Building Forward Better - A Pathway to Climate-Resilient Development in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations

This SPARC-funded report, launched at COP28 in December, argues for a new way of thinking about and delivering the climate agenda in fragile and conflict-affected situations.

People living in places affected by fragility and/or violent conflict are among the most vulnerable in the world to climate change. In these situations, a natural hazard – such as a flood or a drought – can quickly trigger disasters and exacerbate protracted crises. Unless these countries transition to climate-resilient development, the gap between humanitarian needs and funding will continue to grow, locking countries into a vicious cycle of perpetually coping with crises.

Produced by ODI as part of SPARC's technical assistance, Building Forward Better: a pathway to climate-resilient development in fragile and conflict-affected situations argues that to build true climate resilience in fragile and conflict-affected contexts will require a transformation in the way humanitarian, development, peacebuilding, disaster risk management and climate adaptation actors work. This Framing Note, released at COP28, argues for a new way of thinking, delivering and financing humanitarian, development, peacebuilding, disaster risk management and climate adaptation action in fragile and conflict-affected situations: one in which programmes and investments by all actors are linked, layered and sequenced in such a way that they mutually reinforce and support each other, and are informed by a clear understanding of the drivers of conflict and climate risks.

Key messages of the report, which takes lessons from SPARC's research, include: addressing the underlying drivers of fragility (including conflict, instability, poverty and weak political institutions) to drive the climate agenda; the need for stakeholders to move towards climate-resilient development, i.e. ‘Building Forward Better’; requires new way of working from the multilateral development system (including humanitarian aid, development, peacebuilding, disaster risk management, and climate change actors); necessary changes to the ways these actors design, implement and monitor programmes; embracing existing tools and good practice principles to enable Building Forward Better.