A new synthesis report for policymakers provides an overview of the growing research on the links between climate change, security and peace.
Traditional security actors and institutions facing complex socio-ecological dynamics stand on the brink of change. How do the 15 current UN Security Council member states approach the connections between climate change and security? In the new IFSH Policy Brief, Dr. Judith Nora Hardt presents the research results of the project "Climate Change and Security in the UN Security Council" (CLISEC UNSC) on this question.
Climate change is a defining threat to peace and security in the 21st century – its impacts are felt by everyone, but not equally. Gender norms and power dynamics shape how women and men of different backgrounds experience or contribute to insecurity in a changing climate.
This infographic shows the countries that receive funding from the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) and their vulnerability score to climate change. In countries affected by conflict and fragility, climated-related risks can create negative feedback loops. Climate change increases conflict risks and makes peacebuilding more challenging, and the resulting fragility and conflict further increases the vulnerability of societies to climate change.
As water is the most disruptive element in the ongoing climate crisis, how land is managed plays a major role in taming this disruption. This publication shows that avoiding, reducing and reversing land degradation can have positive long-term gains in water security.
What is needed to fully tackle the complex challenges around the environmental dimensions of armed conflicts? Civil society, affected states and experts have struggled with this essential question for decades.
The 2020 edition of the World Water Development Report (WWDR 2020) entitled ‘Water and Climate Change’ aims at helping the water community to tackle the challenges of climate change and informing the climate change community about the opportunities that improved water management offers in terms of adaptation and mitigation.
Today’s violent conflicts are proving deadlier and more difficult to resolve than ever before. In addition, there is a growing recognition of the role of climate change in exacerbating conflict risks. In light of these, a new report by UNU-CPR aims to support the UN and its partners in developing climate-sensitive conflict prevention approaches.

A growing body of research on the links between climate change, fragility and conflict shows that climate change will make peacebuilding more urgent and complex. Climate-sensitive peacebuilding has the potential to significantly contribute to addressing climate-fragility risks. The Peacebuilding Fund and the Peacebuilding Commission have both started to address the links between climate change, fragility and conflict and these experiences can be used to strengthen their engagement on the topic.