COP28 - Climate Change and Conflict Thematic Newsletter
Weathering the storm: Reducing the impact of climate risks and environmental degradation on people enduring armed conflicts
Countries enduring armed conflict and violence are particularly vulnerable to growing climate and environmental risks because the adaptive capacity of people, systems, and institutions already coping with the consequences of conflict tends to be limited.
Based on case studies conducted in the Gaza Strip, northern Mozambique, and eastern Niger, and drawing on the expertise of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the scientific literature on the subject, this policy report explores avenues to strengthen the resilience to growing climate risks and environmental degradation for people living in places affected by conflict and violence.
Need a quick recap? Read our latest blog piece to learn about the dilemmas pertaining to strengthening the response to growing climate risks in conflict settings.
💡 The ICRC's call to COP28
At Conference of Parties (COP)28, the ICRC urges parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the governing bodies of the COP to make three commitments to ensure that people enduring conflict are not left behind:
Recommit tourgent and ambitious political action to reduce emissions and keep warming within a habitable range to avoid the worst consequences of climate change on people.
Acknowledge conflict-affected countries’ high vulnerability to climate risks due to their limited adaptive capacity.
Live up to international commitments to bolster climate action in countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change by ensuring climate action is strengthened and supported by fit-for-purpose, accessible finance in countries enduring conflict and violence.
Read about the role the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations has played so far in addressing current and future crises in Southeast Asia.
Read more about the blind spot of climate action in places affected by conflict as a result of climate finance mechanisms that are not tailored for conflict situations.
Explore a GIS mapping model with overlays showing the cumulative intensity of gender inequality, armed conflict, and climate change in the mission area.
Explore climate considerations for weapon bearers, the importance of respecting the IHL rules around the protection of the environment, and how climate change considerations might feed into these rules.
Look back on what the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations aims to do: urgently steer and galvanize a collective humanitarian response to the climate and environmental crises.
Read how new tools are needed in the humanitarian toolkit to make conflict analyses more climate-sensitive and anticipate climate-related security risks.
Report | Making Adaptation Work: Addressing the compounding impacts of climate change, environmental degradation, and conflict in the Near and Middle East.
Report | When rain turns to dust: Understanding and responding to the combined impact of armed conflicts and the climate and environment crisis on people's lives.
Where it matters most: Smart climate financing for the hardest hit people How and why is climate financing missing its mark? Read this report that sets out a vision for a smart, risk-informed, and locally-led approach for those hit hardest by climate change.