BCSC goes Nairobi

For the first time, the global forum Berlin Climate and Security Conference (BCSC) will take place in Africa, in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. BCSC-Nairobi aims to bring the international climate security discourse to Africa, strengthen the existing, rich community of practice, find better linkages across sectors and regions and ensure initiatives and tools in Africa are better represented in the global climate security discourse.

Since its inaugural edition in 2019, the annual Berlin Climate and Security Conference (BCSC) has become the global forum for connecting governments, international organisations, experts and practitioners, aiming to support their progress in addressing the impacts of climate change on international peace and security. To enable a truly global conversation, the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, German Federal Foreign Office and adelphi are organising the first ever African edition of BCSC in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 6. BCSC-Nairobi will help inform the climate security outlook ahead of the Africa Climate Summit and African Climate Week, which will inform the African regional position on climate ahead of COP28.

Background

The impacts of climate change are affecting African countries both directly and indirectly, particularly through intensifying existing political, peace and security, socio-economic and development challenges that especially affect vulnerable communities across the continent. There are also Africa-specific challenges. Efforts to adapt to climate change impacts have had limited success due to limited access to financial or material resources for humanitarian intervention, capacity, technology transfer and development towards a green transformative agenda. Therefore, it is crucial that these challenges are aired and that there is support for these efforts and approaches, as well as scaling up learning intra-regionally and strengthening institutional structures and implementation mechanisms.

Four strategic goals

Risk analysis tools, early warning systems and resilience strategies being implemented on the ground in Africa are abundant. At the regional, sub-regional, national and even municipal levels, there are countless initiatives which work to better understand and/or reduce the risks posed by climate change to peace and security. However, these initiatives are not adequately represented in the global climate security discourse, limiting the opportunities for the climate security community to learn from and where relevant and replicate existing good practices from the African context.

The purpose of BCSC-Nairobi is to spotlight the wealth of knowledge and expertise on climate and security risks across Africa, convening African experts, policy makers and implementation leaders to share, reflect and learn together. Continuing the momentum of COP27, the conference will focus on four strategic objectives:

• Sharing of best practice examples from Africa to explore the different entry points to address the interlinkages between climate security risks, food systems and sustainable livelihoods;
• Spotlighting tools, resources and capacities to advance integration of climate and conflict sensitive analysis and policies into operations and programming on the ground;
• Sharing engagement activities on climate security, with updates from the AU on the nascent Common African Position on the nexus between climate change, peace and security, inputs from the different RECs and regional UN offices (e.g. IGAD, UNOWAS etc.);
• Strengthening synergies between multilateral initiatives like Climate for Peace (Climate4Peace) and Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace (CRSP) to ensure climate, peace and security risks to Africa are a top priority on international agendas going into COP28.

BCSC-Nairobi will take place on July 6, 2023 at the Trademark Hotel in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The international conference is aimed at policymakers, decision-makers, climate security experts and practitioners from UN country offices, international organisations and civil society.

Contact: Alexandra Steinkraus, Analyst at adelphi