The Peacebuilding Commission partners with the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) in peacebuilding and sustaining peace in Africa. The partnership, guided by the Joint UN-AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security, is rooted in comparative advantages, complementarity, and burden-sharing principles. Together with other frameworks, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the AU Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD) Policy Framework, and the extended AU’s Silencing the Guns Initiative, the Joint UN-AU Framework calls for closer collaborations, creating synergies and drawing on the comparative advantages of the two entities to enhance conflict prevention and peacebuilding measures. This entails collaborative efforts to identify and respond to possible conflict situations, including addressing the root causes and preventing the outbreak of armed conflicts.  It stresses the importance of joint initiatives, information-sharing, and regular exchanges between the United Nations and the AUPSC.

In line with the above, the PBC and AUPSC, since 2018, convene an informal consultative meeting annually to discuss current and emerging threats to peace and security and peacebuilding in Africa. The theme for this year’s consultative meeting focused on strengthening collaboration to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on peacebuilding, a topic that has become a global strategic priority. The meeting aimed at discussing the gaps and challenges posed by the adverse effects of climate change related risks to peacebuilding to help generate synergies in response mechanisms. The meeting, which was held on 28 November 2022, was co-convened by the Chair of AU PSC and the Chair of UN PBC and participated by members of the AUPSC and PBC and senior UN officials.

Discussions reflected a recognition of the impact of climate change on existing socio-economic vulnerabilities and serving as a potential amplifier of existing vulnerabilities, tensions, and conflicts on the continent, threatening the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063 as well as the AU’s flagship initiative – Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2030. The meeting underscored the urgency of remedial measures, noting that climate change impacts can rekindle disputes and reverse peacebuilding gains when left unaddressed.

The meeting also noted ongoing support and initiatives, including the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF)’s added value in promoting climate-sensitive programming. The PBF, for instance, provides catalytic investments into innovative community adaption mechanisms, revamping pastoral infrastructure to reduce conflicts between pastoralists and agriculturists, and cross-border peacebuilding investments in the cross-border areas of Burkina Faso-Mali-Niger in the Liptako-Gourma region. Also lauded was the recently launched Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace (CRSP) initiative at COP27, seeking to mobilize integrated climate responses that advance sustainable peace and development. They also welcomed the commemoration of the 2nd AU Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD) Awareness Week and commended the AU Commission for conducting the review process of the AU PCRD Policy Framework. They expressed appreciation and support for operationalizing the AU–PCRD Centre in Cairo, Egypt.

Moving forward, the meeting recognized that strong support from the international community should be maintained for the African initiatives addressing the adverse effects of climate change, namely, the Comprehensive African Climate Change Initiative (CACCI-Africa), the African Adaptation Initiative (AAA), the Climate Action Window of the African Development Bank, the African Renewable Initiative (AREI), Sustainability, Stability & Security Initiative (Triple S).

The meeting also reiterated the calls by COP27 for more sustained and predictable structural financing for assistance projects to address the adverse effects of climate change. Also, the importance of the meaningful participation of women and youth was noted, calling for access to finance in climate-linked peacebuilding investments to help women deal with the adverse effects of climate change.