LocationsBelém and beyond: 5 ways to keep Climate, Peace and Security at the heart of climate action
November 28, 2025
With peace-positive climate solutions like clean energy, early warning systems and climate-smart livelihoods, countries can address immediate vulnerabilities as well as deeper drivers of instability.
At COP30 in Belém, the sight of Indigenous protesters gathered outside the venue—calling for protection of their lands, cultures and security—offered a powerful reminder that climate change is lived long before it is negotiated. Their presence, alongside the formal discussions inside the halls, highlighted how climate impacts are reshaping safety, dignity and peace for millions.
Today, over 2 billion people live in fragile or conflict-affected settings, where climate shocks compound stresses on governance, livelihoods and social cohesion. Some 60 percent of refugees and internally displaced persons reside in countries that are among the most climate-vulnerable, showing how environmental pressures and instability reinforce one another.
For policymakers and communities alike experiencing the highest number of conflicts since the second World War, the climate crisis is a risk multiplier with far-reaching implications for peace and development.
While climate, peace and security did not feature as a headline theme at COP30, discussions made clear it is not peripheral. From technical sessions to regional dialogues, countries and partners reiterated that climate impacts are shaping patterns of fragility, displacement and social tension in ways that demand integrated responses.
Recent Global Environment Facility (GEF) data highlights the scale of this challenge: over 88 percent of GEF projects have been implemented in fragile situations. Moreover, violent conflict is identified as statistically significant to delays, postponement and poor terminal evaluations. This shows that conflict and fragility matter when it comes to climate action and adaptation.
The question now is how to translate this recognition into action. A tumultuous year in the lead up to COP30 has underscored that embedding climate, peace and security linkages into climate action will be essential for effective implementation.
The following five areas offer pathways to carry this momentum forward.
Integrate climate, peace and security into national climate policies
A growing number of countries recognize that climate policies must account for how climate impacts interact with fragility and governance. These connections need to be reflected in national frameworks, where they shape priorities, investments and institutional coordination.
Through the Climate Promise, UNDP is supporting 46 countries to embed conflict sensitivity, risk analysis and human security considerations into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and readiness planning. This integration is helping governments design coherent and inclusive climate strategies that institutionalize collaboration, improve early warning and ensure that national commitments reflect the realities of communities living with both climate impacts and insecurity.
"For policymakers and communities alike experiencing the highest number of conflicts since the second World War, the climate crisis is a risk multiplier with far-reaching implications for peace and development."
Link climate action with national security frameworks and climate and environmental justice pathways
Climate impacts are increasingly shaping national risk environments, from pressures on natural resources to stresses on governance systems. As countries strengthen their resilience frameworks, many are beginning to connect climate risk management with peace and security planning—ensuring that systems monitoring droughts, floods or resource pressures also help anticipate displacement and rising tensions.
New legal and diplomatic pathways for climate and environmental justice reinforce this trend. Pacific-led processes brought national climate-related obligations before the International Court of Justice and a new proposal for the consideration of ecocide as a crime against humanity to International Criminal Court underline nations’ concern for climate and environmental security remain front of mind. To address this, UNDP’s support in vulnerable regions like the Pacific and to efforts like the Common African Position on Climate, Peace and Security is enabling countries to anchor climate action within broader governance and security frameworks.
Together, these approaches ensure that climate action reinforces national resilience and strengthens capacity to anticipate, prevent and manage climate-related risks.
Deliver peace-positive climate solutions through energy access and climate information systems
In fragile settings, access to reliable energy and timely climate information can reduce tensions and strengthen resilience. Renewable energy systems help ease pressure on shared natural resources – such as fuelwood or pastureland – that can become points of friction when scarcity deepens.
In Yemen, years of conflict and fuel shortages have disrupted electricity supplies for hospitals, schools and water systems. The introduction of decentralized solar energy has restored essential services in many districts, with more than 160 public facilities now operating more reliably and supporting almost 200,000 people. These systems improve safety and continuity of services, reduce emissions by lowering reliance on diesel, and help communities adapt to extreme heat, water scarcity and food insecurity.
Climate information services are equally important. Across northwest Nigeria, automated weather stations and forecasting systems help communities and local authorities anticipate extreme weather, reducing the risk of sudden displacement or pressure on strained services.
By expanding peace-positive climate solutions like clean energy, early warning systems and climate-smart livelihoods, countries can address both immediate vulnerabilities and the deeper drivers of instability that climate change can intensify.
Access to climate finance
While fragile and conflict-affected countries bear some of the most severe climate impacts, they continue to receive the least support. A UNDP analysis shows that people in extremely fragile contexts receive just US$2 per person per year in climate finance, compared with $14 in fragile contexts, and up to $167 in other non-fragile settings. This disparity limits the ability of high-risk countries to adapt and build resilience.
COP30 renewed attention to these gaps, with partners highlighting the need for funding mechanisms that reflect operational realities on the ground, especially where conflict, displacement or weak institutions can delay implementation. Efforts such as the UN Climate Security Mechanism, and Baku Hub on Climate Action for Peace build on successive efforts of COP Presidencies and will be key to expand access to finance for countries facing fragility.
Strengthen regional and cross-border cooperation to manage shared climate and security risks
Climate impacts rarely align with national borders. Shifting rainfall patterns, water scarcity, ecosystem degradation and climate-driven mobility influence stability across entire regions, making cross-border approaches essential.
Across Africa’s Sahel region, shrinking water resources, degraded ecosystems and climate-driven livelihood pressures contribute to displacement and instability. Regional efforts that improve climate information sharing, restore degraded landscapes and support alternative livelihoods are helping communities adapt while reducing pressures that can escalate into tensions.
When countries work together to understand and manage shared environmental risks, climate action becomes a force for cooperation rather than competition, strengthening resilience at the scale that climate crisis demands.
A future shaped by resilience
The voices from COP30 demonstrated that the links between climate, peace and security are being increasingly recognized, even if not formally negotiated. Progress continues, as the IPCC’s announces for the first time a dedicated thematic chapter addressing fragility in its Seventh Assessment Report. While hope for peace continues too, evidence shows the environmental impacts of war as long lasting and if unaddressed, can impede climate action.
Keeping peace and security at the heart of climate strategies—through stronger policies, better finance, integrated solutions and regional cooperation—can turn global ambition into meaningful progress on the ground. Sustaining this momentum will be essential to ensuring that climate action contributes not only to a cleaner planet, but to a more peaceful and secure future for all.
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