) security. ----- The roundtable is jointly convened by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the Secretariat of the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations. While the exact roundtable composition will depend on the availability of funding to attend the conference next year, the following organizations and persons are interested to engage, based on preliminary conversations: - Canadian Red Cross (Canada) (presence in Ottawa and very likely to attend) - Humanity and Inclusion (France / global) - Oxfam (UK / global) - Zamzam (Somalia) (presence in Ottawa and very likely to attend) - Peter Schwartzstein (Greece) We are planning to keep at least one chair empty, for audience members to actively join the conversation.