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This online course examines the interlinkages between climate change, peace, security, and social and gender-based inclusion. The first module introduces key connections between climate change, peace, and security, highlighting the importance of applying an integrated lens to assess how gender norms and other factors of social identity affect responses. The second module employs a set of interactive case studies to share analytical tools and methods for data collection, analysis, and identification of entry points. The final module focuses on designing, implementing, and monitoring/evaluating policies, strategies, and projects that address climate-related security risks. Each module has specific learning objectives and features a mix of expert video interviews, case studies, and presentations of the latest research.

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This e-learning course provides an introduction to the roles that natural resources and the environment play in the onset, escalation, resolution of, and recovery from violent conflicts. It features four modules: (i) a course overview, (ii) natural resources and conflict causes, (iii) natural resources and the environment during armed conflict, and (iv) post-conflict environmental peacebuilding. The course is targeted to peace and security specialists, natural resource experts, sustainable development practitioners, private sector actors, and students seeking to better understand conflict-sensitive natural resource development. Course materials consist of lecture transcripts accompanied by key images, required and optional readings, and helpful toolkits.

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This note is targeted at actors who are working in fragile and conflict-affected settings and seeking to devise solutions to climate-related security risks. The Guidance Note's first chapter defines a two-step approach to addressing climate-related security risks: assess interlinkages and then translate assessments into appropriately interlinked responses. It also conceptualizes how linking climate adaptation and peacebuilding will increase resilience to climate-security risks. (In short, social cohesion and inclusive and effective governance underpin capacities to cope with shocks and stresses, including violent conflict.) The second chapter provides step-by-step guidance on assessing climate-related security risks, while the third provides guidance on translating assessments into policies, strategies and actions. The final chapter highlights insights from two case studies on building resilience to climate-related security risks in West Karnali, Nepal and North Darfur, Sudan.

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This guide from IUCN introduces simple but effective tools for participation within institutions that aim to become more accountable. The CEAP approach empowers local communities to undertake conservation and development initiatives that fit with their unique culture and value systems. This guide has been developed with this in mind and it is organised into five chapters. Chapter 1 provides a brief background to CEAP, its evolution and benefits of engaging in participatory approaches. Chapter 2 lists the key principles s and values of CEAP. Chapter 3 describes the CEAP process in details by outlining the key steps to follow and provides a list of complementary tools that can be used to support the process. Chapter 4 captures some key lessons, while Chapter 5 describes some of the main challenges encountered in CEAP processes.

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This synthesis report on Community Environmental Action Planning (CEAP) was compiled by ProAct Network and UNEP based on practical CEAP experience in Sudan and elsewhere around the world. The report begins by introducing CEAP, a capacity-building process through which participants analyse their situation, evaluate options for change, and then plan, carry out, monitor and evaluate activities in a participatory and sustained manner. The second chapter of the report lists key characteristics of CEAP (e.g., community-led responses) and outlines a five-step plan for structuring CEAP processes. The third chapter of the report digs into the "why" and "how" of the five steps of a CEAP process: (i) Starting together, (ii) Assessing together, (iii) Planning together, (iv) Acting together, and (v) Monitoring and evaluating together. Guiding questions and assessment/planning tools are shared throughout. The final chapter of the report lists a number of important considerations to keep in mind throughout a CEAP process.

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This research brief from adelphi analyzes climate-fragility risks and entry points in Nepal. Emerging from a decade of civil war (1996-2006) and dependent on agriculture (which employs 2/3 of the population), Nepal needs to be prepared for the impacts climate change will have on resource availability, governance, and society. The brief begins by presenting the country's socioeconomic, political, peace and security, and climate contexts. Based on this contextualization, the brief then analyzes climate-fragility risks. The brief concludes by identifying potential entry points for addressing such risks. Entry points include conflict-sensitive initiatives on land rights, water management, disaster risk reduction, and social inclusion.

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This research brief from adelphi analyzes climate-fragility risks and entry points in Sudan. For most of the time since its independence in 1956, Sudan has experienced internal conflict. Climate impacts, environmental degradation, and a growing population have heightened natural resource competition, which has contributed to poverty, displacement, and conflict. The brief begins by presenting the country's complex and intersecting socioeconomic, political, peace and security, and climate dynamics. The brief then analyzes climate-fragility risks and concludes by identifying potential entry points for addressing such risks. Entry points include conflict-sensitive initiatives on water and land management, agricultural and livelihood support, and community peacebuilding. The brief emphasizes throughout that climate and security resilience-building interventions must be buttressed by broader improvements in governance.

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Designed by UNEP and the FAO, Strata is a free, web-based, easy-to-use geospatial data platform that maps environmental, climate, security, and socioeconomic indicators. Strata provides practitioners, analysts, and policymakers with a tool to assess where and how climate and environmental risks converge with other vulnerability factors. These insights can be used for analysis, planning, and monitoring for climate action, natural resource management, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding. The Strata website includes how-to guides and potential use cases to help first-time users become familiar with the tool.

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Sudan experiences frequent droughts and high rainfall variability, and its economy is heavily dependent on natural resources. With a catchment of about 27,000 square kilometers, the Wai El Ku river is the lifeblood of the state of North Darfur. This project aims to expand and promote integrated water resources management (IWRM) and early warning systems, as well as agricultural and natural resource management and cooperation mechanisms. The overall objective is to establish climate-resilient livelihoods and reduce natural resource conflicts and displacement due to loss of livelihoods. So far, the project has used weirs, canals, and other on-farm water management systems to spread the waters of the Wadi El Ku basin more equitably and store water for dry-season cultivation. As a result, there has been a tripling of sorghum and millet yields. 70% of surveyed farmers credit the project with having increased their agricultural income. Multiple communities along the watercourse have been involved in decision-making, contributing to regional peace and stability.

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Examples of Nature-based Solutions for peace and security are organized on a solution-by-solution basis (i.e., one input = one NbS, rather than one input = one project). For each solution, the catalogue stores and shares basic solution information, spatial data, implementation details, conflict sensitivity (e.g. conflict context, peacebuilding contribution, whether a peace and security impact evaluation has taken place, etc.), solution documentation, and environmental, human security, and socio-political security tags. A decision tree helps visitors quickly find the most relevant examples for their own context/interests.

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This project report discusses takeaways from the EU-UNEP Climate Change and Security Partnership Project, which took place between March 2017 and February 2022 in North Darfur, Sudan and the Karnali River Basin, Nepal. Among the first of its kind, this project strengthened the capacity of countries and international partners to identify and respond to environment and climate-related security risks at the global, national, and community levels. In both contexts, the projects addressed the underlying drivers of insecurity by promoting more effective and equitable management of shared natural resources. The project combined climate change adaptation with inclusive dialogue, conflict resolution, and natural resource governance. This led to three key results: (i) greater social cohesion and trust, (ii) enhanced local capacity to mediate and resolve conflicts related to natural resources, and (iii) sustainable and climate-resilient livelihood options for vulnerable groups.

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This project report discusses a pilot project in West Karnali, Nepal that tested integrated approaches to addressing drivers of insecurity and building climate resilience. Piloted under the EU-UNEP Climate Change and Security Partnership Project, this project had three core objectives: (I) promote sustainable, climate-resilient livelihoods for vulnerable groups, (ii) strengthen local governance and dispute resolution capacities for natural resource management, and (iii) enhance relationships, social cohesion, and trust between communities. The project combined governance and dialogue interventions with technical climate change adaptation activities. It also supported community-based natural resource management committees to mediate natural resource-related disputes between local communities and/or government. By the end of the project, 75% of natural resource-related disputes were reduced or resolved, and 95% of surveyed households reported improved income.

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This report discusses a pilot project in West Karnali, Nepal that tested integrated approaches to addressing drivers of insecurity and building climate resilience. The project had three core objectives: (i) promote sustainable, climate-resilient livelihoods for vulnerable groups, (ii) strengthen local governance and dispute resolution capacities for natural resource management, and (iii) enhance relationships, social cohesion, and trust between communities. The project established Natural Resource Management and Peacebuilding Committees in eight villages, re-established joint management of migratory routes by farmers, pastoralists, and government, and implemented livelihood interventions. Over 70% of surveyed community members reported a decrease in the number of violent disputes over natural resources, 100% reported positive interactions related to migratory route planning, and nearly 90% reported improved relationships with the government.

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This project was based in the Al Rahad locality in North Kordofan State, a community affected by climate-related environmental degradation and increasing conflicts over natural resources. Between July 2016 and April 2018, the area witnessed 9 violent conflicts resulting in 24 deaths. The resident population experiences feminization due to violent conflict, economically-motivated migration, and sedentarization of pastoralist groups - yet despite their increasingly significant role in natural resource management, women in these communities have generally been marginalized and have not been engaged in existing conflict resolution mechanisms that address disputes over natural resources. 

This project used targeted interventions to (i) strengthen women's economic empowerment through natural resource-based livelihoods, (ii) enhance women's participation in resource governance through community environmental action planning, and (iii) increase women's leadership opportunities in natural resource conflict prevention and resolution. By the end of the project, 100% of individuals surveyed in the community agreed that women had important roles and contributions with respect to conflict over natural resources - an increase from 54.5%. Female membership of the local Conflict Mitigation and Peacebuilding Center doubled during the project, and 3 out of 4 mediation processes concerning natural resources involved women as mediators. 87% of women supported by the project reported increased income. The inclusion of a research component in the project allowed for continued learning, which enabled sharpening and re-direction of interventions and generated better results.

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The website of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 features information about the World Restoration Flagships, which are the best examples of large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration in any country or region. The goal of these projects is to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide by collectively reviving billions of hectares across terrestial and aquatic ecosystems. Although countries have already promised to restore 1 billion hectares (an area larger than China), little is known about the progress or quality of this restoration. This collection of illustrative examples aims to raise awareness of this progress and inspire further action. Examples of restoration projects include an initiative in Sri Lanka to increase mangrove cover by more than 50%; improved forest management in the Mediterranean basin (the world's second-largest biodiversity hotspot); and assistance for hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in several African countries to fight soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. 

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The Climate, Peace and Security Trello Board, managed by the Community of Practice on Climate, Peace and Security, is a compendium of climate, peace and security-related resources (i.e., events, news, publications, key knowledge products, training materials/opportunities, and job opportunities). It also features links to climate-related resource Trello boards created by various other UN agencies (e.g., UNDP, OCHA, etc.). Each resource has a clickable card - when you click the card, it shows a description and a link to where the resource can be found. Examples of items from the board include the UN Security Council data dashboard on Climate, Peace, and Security; the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace; aUN CC:e-learn course on Climate Change, Peace & Security; and the UN Climate Security Mechanism's Climate Security Toolbox.

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Over 950 individuals and organizations make up the Community of Practice on Environment, Climate, Conflict, and Peace. Online dialogues and listservs allow members to share knowledge and resources. Over the past few years, the community has launched specific initiatives to influence policy fora and peacebuilding practice, including a White Paper on the Future of Environmental Peacebuilding and the virtual Nature Footprints gallery.

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