The Weathering Risk Peace Pillar

Global Issues
Conflict Mitigation and Peacebuilding

The Weathering Risk Peace Pillar

5 March, 2024

Desert, tree, dry, sun, hot, Sahara, Morocco, North Africa

Evidence from around the world shows that climate and environmental change are closely interlinked with conflict. Along indirect pathways, such as undermining livelihood conditions, and via intermediate factors, such as governance or inequality, climate change and other environmental challenges can contribute to increased conflict and insecurity. As a result, those working to improve social cohesion, peace and security must integrate ways to build resilience to climate and environmental security risks into peace programming, and ensure it is a core consideration of preventing, mitigating and resolving violent conflicts.

The Peace Pillar integrates climate and environmental security into peace programming in Iraq, Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia and the Bay of Bengal in partnership with the Berghof Foundation, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) and the European Institute of Peace (EIP). Through and from implementation, the Peace Pillar aims to share and elevate evidence-based recommendations on mainstreaming climate security to support sustainable peace processes.

Impact Stories

Explore impact notes that showcase how the Weathering Risk Peace Pillar is making a difference in the lives of people living in communities most impacted by climate change and conflict and how projects and assessments are facilitating better policies.

Nigeria, Weathering Risk Peace Pillar, boundary demarcation

Enhancing Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning MEL for Conflict And Climate Resilience: Lessons from the Weathering Risk Peace Pillar
Reaching a peace agreement in Nigeria’s Middle Belt: Shared natural resource use in the climate crisis
How does a radio programme promote climate resilience and peacebuilding in Somalia?
Addressing environmental and water challenges unites divided villages in north eastern Kurdistan Iraq
Voices from Yemen – How environmental dialogues can contribute to resilience and peace
Bridging divides between IDPs and host communities in Iraq through dialogues on climate change
Voices from the Bay - Making a fishing ban work in the Bay of Bengal

Generating evidence for peace

To better understand the value of integrated peace programming, the Peace Pillar monitors and evaluates the impact of its project interventions across its different peace, climate and environmental dimensions. The collected lessons learned, best practices and insights will be shared with practitioners and policy makers to develop a growing evidence base, enabling more targeted and systematic integrated peace programming in the future.

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Driving dialogue between geographies

Climate change and environmental challenges can, depending on exposure and contextual vulnerabilities, contribute to increased conflict and insecurity. Exchange and learning between different regions and contexts can help practitioners and policy makers arrive at better solutions to address these risks.

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Importance of engaging local actors

The Weathering Risk Peace Pillar translates climate-security foresight and analysis into peacebuilding action where it is needed most. Partners work across the globe to engage local actors and ensure projects are context specific, informed by a bottom-up approach and locally owned.

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Q&A with the Weathering Risk Peace Pillar

The Weathering Risk Peace Pillar is harnessing the integration of climate and environmental challenges into peace programming for improved outcomes in regions severely affected by both violent conflict and climate change. Across Nigeria, Iraq, Somalia, the Bay of Bengal and Yemen, the Peace Pillar is already improving trust-building, a key step to peace.

But what does this look like in practice? Partners from all five of the Peace Pillar’s projects shared how climate and environmental considerations are being harnessed in their projects.

Read the interview

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