This report attempts to take stock of how climate-related security risks are framed and addressed in the 44 NAPs published up to the period ending March 2023, by conducting an analysis, and applying and expanding on the typology of emerging themes originally developed by UNDP with the UNFCCC, in 2020. The findings of this study show that climate, peace and security interlinkages are increasingly recognized in the context of assessing climate change vulnerability and developing adaptation policies. 

Notably, the most frequently made reference is to measures to integrate peace and security considerations which accounts for nearly a fifth of all references. The theme of climate change exacerbating extant conflict dynamics over access to natural resources accounts for the second-most at over 10% of all references. Another common narrative is climate change as a “threat” or “risk multiplier” effect in relation to natural resource-based conflicts. In this regard, there are many references to the increased risk of conflict among farmer, herder and/or fishing communities that rely on constrained water resources, land availability and fish stocks. This also points to the need for greater sector-specific analysis and action plans.

For the most part, countries and territories which are currently experiencing acute conflict dynamics make the most comprehensive references to climate-related security risks. South Sudan, Niger, Chad, the CAR, and Sudan taken together account for over half of all references. Notably, these countries ranked amongst the ten most fragile countries and territories in 2022, with the exception of the NAPs by Niger and the DRC, which are outliers in this comparison. 

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This description was retrieved from un.org/climatesecuritymechanism