The UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) is the United Nations' leading instrument to invest in prevention and peacebuilding, in partnership with the wider UN system, national and subnational authorities, civil society organizations, regional organizations and multilateral banks. The Fund supports joint UN responses to address critical peacebuilding opportunities, connecting development, humanitarian, human rights and peacebuilding pillars. The core principles of the Fund are being timely, catalytic, and risk-tolerant, and facilitating inclusiveness and national ownership, integrated approaches, and cohesive UN strategies.
The 2023 Thematic Review on Climate Security and Peacebuilding, commissioned by DPPA's Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) in partnership with FAO, UNICEF, the Climate Security Mechanism (CSM) and the United Kingdom, and led by the UN University’s Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR), distills trends and lessons from climate-security and environmental peacebuilding programming supported by the Peacebuilding Fund, and suggests guidance for future investments in climate, peace and security efforts in fragile and conflict affected contexts. Some of the key findings and recommendations include:
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Cross-border and regional approaches: Due to transnational nature of climate, peace and security threats, cross-border and regional approaches are key, and the PBF has been a leading actor in supporting such interventions. Cross-border climate, peace and security programming should have a greater focus on building political engagement around the issue.
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Risk-tolerant approach: Of the 10 countries that received the most PBF climate, peace and security and environmental peacebuilding funding between 2017-2021, nine were among the most vulnerable to climate change (ND GAIN Index), and six countries were ranked among the most fragile states (Fragile States Index). The PBF is willing to invest in areas or situations that other donors might first deem too risky. Effective PBF investments can offer ‘proof of concept’ that other climate funds and donors can consider scaling up.
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Co-benefits of climate, peace and security: Investments in climate, peace and security and environmental peacebuilding approaches, including improvements to agriculture and natural resource infrastructure, get to the heart of what many communities view as both their most pressing human security concerns, and the factors that contribute to persistent conflict and competition. Greater investment in climate, peace and security and environmental peacebuilding, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, should be encouraged.
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Gender-climate-peace-security nexus: Many projects utilize natural resource management or localized climate adaptation as an entry point for greater inclusion of women and youth in local governance and decision-making processes. Greater support to learning in this field and pushing projects to interrogate the synergies between climate and environmental-related components on one hand, and gender equality and women’s empowerment goals on the other, is still necessary.
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Reinforcing project design, learning, and innovation: While it is important to continue to reinforce existing guidance on project design, monitoring, and evaluation, it is critical to promote flexible project implementation and encourage check-ins or referrals back to the theory of change throughout the project cycle to strengthen learning and reflection on the relatively new field of climate-peace-security programming.
Find out more about the Thematic Review, including the report, executive summary and highlights (available in English, Spanish and French).
The CSM also supports a Thematic Review on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) commissioned by PBSO and undertaken by UNU (to be published in early 2025). It will distill key results and lessons learned and provide practical recommendations on how the Peacebuilding Fund, PBSO, as well as UN and civil society partners can continue advancing the implementation of the YPS agenda more effectively. One cohort of projects reviewed is dedicated to youth engagement in climate, peace and security and environmental peacebuilding and examines 12 initiatives in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Honduras, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Somalia. The review builds on findings and recommendations from past and ongoing PBSO-wide exercises, including the CSM-supported Thematic Review on Climate Security and Peacebuilding.