Time for peace and justice to be taken seriously in the climate change COP agenda

This week COP30 – the annual UN climate change conference – is taking place in Belém, Brazil. While the previous two COPs sent a clear signal on the links between peace and climate action in international climate fora, this year peace seems to have for the most part fallen off the agenda. This is a very concerning omission which comes at a time when peace and climate action are needed more than ever. It is another symptom of a system that is failing those most affected by the combined impact of the climate crisis, conflict and injustice, while global climate governance appears to be beholden to those who benefit from keeping such grassroots voices out. Yet, ignoring peace, justice and security risks undermining or even jeopardising effective climate action. 

Climate action in fragile and conflict-affected contexts 

Shared messaging from the 1000-member strong global Environment, Climate, Conflict and Peace (ECCP) Community of Practice notes that: 

• The devastating impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are intensifying insecurity and conflict risks around the world, particularly in fragile contexts. Inequality and the lack of social safety nets further increase the vulnerability and reduce the resilience of those communities already suffering from the impacts of climate change. 
• Armed conflicts contribute to the climate crisis both directly – through environmental destruction and military greenhouse gas emissions, and indirectly – through undermining systems of environmental governance and protection and impacting sustainable and equitable resource. This makes it even more difficult for societies to adapt to climate change.  

This is based on experience and evidence across diverse global contexts and there is now a significant body of research and evidence which strongly emphasises why environmental and climate issues are highly relevant and important for peace, justice and security, and vice versa. Despite being disproportionately affected by climate change, fragile and conflict-affected settings have often been neglected in global climate action and finance due to their complexity and instability. Civil society groups, local organisations, Indigenous groups and activists from such contexts have taken it upon themselves to act. For many, this is simply common sense – at the frontline of combined challenges of the climate crisis, conflict and fragility, the logical response is one that addresses this in ways which integrate climate action and peace. Indeed, the ECCP has compiled a repository of case studies of what this looks like in action.  

Time for COPs to prioritise inclusive processes and root causes 

If COPs were more inclusive of such civil society and Indigenous groups, it is hard to envisage how peace would be dropped from the agenda. There have been increasing calls for COP spaces to evolve and for global climate forums to prioritise more inclusive processes with meaningful participation in outcomes and decisions.  

Grace Dorong, South Sudanese activist and peacebuilder, has advocated passionately for refugees and displaced people at successive COPs, including playing a key role in important new research launched at COP30 on 10th November. However, she chose not to go to COP this year. “Last year the discussions were about financing, but since then nothing seems to have happened and we are already back at COP again. I want the discussions at COP to be action-oriented, not promises again. We need more focus on root causes and on things that link climate with financing, creating durable solutions which are co-created with people and communities on the frontlines of disasters.” 

Nisreen Elsaim, a Sudanese youth climate activist who has participated both in climate negotiations and as a civil society representative, agrees. “Instead of becoming more inclusive and representative, it looks like COPs are enabling more people to come to the stage where the rules are already set. The problem is not the process necessarily, but how the process is being diluted by people who have more money and influence. COP is not the problem, but how it risks becoming a carnival instead of a platform for commitment and accountability. We need to push back and focus on the impact on ordinary people’s lives.” She has recently been focusing on YALAP, a new platform to connect young climate leaders from conflict zones across the globe, ensuring that youth and Indigenous voices from climate-fragile and conflict-affected contexts can influence policies and practices at the highest levels.

Belém was chosen for its symbolic location at the edge of the Amazon basin with the aim of attracting people’s attention to plight of and potential for the rainforest, and Brazil has proudly promoted COP30 as having the largest Indigenous participation in the history of the conference. Despite the greater visibility of civil society and Indigenous groups at this COP, frustrations have also been evident in the passionate messages strongly voiced around the summit by those most affected by climate crises – including in confrontation which erupted earlier this week. While thousands of lobbyists have vastly outnumbered Indigenous peoples’ representatives in recent COPs and seemingly exerted vast influence to block and capture global climate processes, there is a long way to go to meaningfully centre Indigenous groups’ essential experience and knowledge in transformative climate solutions.  

Climate justice is fundamental to ‘the COP we need’ 

A joint statement signed by over 200 civil society organisations earlier this year highlights how the marginalisation of vulnerable states, Indigenous peoples and civil society from climate negotiations risks jeopardising the UNFCCC process itself. ‘Global climate governance is increasingly perceived as out of touch, driven by vested interests and running out of relevance and trust.’ The statement calls for reform, highlighting the need to reclaim and deliver on climate justice within COP spaces. COP30 has been billed as ‘the COP of truth’, which will expose the failure of international governments to limit global heating to 1.5°C. But there are other truths that are also fundamental. Climate justice issues are at the heart of effective climate action. If the millions raised in the name of climate finance only benefits the few and fails to enable a just transition, it will further feed inequality and exclude those most at risk. If those involved in green energy transition are blind to its role in driving a race for critical minerals and fail to act to mitigate this and other potential harm by integrating conflict sensitivity, it risks fuelling conflict and contributing to human rights abuses.  

If climate action ignores conflict and peace, fails to reflect the reality of fragile and conflict-affected contexts, and is not embedded in climate justice, it risks falling short of its global objectives and failing those who are among the worst affected by climate change. The ECCP statement calls for bolder action for climate action to support the foundations for peace. Read the statement to find out more on how this can be put into action. 

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Photo: a UN Climate Change meeting with indigenous representatives at UN COP30. © UN Climate Change / Kiara Worth