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Addressing Climate-Fragility Risks

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This climate-fragility risks guidance note seeks to inform the development and implementation of strategies, policies, or projects that seek to build resilience by linking climate change adaptation, peacebuilding, and sustainable livelihoods. It recommends a two-step approach to build resilience to climate-fragility risks:

  • Assess the links and interactions between climate change, fragility, and conflict, and identify climate-fragility risks; and,

  • Translate assessments into appropriate responses that link peacebuilding, climate change adaptation, and development measures.

The approach can be applied to a range of policies, programmes, and projects, and at different scales. It is intended for two main uses:

  • To inform strategy and policy development; and,

  • To develop and implement a project or programme.

This note can also be used to mainstream climate-fragility considerations into existing projects and programmes that want to move beyond being “conflict sensitive” and instead proactively build peace. This guidance note will help you to:

  • Better understand fragility, conflict, and climate risks; the interlinkages between them; and the challenges and opportunities they present.

  • Draw on existing best practices from peacebuilding and climate change adaptation to design and operate policies and programmes.

  • Maximise the positive contributions of your policies or programmes to climate resilience and peacebuilding.

  • Minimise the unintended negative consequences of your policies or programmes on climate resilience and peacebuilding.

Throughout the note, checklists and guiding questions help readers put these concepts and approaches into action. In addition, a separate monitoring and evaluation (M&E) note provides guidance for measuring the effectiveness of these efforts; and a toolbox lists further reading and additional tools.

About the project

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Union (EU) are joining forces to assist crisis-affected countries tackle the destabilizing effects of climate change. The project is designed as a response to the recommendations of the ‘A New Climate For Peace: Taking Action on Climate Fragility Risks’ report (2015) commissioned by members of the Group of 7. It is one of the first initiatives to take concrete action on climate-security risks at country and community levels.

The four-year project (2017–2021) is financed by the EU’s Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP). The project is developing a suite of tools for the global, national and local level, as well as piloting practical measures building resilience to climate-fragility risks. The project is partnering with adelphi, one of the leading think tanks on climate security.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the European Union.

For more information, visit the Climate Change and Security project page.