UN Peacebuilding Fund Tip Sheet on Climate, Peace and Security and Environmental Peacebuilding

16 April 2025

Tip Sheet published by the United Nations, April 2025.

A recently published tip sheet published by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) serves as a practical programming guide for designing and implementing PBF-supported projects that address the intersection of climate change, peace, and security. The Tip Sheet highlights important factors and dynamics in the climate peace and security space, which are mentioned below.

Understanding Climate-Security Interlinkages:

Climate change does not directly cause conflict but intensifies existing vulnerabilities and stressors, particularly in fragile contexts. It exacerbates competition over natural resources, undermines livelihoods, and can facilitate recruitment into armed groups. Maladaptation and poorly executed low-carbon transitions further threaten peace. Gender, socio-economic background, and governance quality all influence how climate risks are experienced, with women, youth, and displaced populations often disproportionately affected.

The COP28 and COP29 climate summits emphasized the necessity of integrating peace-responsive and locally-led strategies in fragile states, culminating in declarations advocating for equitable climate financing and action that considers security implications.

Distinction Between CPS and Environmental Peacebuilding:

"Climate, Peace and Security" (CPS) refers to climate-related risks affecting peace and the need for conflict-sensitive climate action. It focuses on both climate-informed peacebuilding and peace-positive climate action. In contrast, “Environmental Peacebuilding” includes broader interventions involving natural resource management, conservation, and land use, serving as entry points to foster cohesion and resilience.

PBF’s Global Engagement and Investments:

Between 2017 and 2024, PBF allocated over $205 million to 76 CPS and environmental peacebuilding projects across 37 countries. These projects address issues such as transhumance conflicts, elite land capture, gendered climate impacts, and tensions between refugees and host communities. A hallmark of PBF’s strategy is its cross-border focus and its willingness to fund projects in high-risk contexts.

Key Programming Guidelines:

Conflict Analysis Integration: Projects must clearly articulate the specific climate stressors, exposures, and vulnerabilities and link them to local and regional conflict dynamics. This includes forward-looking analysis and a nuanced gender/youth lens.
Inclusion Agenda: Projects should meaningfully engage marginalized communities throughout all phases and disaggregate data by age, gender, and vulnerability. A human rights-based approach is recommended.
National-Local Linkages: While many projects are community-based, connecting them to national policy frameworks ensures sustainability and broader systemic impact.
Scenario Planning and Strategic Alignment: Climate and peace interventions must align with early warning systems and national peacebuilding strategies, avoiding maladaptation and supporting conflict-sensitive adaptation policies.
Catalytic Potential: PBF projects often act as pilot initiatives that attract further investment from climate vertical funds and IFIs like the Green Climate Fund or World Bank. Projects should be designed with scalability in mind.
Innovation and Risk-Taking: Encouraging innovation—such as tracking tools for pastoral migration, CSO-led models in conflict zones, and community-level foresight exercises—is vital for adaptive programming.
Regional Partnerships: Aligning with regional strategies and intergovernmental organizations ensures strategic coherence and supports capacity building for climate-security risks.
Gender-Climate-Security Nexus: Projects must recognize and strengthen the role of women—especially indigenous and youth—in managing natural resources and leading peacebuilding processes. Inclusion must go beyond quotas to promote agency and systemic change.
Theory of Change and Impact Measurement: Projects should be grounded in context-specific theories of change, continuously revisited and tested. M&E should include both qualitative and quantitative indicators to capture multi-level impacts, with attention to inclusion and co-benefits.
Climate-Informed Peacebuilding: Even non-climate projects should be climate-sensitive, considering risks in project design, location, and beneficiary targeting.

Training and Expert Support:

The tip sheet concludes with references to training resources, practical tools, and expert support mechanisms offered by the Climate Security Mechanism (CSM). These are aimed at helping practitioners integrate climate-security considerations into policy, planning, and implementation.

This text is based on extracts from the tip sheet published by the United Nations, April 2025. The complete sheet can be found here.

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