The Cairo International Centre for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping, and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Egypt hosted the first set of technical consultations to discuss elements of a potential initiative on Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace (CRSP). The initiative will be considered for launch under the Egyptian Presidency of the 27th UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) that will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November. Representatives from international and regional organisations as well as international financial and development institutions participated in the meeting, including UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Elena Panova, Deputy Representative of the UNDP in Egypt Sylvain Merlen, the African Union Commission, in addition to experts from the relevant Egyptian ministries and research centres also attended the consultations. Ayman Tharwat — Deputy Director of the Department of Climate, Environment, and Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — provided an overview of the priorities of the COP27, as well as the various initiatives put forward by its presidency. He also highlighted the importance of this initiative, stating that this would be the first time this topic is included at a climate change conference. For his part, Ahmed Abdel Latif — Director-General of the CCCPA — described the objectives of the initiative and its main pillars, which draw on the conclusions of the third edition of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development that ran from 21 to 22 June along with deliberations from other relevant forums. The initiative comes in the context of Egypt's leading role in advancing international cooperation to address climate change on the one hand and in strengthening and building peace internationally and regionally on the other. Panova highlighted that many countries that are affected by conflict are also very vulnerable to climate change, emphasising that the UN system is well-placed to support the knowledge agenda on the linkages between climate change and sustaining peace, leveraging the convening role of the UN to bring different actors — including NGOs — to the table. Merlen added that since climate change predictably strains natural resources and increases competition, sustaining peace requires reaffirmed conflict resolution mechanisms, information flows, and awareness. He noted that the consultations on the potential CRSP initiative are timely and of great importance to the UNDP, which is very pleased to collaborate with the CCCPA to bring it to fruition. The CRSP initiative focuses on Africa, as it is the most impacted by the consequences of climate change while contributing the least to this phenomenon. Concurrently, Africa is the continent witnessing the greatest number of armed conflicts and the focus of most peacebuilding efforts. In this regard, the initiative aims to implement a range of programmes and activities within four main axes — advancing the Climate Adaptation and Peacebuilding Nexus, building peace through climate-resilient food systems, accelerating climate finance for sustaining peace in Africa, and advancing durable solutions to the Climate-Displacement Nexus.
