At its 585th meeting on March 30 2016, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union held an open session on Climate Change: State fragility, peace and security in Africa.
The debate reflected the collective acknowledgement that climate change, peace and security in Africa are inextricably linked, stressing the need for all AU Member States to further build national resilience capacities.
The Council also acknowledged that climate change in Africa, especially in pastoral communities, is a potential trigger of inter-communal violence, therefore calling on Member States to share international expertise and coordinate international efforts in mitigating the impacts of climate change. This resonates with the findings and recommendations of last year’s New Climate for Peace report that stressed the importance of increasing local resilience and coordinating efforts to jointly reduce climate-fragility risks.
Particularly with regard to early warning and conflict prevention efforts, the Council stressed the importance of mainstreaming climate change into all of the AU Commission’s activities. It requested the AU Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) to intensify its cooperation with early warning centres of the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (RECs/RMs) in order to build capacity of Member States in this regard.
Concluding the debate, the Council agreed to hold an annual open session on climate change.
Please consult our Factbook for further information on conflicts involving pastoral communities of Sub-Saharan Africa.
We are entering the last days of the BCSC 2020, with insightful discussions on a number of climate security challenges still to come, as well as the launch of our “21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy Is Climate Policy” essay series. Building on the high-level political Part I of BCSC 2020 back in July, this second part aims to bring together the field’s various actors in the realm of climate, development and security policy in one digital space to meet the strategic goals of sharing good practice on what works on the ground and help inform policy processes.
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