Integrating climate adaptation and peacebuilding: capacity development in climate and conflict-affected communities

Abstract

The climate change–armedconflict interaction creates a reinforcing cycle where conflict increases vulnerability to climate change, and climate change impacts increase the risk of armed conflict, locking communities in a cycle of violence, vulnerability and climate change. To help break the cycle, we propose a new framework that integrates climate change adaptation and peacebuilding concepts to build synergistic capacities in conflict-affected communities. • Climate change and conflict reinforce each other in vulnerable communities. • Adaptation and peacebuilding often operate in separate policy and practice sectors. • Yet, there are overlaps that may be important to integrate these sectors. • Key overlaps include education, networks, employment, and healing. • A new framework is proposed to integrate adaptation and peacebuilding. Communities living in areas impacted by armed conflict are increasingly vulnerable to climate change. These communities experience forced displacement, destruction of infrastructure, militarisation of land and water access, and movement restrictions that limit their capacity to adapt. Climate change adaptation and peacebuilding interventions focus on building capacities to prepare for and minimise the impacts of climate change and conflict. Yet, these interventions have traditionally been implemented in separate policy and practice sectors, with limited cross-sectoral interaction. This study identifies some of the overlaps between climate change adaptation and peacebuilding and explores ways to integrate these areas to respond to cumulative and reinforcing climate change and conflict impacts. Using a two-stage case study in a region affected by climate change impacts and armed conflict in Colombia, including semi-structured interviews and document analysis, we find that although climate change adaptation and peacebuilding interventions are rarely integrated, they overlap in potentially synergistic ways. We find six major areas of overlap: (1) access to information, (2) education, (3) social networks, (4) employment, (5) environmental management, and (6) healing. We also find two gaps (i.e., areas that were a major focus in one type of intervention but were not present or considered in the other): (1) protection and/or safety and (2) socio-cognitive constructs (e.g., social identity, risk perceptions). Building on these overlaps and gaps, we propose a new synergistic framework to integrate climate change adaptation and peacebuilding. This framework provides novel insights into how to develop adaptation and peacebuilding interventions to prevent reinforcing cycles, whereby conflict increases vulnerability to climate change and climate change increases the risk of violent conflict. We argue that using this framework provides an important step to building resilience and peace, thereby preventing maladaptation and the increase and/or redistribution of vulnerabilities.