Peace, Conflict, and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Processes

The document outlines how to integrate conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding into the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process, emphasizing the mutual reinforcement of climate resilience and peace. It identifies six enabling factors—leadership, data, financing, institutional arrangements, stakeholder engagement, and capacity development—and provides specific entry points across the planning, implementation, and monitoring phases to ensure adaptation actions do not exacerbate tensions and instead contribute to sustainable peace.

• There is a significant overlap between state fragility and climate vulnerability, with many of the most fragile states also being the most vulnerable to climate change. This creates a cycle where conflict erodes adaptive capacities, and climate impacts can exacerbate conflict risks by increasing competition over shrinking natural resources or undermining food security.
• Conflict-sensitive adaptation is viewed as a spectrum ranging from 'conflict-blindness' to 'peacebuilding'. While conflict sensitivity focuses on 'working in' conflict to minimize harm and avoid exacerbating tensions, peacebuilding focuses on 'working on' conflict by specifically addressing root causes to generate peace-related outcomes.
• Aligning NAPs with peacebuilding agendas is beneficial because both processes share drivers of vulnerability (such as poverty and inequality), operate on similar medium- to long-term timelines, and rely on strengthened governance and participatory, country-owned processes for success.
• Conflict-affected states face severe climate data deficits due to the destruction of infrastructure, such as weather stations, and the loss of technical personnel during violence. This gap hinders the ability to accurately assess vulnerabilities and design effective adaptation interventions.
• International climate financing is disproportionately low in fragile states compared to non-fragile states. Between 2014 and 2021, financing for climate mitigation and adaptation in fragile countries averaged USD 10.8 per person, compared to USD 161.7 per person in non-fragile states.
• Effective conflict-sensitizing of the NAP process requires specific actions at key entry points: conducting a conflict analysis during stocktaking, integrating conflict considerations into vulnerability and risk assessments (VRAs), and designing adaptation options that specifically address peacebuilding co-benefits.
• Transboundary collaboration through the NAP process can serve as a tool for environmental peacebuilding, as shared climate challenges—such as the management of river basins or migration—can provide a neutral basis for dialogue and trust-building between neighbouring countries.
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) for NAPs in fragile contexts must be iterative and include a 'theory of change' to track how adaptation activities influence peace and conflict dynamics over time, rather than just measuring climate outputs.

APA

Crawford, A., Hammill, A., & Tadgell, A. (2023). Peace, Conflict, and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Processes. NAP Global Network. https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/napgn-en-2023-peace-conflict-nap-processes.pdf

Chicago

Crawford, Alec, Anne Hammill, and Anne Tadgell. Peace, Conflict, and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Processes. NAP Global Network, 2023. https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/napgn-en-2023-peace-conflict-nap-processes.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Crawford |first1=Alec |last2=Hammill |first2=Anne |last3=Tadgell |first3=Anne |title=Peace, Conflict, and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Processes |publisher=NAP Global Network |date=2023 |url=https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/napgn-en-2023-peace-conflict-nap-processes.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{crawford2023peace, author = {Crawford, Alec and Hammill, Anne and Tadgell, Anne}, title = {{Peace, Conflict, and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Processes}}, institution = {NAP Global Network}, year = {2023}, url = {https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/napgn-en-2023-peace-conflict-nap-processes.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }