Search for Common Ground, the world’s largest peacebuilding organization, welcomes the release of the Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace, supported by 70 countries at COP28. This significant step forward, along with the first-ever day dedicated to relief, recovery, and peace as part of the official COP agenda, marks a crucial acknowledgment of the critical link between climate action and peacebuilding on a global stage.
Search for Common Ground is pleased to see that the Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace emphasizes increasing climate adaptation funding in fragile and conflict-affected settings, as well as the inclusion of local populations in decision-making processes. This new commitment provides a great opportunity, given that climate programs often seek to address problems which drive conflict in the first place, such as water supply, making them entry points for peace. Recognizing this positive momentum, the organization calls for sustained attention to the connection between climate and conflict as well as the opportunity to use climate programs as an entry point for peace, both during this COP and in the ongoing discourse surrounding solutions for renewable energy and the green transition.
“The Declaration and the many discussions on renewable energy and the green transition often miss an explicit acknowledgment of the need for a conflict-sensitive approach,” said Inge Brees, Policy and Outreach Manager at Search for Common Ground. “The mining required for the critical green transition has a large risk of bringing about adverse environmental and human consequences, such as exploitation and land clearance. The majority of these raw material reserves are located in countries already at considerable risk of conflict.”
Search for Common Ground urges a conflict-sensitive approach to the green transition, emphasizing the need to ensure that populations in mining areas benefit from the global interest in their resources. The organization stresses that a conflict-sensitive approach to material extraction is not a luxury but a must in the green transition and beyond.
