Double vulnerability: the humanitarian implications of intersecting climate and conflict risk

This paper summarises current knowledge and analysis of the interactions between climate and conflict to set the scene for discussions at a global series of roundtables on ‘People’s experience of conflict, climate risk and resilience’ jointly convened by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and local partners. The roundtables will focus on people’s lived experience of conflict and climate risk in different parts of the world, and explore how humanitarian organisations and their partners can best support people’s efforts to survive, adapt and thrive.

Key messages

• Climate change is already affecting risks globally, including in areas of conflict.
• People in areas of conflict are often especially vulnerable to changing threats, shocks and stresses, for instance due to the lack of government protection and support, as well as limited and unequal access to resources. These pressures in turn may fuel further insecurity.
• While attention for the climate–security nexus has been growing, there has been relatively limited attention to the humanitarian implications of these changing risks.
• This is relevant not only for effective humanitarian assistance, but also in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement and the commitment for significant financial support to help the most vulnerable to manage changing risks – support which currently hardly reaches the most fragile contexts where vulnerability is most acute.