The Case for Integrating Sustaining Peace into an Expanded Climate, Peace and Security Concept

Nov 23, 2022 | Cedric de Coning and Hafsa M. Maalim
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One of the key themes that emerged from the just concluded COP27 is the recognition that climate change does not only exacerbate the causes and effects of conflict, but also impacts the capacity of communities and institutions (the African Union or the United Nations, for example) to help make, keep, and build peace in specific contexts. On the one hand, climate change-related effects, such as droughts and floods, undermine the resilience of communities and institutions in places like Iraq and Somalia to maintain and consolidate peace. On the other, conflict-related effects, like displacement or the disruption of livelihood practices, disrupt the capacity of communities and institutions to adapt to climate change in places like Afghanistan or Mali. At the same time, cooperation to manage a shared resource or to cope with natural disasters can also generate peace dividends by strengthening social cohesion and societal resilience. This means that actions to address the effects of climate challenges can also contribute to sustaining peace; vice versa, peacebuilding initiatives can, at times, also strengthen the capacity of communities to adapt to climate change.