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SIPRI at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27)

SIPRI at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27)
Photo: Flickr/UNclimatechange

SIPRI will actively engage in several events at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27). The conference is held on 6–18 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

On 11 November, SIPRI will co-host the online side event ‘Climate-resilient Food Systems and Peace: Exploring the Interconnections’. This solution-orientated event will identify policies that drive climate-resilient food systems and raise global awareness on the interlinkages between climate, food security and peace. Led by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the side event is co-organized by Fighting Food Crises along the HDP Nexus Coalition, Climate-resilient Food Systems Alliance, and Switzerland.

Also on 11 November, SIPRI will host the session ‘Creating an Environment of Peace from the Ground up’. Drawing upon the findings of SIPRI’s recent Environment of Peace report, this session will explore the role of civil society in enabling a green transition that is both just and peaceful. In conversation with members of the Environment of Peace youth panel, the session will discuss how well-designed climate action can contribute to building peace and vice versa. The discussion will be moderated by Claire McAllister, Project Lead for the Environment of Peace initiative.

As part of the UNFCCC Action Hub, SIPRI will host the session ‘Enabling Peaceful Resilience in a New Era of Risk’ on 12 November. The session will feature three of the Environment of Peace youth expert panellists and will discuss meaningful climate adaptation measures, including nature-based solutions, that foster peace and support ecosystem protection and restoration. It will discuss the preconditions for avoiding emerging conflict risks, safeguarding peace and ensuring security for affected indigenous and local communities. The session will be broadcast here. More information about Action Hub events is available here.

On 12 November, Dan Smith, SIPRI Director, will speak at the session ‘Navigating the Current Food Crisis at the Nexus between Climate, Conflict and Food Security—Exploring the Multiple Solutions Space’ at the Resilience Hub. Organized by SIPRI, the Stockholm Hub on Environment, Climate and Security, the World Resources Institute, the Global Resilience Partnership and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the event will explore a diversity of perspectives on the types of action needed to avoid the most negative scenarios of the current food crisis and the food–climate–conflict nexus.

Finally, on 16 November, SIPRI will host the virtual event ‘Environment of Peace: Securing a Just and Peaceful Transition in a New Era of Risk’. The much-needed transition to a green economy offers many opportunities to contribute to peace, but only if the risks of transition are understood and managed properly. These risks go from the global to the local, from geopolitical competition over resources to the success of adaptation and conservation projects. Drawing upon findings in the recently published Environment of Peace report, this event will discuss how to ensure that the green transition is as just and as peaceful as possible.