As prepared for delivery.

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen;

A warm welcome to this consultation meeting also on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme. It’s a pleasure to be a partner in this initiative that demonstrate our commitment to work together to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on sustaining peace and development.

Thank you, Ambassador Abdel-Latif, for all your distinguished efforts as we finally gather here today to move forward with COP27 Presidency Initiative “Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace, CRSP” which was launched by H.E the Minister of Foreign Affairs, along with UNDPs ASG for the Arab States and the African Union s for Rural Economy and Agriculture.

COP27 has achieved some remarkable firsts, most notably the agreement on the loss and damage fund. This initiative is also a FIRST.

CRSP is the first of its kind: it marks the first time a COP presidency has come forth with an initiative that examines the interlinkages between climate change and sustained peace & development.

We are proud to partner on this initiative with the COP 27 Presidency, and with our longstanding partner, the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping which we support in their activities in  conflict-affected and fragile countries through integrated approaches aimed at developing rapid and effective responses to the acute threats to peace and security in Africa and the Arab region

And let me recall a few points that were made at the launch of this initiative at COP27:

1 - climate action has co-benefits not only for development and environment, but also for peace, stability, and security. In many fragile and conflict-affected contexts, the technical solutions that renewable energy, adaptation and access to water offer, can also serve as key entry points to help mend the social fabric and ensure peaceful and resilient recovery

2-  Climate is hard security, is human security, and climate action is an opportunity for sustainable peace and development.

3 - In recent years, we have seen increased understanding of the climate, peace and security nexus. This includes by the UN Security Council, the African Union Commission, the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, NATO and the Aswan Forum among others.

As the largest implementer of climate action and sustaining peace within the UN system, UNDP has also a role to play:  

As part of the Climate Security Mechanism launched in 2018 (together with DPPA, UNEP, DPO), to be the catalyst and a critical first step by the UN toward institutionalizing efforts to address the climate, peace and security nexus.

UNDP’s work on climate security emphasizes climate-proofing conflict prevention and peacebuilding, ensuring that nature, climate and energy efforts not only do no harm, but also contribute positively to peace.

Through our newly established Climate Security Team, we continue to try to advance integrated approaches for climate, peace and human security. We are now providing technical support to 25 countries around the world.

 Delivering our Climate Promise, the world’s largest offer of NDC-support continues to support 125 countries, including 47 fragile and conflict-affected settings in enhancing commitments.

Ahead of COP27, UNDP in Egypt leveraged its convening role in support of the COP27 presidency through a support project generously supported by the European Union, Denmark, and Switzerland.

A project that brought together partners from the public and private, civil society, and academia to strengthen climate action in support of Egypt’s COP27 Presidency Team.

And We remain strongly committed to continue supporting the COP27 Presidency Team in its efforts to ensure the implementation of the Paris Agreement through initiatives in several priority areas, including renewable energy, climate change adaptation, and climate security.

Despite many efforts, there still exists a worrying gap between efforts geared towards mitigating climate change and those aimed at advancing sustainable peace. This can no longer be overlooked.

Climate-related security risks can undermine peacebuilding efforts and hinder peace and development gains.

As emphasized in the 6th IPCC Report on Climate Change 2022:  Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,[1] there is an urgent need to build synergies between climate adaptation and peacebuilding in order to holistically address climate-related vulnerabilities, fragility, and conflict risks.

UNDP also supports the CCCPA in its capacity as the Secretariat of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development as an institutional partner where in its third round, the deliberations emphasized that through inclusive and integrated climate planning, we can not only achieve development gains, but also mitigate climate induced risks on peace, stability, and development.[2]

Evidently, there is a need for a dedicated capacity and expertise to analyze and address the links between climate, peace, and security. And therefore, our discussion here today cannot be more timely.

CRSP is a manifestation of such deliberations that seeks to understand and map how climate change interacts with the drivers and dynamics of conflicts, by advancing integrated climate responses that contribute to sustainable peace and development in line with national ownership and context specificity

We are proud to partner on such a remarkable initiative with the Government of Egypt and CCCPA.

Thank you, Excellencies, esteemed guests, for joining us here today.

[1] https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6/wg2/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FullReport.pdf

[2] https://www.aswanforum.org/img-uploads/3168_04012552.pdf