Climate change, conflict and displacement
This edition of the Humanitarian Exchange, co-edited by Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) Research Fellow and interim HPN Coordinator Kerrie Holloway and Senior Research Fellow Caitlin Sturridge, focuses on the relationship between climate change, conflict and displacement in crisis settings. While the relative weight of climate change, conflict and displacement may vary, some combination of all three coexist in many, if not most, contemporary crises. Some causal links exist between each of these, but they are not inevitable and are obscured by wider pressures and inequalities. The individual challenges of each are amplified when they occur at the same time and in the same place. Contemporary crises are becoming increasingly complex and entrenched, with seemingly no solutions in sight for people affected by climate change, conflict and displacement.
Against this backdrop, the contributors to this edition critically reflect on some of the major issues and topics emerging from their work on climate change, conflict and displacement. Their contributions could not be more timely. The combined challenges of these three phenomena must be addressed collectively, yet deep-seated disconnects persist between the sectors, disciplines and geographies involved – between humanitarian, development and peacebuilding; between migration and displacement studies; between the social and natural sciences; between policy, practice and academia; and between the so-called Global North and Global South.
In their study on drought in South Sudan, Hilda Muteshi and Laban Ashioya Etindi advocate for integrated and long-term programming that spans the humanitarian–development–peacebuilding nexus. Also focusing on South Sudan, Kuach Pech and Natalia Chan provide insight into how a conflict-sensitive approach to the impacts of climate change and displacement could look, drawing on often overlooked community perceptions of local conflict dynamics, and Rebecca Bushby and Cedric Shingirai Regede call for sustained and flexible funding that bridges the gap between humanitarian and development financing, and which enables the incorporation of crisis response and prevention, as well as longer-term resilience building. In the context of water scarcity in Iraq, Imrul Islam and Thomas Wilson highlight the need for humanitarian agencies to work more closely and effectively alongside Iraqi authorities to develop national and governorate-level policies on disaster displacement.
This resonates with the finding that local voices and perspectives are routinely marginalised in conversations about climate change, conflict and displacement. Policy decisions and funding allocations are typically driven by the political preoccupations of international actors rather than the priorities and preferences of affected communities. Zahra Khan Durrani, Meshach Bwala and Sani Muhammed Ibrahim argue for the importance of localisation efforts in Nigeria. As the primary witnesses to climate-related changes, communities play a pivotal role in establishing early-warning systems, and enhancing preparedness for extreme weather events. With a focus on Afghanistan, Sameera Noori reveals how local communities and innovative grassroots organisations have stepped up as leaders, helping to fill some of the gaps left by international sanctions since the Taliban takeover. Zaki Ullah and Aaftab Ullah highlight the steps that internally displaced persons in Afghanistan are resourcefully taking to adapt their natural resources and livelihoods to the combined pressures of climate change, conflict and displacement.
Angela Cotroneo and Marta Triggiano explore the intersections between armed conflict, climate risks and mobility in Afghanistan, Mozambique and the Sahel, and argue that humanitarian actors need to recognise that mobility is an important coping strategy for people and a pathway to durable solutions. Also with a focus on mobility, Madison Jansen and Madina Yunis Mahat reveal how severe drought in Kenya is impacting pastoralist communities in Garissa County – causing some to adapt their migratory routes, and others to abandon pastoralism altogether and become immobile. Jane Linekar explores the narratives on climate mobility. She argues that the focus on prevention and securitisation is peddling fear and contributing to a failure to protect people on the move – thereby increasing their vulnerability.
Drawing on research in Ethiopia, Fekadu Adugna Tufa illustrates how the combination of climate change, conflict and displacement exacerbates vulnerabilities and complicates institutional responses. Aloysious Tumusiime shares this vulnerability stance in neighbouring Kenya and Uganda – calling for countries, especially those most responsible for carbon emissions, to demonstrate a stronger commitment to burden sharing and a greater respect for human rights. Helena O’Mahony considers the role of litigation as a promising and, as yet, underutilised mechanism for mobilising the international human rights system.
When it comes to international financing, Evan Easton-Calabria, Adeline Siffert, Joanna Moore and Eddie Jjemba argue that fragile and conflict contexts urgently need funding for anticipatory action if they are to move beyond an emergency mindset to one that focuses on self-reliance, resilience and livelihoods. Nanki Chawla and Garth Smith highlight several other challenges to ramping up anticipatory action, including a lack of cross-disciplinary action, data and local expertise. While anticipatory action has been widely applied to climatic events or disease outbreaks, they highlight a gap in using anticipatory action to inform conflict.
Kerrie Holloway and Caitlin Sturridge
Issue 84 articles
1. Too much and too little rain: food insecurity among displaced and host communities in South Sudan
7. Climate change adaptations in displacement: a case study from Herat, Afghanistan
12. The climate, displacement and conflict nexus: a snippet on its impacts on livelihoods in East Africa
13. Litigating the climate crisis: is the international human rights system the answer to the climate emergency?
14. Anticipatory action to build displaced populations’ resilience at the intersection of climate change, conflict and displacement
15. The global humanitarian system needs to adapt to the worsening climate crisis
