News facts
Brussels, 29 June 2023 – The UN Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), hosted by UNEP, with the support of the European Union (EU), launched today the Climate Change and Security: Innovative Community-based Climate Technology for Communities at Risks of Conflicts Due to Climate Impact. The joint EU-CTCN programme - part of the EU Multi-Annual Indicative Programme for the Thematic Programme on Peace, Stability, and Conflict Prevention (2021-2027) - aims to strengthen the resilience of conflict-affected societies by encouraging and facilitating conflict-sensitive, community-based technological solutions to climate change.
The evidence linking climate change, political instability and conflicts is compelling.
In 2020, out of the 20 countries which were most vulnerable and least prepared to adapt to climate change, 12 were in conflict(1). Such link is further reinforced by data from UN Peace Operations showing how some of the most climate vulnerable countries, such as Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen, also host a UN field mission, with the majority of UN peace operations deployed in contexts that are both highly climate exposed and characterized by high levels of gender inequality.
Climate change is no longer just an environmental concern but a multidimensional issue with far-reaching implications. Growing evidence suggests that both climate change and environmental degradation can catalyze, drive and amplify instability, exacerbating already volatile food prices, insecure livelihoods, and large-scale displacement.
According to UNEP, by 2050, over 143 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America, will have become internal migrants. A major cause of that will be the various climatic impacts, with people leaving less viable areas with higher water scarcity and lower crop productivity, as well as areas affected by rising sea levels and storm surges(2).
Women, youth and marginalized groups - representing over 80 per cent of those displaced by climate change(3) - face increased vulnerability from environmental stresses that lead to intensified competition for scarce natural resources and potentially to migration, instability and conflict.
Technology innovation systems can provide opportunities to lower emissions growth and create social and environmental co-benefits to mitigate the impacts of climate change(4), yet developing low-income, and conflict-prone countries encounter several obstacles to developing and boosting climate change-related technology. The up-front costs are high, and their success ultimately requires stable governments to create favorable policies and procedures which facilitate innovation.
With a budget of EUR 3 Million over 3 years, the Climate Technology for Communities at Risks of Climate-induced conflicts programme falls within the 2021-2027 Peace, Stability and Conflict Prevention thematic programme, whereby the European Union has committed over EUR 870 Million to address insecurity and instability in a multidimensional, conflict sensitive and coherent way.
The new programme managed by CTCN will support ten requests for assistance from National Determined Entities (NDEs) from countries at risks of conflicts due to climate impact for a maximum value of 200,000 EUR each. Requests should target conflict-sensitive, field-focused, reliable, cost-effective climate technologies solutions. They should address in a holistic manner climate-related security risks resulting from local resource competition, transboundary natural resource and water management, extreme weather events, disasters, and livelihood insecurity.
"CTCN is working at the technology and policy innovation nexus with developing countries to create the ecosystem needed to implement system transformations. With the support of the EU we are looking forward to leveraging community-based intelligence and solutions to enhance community resilience and reduce climate-induced vulnerabilities". Said Fred Machulu Onduri, CTCN Vice-Chair, Uganda.
The programme’s call for applications is underway and exchanges with at-risk communities are already ongoing, the list of the countries engaged in the programme will be announced later this year. By integrating peacebuilding with climate resilience and adaptation, and by leveraging community-based endogenous know-whow with innovation technology, the programme is designing solutions for a more resilient and peaceful future for all.
To learn more about the programme click here.
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(1) University of notre Dame (2020). Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Country Index
(2) United Nations Environment Programme (2021).The United Nations Environment Programme - Medium-Term Strategy 2022—2025 - for tackling climate change, biodiversity and nature loss, and pollution and waste.
(3) Habtezion, Senay (2016). Overview of Linkages between Gender and Climate Change. Policy Brief. New York: UNDP.
(4) IPCC (2022). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.