CLIMATE, PEACE AND SECURITY

Background of the Programme

The Programme emerges at a critical juncture where environmental change is increasingly influencing global peace and security dynamics. The accelerating impacts of climate change, ranging from extreme weather events such as prolonged droughts, flooding, tropical storms/cyclones to rising sea levels, are intensifying existing social, political, and economic pressures. In many regions of Africa, these pressures contribute to heightened competition over natural resources, strained livelihoods, displacement of populations, and increased vulnerability to conflict, particularly in already fragile contexts. Recognising these growing interlinkages, there has been a growing need for integrated approaches that address climate change as a compounding variable to insecurity. Some efforts have been made in moving this agenda ahead, yet there remains a significant capacity gap among practitioners and policymakers in understanding and responding effectively to the complex nexus between climate change, peace, and security. Therefore, this programme is designed to respond to this need by equipping relevant stakeholders with the necessary knowledge, tools, and skills aimed at building practical, cross-cutting solutions for sustainable peace and resilience in the face of the growing climate crisis.

Mission

To empower current and future leaders with the interdisciplinary knowledge and practical tools needed to address the nexus of climate change, peace, and security through inclusive dialogue, informed policy-making, and strategic action.

Rationale

There is ample evidence to suggest that climate variability and change can act as a contributing factor in conflict, amplifying vulnerabilities and inequalities of already vulnerable communities. These impacts mainly manifest through climate-induced disruptions to food, land and water systems, which in turn can exacerbate existing social, economic, and political tensions, especially in fragile and conflict-affected regions. Climate-induced stressors such as water scarcity, food insecurity, resource competition, displacement, and livelihood disruptions, often contribute to the outbreak or intensification of conflicts. These challenges disproportionately affect regions with weak governance structures, limited resilience, or ongoing instability. Despite increasing awareness, the practical integration of climate considerations into peacebuilding and security strategies remains inconsistent and underdeveloped in Africa. Many professionals in the fields of peace and security, humanitarian assistance, development, and environmental protection do not have adequate access to targeted training that effectively link climate projections with conflict-sensitive practices. This programme addresses this gap by providing learners with skills to analyze, anticipate, and respond to climate dynamics that influence conflict and insecurity with practical approaches for reducing climate risk and fostering peace and cooperation.

Target Groups

  • Policymakers and government officials in climate and security sectors
  • Peacebuilders and conflict resolution practitioners
  • Environmental and humanitarian NGOs
  • Military and security personnel
  • Academics, researchers, and students in related fields
  • Staff of the UN and international agencies
  • Community leaders and civil society actors working in conflict-affected areas

Aims of the Programme

The aim is to develop the capacity of professionals with analytical and practical skills to assess climate-related security risks and design appropriate, conflict-sensitive, sustainable peace and climate-resilient responses that simultaneously advance climate action and sustaining peace objectives.

Goals

The goal is to build a cadre of informed, skilled, and responsive professionals to advance knowledge exchange, cooperation and preventive diplomacy to address climate-induced security threats through climate-informed early warning systems at local, national, and global levels.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the programme, learners will be able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of key concepts, theories, and frameworks underpinning the interlinkages between climate, peace, and security
  • Conduct integrated conflict and climate analysis, including by using a gender and social inclusion lens.
  • Provide entry points and apply conflict-sensitive approaches for policymaking and programme designs that integrate peace, security and gender equality objective

 Expected Learning Outcomes

  • A cadre of trained professionals equipped to bridge climate and security agendas
  • Improved capacity to manage climate-security risks exacerbating existing tensions or create new threats and design context-appropriate, conflict-sensitive climate action.
  • Capacity to apply integrated analytical approaches to assess climate-related security risks
  • Strengthened networks of local and institutional collaboration on climate, peace, and security

Content

The completion of the programme requires 9 units:

  • Unit 1: Nature and Typologies of conflicts in Africa
  • Unit 2: Introduction to Climate Change and Environmental Stressors
  • Unit 3: Climate, Peace and Security Nexus: Theoretical and Practical Approaches
  • Unit 4: Climate Change and Human Mobility
  • Unit 5: Early Warning Systems and Climate Security Risk Assessment Tools
  • Unit 6: Integrating a Climate lens into Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention
  • Unit 7: Policy and Governance for Climate, Peace and Security
  • Unit 8: Scenario Planning, Simulation, and Action Planning
  • Unit 9: Project

COURSE OUTLINE

Unit 1: Nature/Typologies of conflicts (in Africa)

  • Definitions of concepts of conflict, war, and violence
  • Root Causes of Conflicts: Colonial legacies, governance failures, economic inequality, climate change, land tenure systems.
    • Scarcity-Driven: Competition over water, arable land, or grazing areas (e.g., Darfur’s desertification fuelled violence).
    • Abundance-Driven: Exploitation of high-value resources (e.g., diamonds, oil, timber) to finance armed groups (e.g., RUF in Sierra Leone).
    • Transboundary Disputes: Shared resources like rivers (e.g., Nile, Zambezi) or fisheries triggering regional tensions.
  • Impacts of conflicts

Unit 2: Introduction to Climate Change and Environmental Stressors

  • Definition of concepts of climate change and environment
  • Climate science basics – global carbon cycle, greenhouse gases, global warming and climate variability, climate change
  • Key environmental/climate stressors – definition, examples (droughts, floods, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, extreme temperatures etc.)
  • Climate change impacts – extreme weather events and slow-onset disasters

Unit 3: Climate. Peace and Security Nexus: Theoretical and Practical Approaches

  • Fundamentals of Climate, Peace, and Security:
    • Introduction to climate, peace, and security – what is climate security?
    • Evolution of climate, peace, and security
  • Theoretical Frameworks – Resource curse theory; Environmental Peacebuilding Theory; Negative and Positive Peace Theory; Climate Security Theory
  • Pathways linking climate risks to conflicts/insecurity with a focus on food, land, and water systems.
  • Case studies and empirical evidence of climate security: Climate/environment-induced Conflicts (Lake Chad Basin -Boko Haram and shrinking resources; Cabo Delgado- gas extraction, cyclones, and insurgency), Karamoja pastoral conflicts and farmer-herder conflicts in the Sahel and Horn of Africa  

Unit 4: Climate Change and Human Mobility

  • Climate migration versus forced displacement (slow-onset and sudden-on-set)
  • Drivers of climate migration
  • Policy responses to climate-induced migration in Africa
  • Future climate-induced migration projections and implications for security
  • Case studies on climate-induced human mobility
  • Gendered and intersectionality impacts of climate change-induced mobility.

Unit 5: Early Warning Systems and Climate Security Risk Assessment Tools

  • Introduction to Early Warning Systems (EWS)
  • Climate risk and vulnerability assessment tools
  • Designing and implementing an integrated early warning system (climate, conflict, livelihood, governance etc); scientific interface with local/indigenous/traditional knowledge
  • Participatory climate security assessment tools and methods
  • Communication and dissemination of information
  • Case studies of successful EWS

Unit 6: Integrating a Climate-lens into Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention

  • Principles of conflict prevention and peacebuilding – approaches to conflict prevention; key peacebuilding principle including dialogue, inclusion, trust-building etc.
  • Cultural sensitivities and gender considerations in planning, managing resources and addressing climate change for Conflict Prevention.
  • Conflict analysis tools.
  • Entry points for climate-responsive peacebuilding – strengthening local institution in managing climate and resource-based disputes; climate-smart natural resources management and governance; integrating climate resilience into disarmament programs etc; project/programming approaches.
  • Case studies

Unit 7: Policy and Governance for Climate Peace and Security

  • Global policy and legal frameworks – UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, UNFCCC.
  • Regional/sub-regional policies – AU peace and security council, role of RECs, including IGAD, ECOWAS.
  • Existing policy frameworks and mechanisms for addressing climate-related risks to peace and security (such as in the case of the Lake Chad Commission).
  • National policies and role of local governments and traditional institutions in managing climate security risks.
  • Implementation of Policies – Resource mobilization (Climate Finance landscape)

Unit 8: Scenario Planning, Simulation, and Action Planning

  • Scenario development process – framing of the key issue, identification of key drivers and uncertainties, developing scenario logics, constructing narratives for plausible future scenarios.
  • Risk-based action planning – turning scenarios into action.
  • Monitoring, evaluation, and learning – building feedback mechanisms to adjust strategies as risks evolve.

Unit 9: Project

  • Individual/Group projects – develop a policy brief analysing specific climate-security issue and recommend policy interventions; climate security risk assessment report for a region or area; project concept note on climate security; scenario planning and an action plan etc.
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