On 29 November Hafsa Maalim, SIPRI Associate Senior Researcher, participated in a hybrid United Nations Security Council Arria-formula meeting entitled ‘Climate, Peace and Security: Opportunities for the UN Peace and Security Architecture’.
In her intervention, Maalim reflected on the interlinkages between climate and security, drawing examples from the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Southern Africa and Central Africa.
‘There is a need for mediators, peacekeepers and peacebuilders to understand how climate change and environmental degradation impact their work, which in turn can assist these actors in climate-proofing their analysis, planning, programmes and operations’, said Maalin during her briefing. She further stressed that investment in climate adaptation is an investment in peacebuilding. As such, there is a need for scaled investments in adaptation that is targeted at fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
The Arria-formula meeting was organized by the Permanent Missions of Kenya and Norway to the UN and focused on broadening the Security Council's awareness of how climate, security and peacebuilding interact, and what additional tools the council should embrace. The discussion highlighted that peace and sustainable environmental practices at the local, national and global levels are mutually reinforcing.
Over the last two years, SIPRI and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) have supported the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs during Norway’s period as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, by generating timely fact sheets on the relationship between climate change, peace and conflict in countries like Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Mali, Somalia and South Sudan. Read more about the collaboration between SIPRI and NUPI here.
Hafsa Maalim is an Associate Senior Researcher and one of the lead authors of SIPRI’s Environment of Peace policy report. Previously, she served as Partnership Officer in the African Union Commission within the Office of the Commissioner, Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security.
Watch a recording of the Arria-formula meeting here.