How climate change redraws peace and security
“We have had the unique opportunity to support Norway during its period as an elected member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) from 2021 to 2022 on the topic of Climate, Peace and Security,” says NUPI Research Professor Cedric de Coning.
The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) have generated analysis on climate, peace and security in specific countries and regions on the UNSC agenda, with Cedric de Coning managing the NUPI team.
“I say ‘unique’ because it is not often that researchers, diplomats and UN mediators and peacekeepers get the opportunity to work so closely together, and to make such direct links between research, policy, and practice,” he continues.
Pathways to policy
Climate change is having alarming effects on societies and ecosystems. There is also growing evidence of its impacts on peace and conflict, which is reflected in discussions in the United Nations Security Council.
NUPI and SIPRI have analysed how climate change have impacted peace and security in countries and regions, such as:
- DR Congo fact sheet
- Somalia fact sheet
- Somalia fact sheet (updated version 2022)
- Somalia fact sheet (updated version 2023)
- Mali fact sheet
- Sahel fact sheet
- Afghanistan fact sheet
- Afghanistan fact sheet (updated version)
- South Sudan fact sheet (updated version)
- Iraq fact sheet
- Iraq fact sheet (updated version)
- Ethiopia fact sheet
- Sudan fact sheet
- Colombia fact sheet
- Central African Republic fact sheet
- Yemen fact sheet
The NUPI and SIPRI researchers explored four interrelated pathways to analyse the relationship between climate change, peace, and security:
- Livelihood deterioration
- Migration and mobility
- Military and armed actors
- Political and economic exploitation and mismanagement
The analyses are published as policy relevant fact sheets based on reviews of academic literature and relevant reports, and consultations with government ministries, UN missions and agencies, and country/regional experts.
Sketching solutions
In addition, the NUPI and SIPRI researchers have made specific recommendations for how the Security Council can direct UN missions to address the complex challenges arising from climate change:
- Replicate the specialised advisor role in more countries: To support information-sharing, mainstreaming and coordination across the United Nations system, the UN Security Council should replicate and adequately resource positions for specialised advisors on climate, environment and security in UN missions that are vulnerable to climate change.
- Develop regional climate security hubs: The UN Security Council should enable better information-sharing on climate-related security risks, and coordination of policies and programmes in transboundary areas, through the development of regional climate security hubs.
- Ensure policies are coherent: To ensure longer-term sustainability, UN peacekeeping and special political missions can play a key role in connecting UN policy and programming to national political processes. National adaptation plans should be used to advance national-level analyses and responses to climate change, peace, and security.
- Support just climate action: UN responses to climate-related security risks should be designed to support just climate change and conflict transitions, in connection with the development of national policies for equitable and climate-resilient management of the environment, agriculture, land and water.
Innovative research dissemination
When Norway’s term on the UN Security Council ended, the researchers reflected on the key insights gained from this experience. They decided to share the insights as a policy brief, but also in a more innovative way: in the form of a comic.
“There is something about the combination of text and visual information that help us to absorb the information in a different way. The comic book format forces one to distil the analysis to its essence, and we hope the format helps us to reach a broader audience,” de Coning explains.
The information shared in the comic book is of course just the tip of the iceberg, and it is based on a much larger body of research. Still, the researchers hope that the comic will be a catalyst that will make people more interested in reading some of the research behind it.
Complexity condensed
Cedric de Coning underlines that comic books, podcasts, or TikTok videos is just the medium. The important part is of course the content.
He explains that compactness of these mediums can be challenging because it necessarily means that nuance and complexity is lost in the process.
“We spent a lot of time trying to make sure the text, even when it is so condensed, still reflected as much nuance and complexity as possible,” the Research Professor elaborates.
The researchers also had to pay attention to the design of the artwork to try to ensure that the symbolism supplemented the analysis and avoided oversimplifications and negative stereotypes.
“It was important to discuss these principles with the comic book artists from the beginning and to pay close attention to it throughout the creative process.”
The researchers found that exploring a new medium stimulated their creativity, including in the way they had to formulate the essence of their research findings.
Although Norway’s period as an elected member of the UNSC is over, NUPI and SIPRI continue to support Norway’s work on climate, peace, and security at the UN and elsewhere. The researchers are now also supporting other countries during their terms as elected members of the Security Council, currently including Switzerland and the Republic of Korea.
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