Addressing the Climate Conflict Nexus: Evidence, Insights, and Future Directions
Publisher: Mercy Corps
Author(s): Emma Whitaker, Beza Tesfaye, and Eliot Levine
Date: 2021
Topics: Climate Change, Conflict Causes, Conflict Prevention, Land, Livelihoods, Programming
Countries: Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Mali, Uganda
Increasingly, researchers, implementers, and policymakers recognize the potential of climate change exacerbating and increasing conflict, while acknowledging that this phenomenon is complex and context specific. This challenge is particularly pronounced in fragile states, which are simultaneously at risk of greater climate impacts and unable to adapt or mitigate them, compounding existing risk factors for instability and violent conflict. Though there is growing awareness of the climate-conflict nexus and its challenges, how to respond is less clear. This paper draws on research and Mercy Corps’ broad and diverse experiences working at the nexus of climate change and conflict, and provides knowledge and evidence-based insights for driving this work forward.