The Climate, Security & Peace Nexus: A Perspective and Evidence from Kenya

May 3, 2022 | Elvin Nyukuri
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Why is climate change a critical factor for peacebuilding? How are the fields of climate change, conflict prevention and peacebuilding interlinked? As shown in the example of Kenya, peacebuilding is necessary for communities to cope with the effects of climate change, including resource and land conflicts, and to prevent the negative synergy between climate change and conflict from worsening.

The relationship between climate change and security has been discussed globally and at national level- for example in Kenya- with different pathways being suggested to address the security dimension. The recent IPCC report (AR 6) observes that indirect impacts of climate change on people’s livelihoods increase the risk of conflict. The report paints a grim picture of already irreversible climate threats underscoring the importance of climate adaptation and mitigation to reduce such risks that could lead to conflicts. One of the greatest mistakes when dealing with a complex issue such as climate change, security and conflict and other emerging stresses is to leave out the dimension of peace and the interlinkages of all these dimensions. Resources have been wasted by taking such an exclusive pathway as well as producing policies that are counter-productive for building and sustaining peace. This leads to an absence of successful examples on how to resolve climate induced insecurities and design effective climate security policy mechanisms together with peacebuilding and policy options in Kenya, the Horn of Africa region and the wider continent. But all is not lost, the 2019 Global Peace Index is beginning to factor in climate change into its analysis, contributing to the ongoing debate over the link between climatic changes and conflict risks and draw on respective peacebuilding needs.