COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace
climate.reliefrecoverypeace@cop28.com
Dear COP28 Presidency,
At CGIAR, we strongly believe that without peace, there is no end to hunger. Without food security, peace cannot last. And without climate-sensitive actions for peace and security, none of the food security, climate resilience, or peacebuilding efforts will succeed.
Food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis are at the heart of the problem and the solution. CGIAR’s mission is to transform food, land, and water systems to realize multiple benefits and transformative change across five SDG-focused Impact Areas: (i) Nutrition, health, and food security; (ii) Poverty reduction, livelihoods, and jobs; (iii) Gender equality, youth, and social inclusion; (iv) Climate adaptation and mitigation; and (v) Environmental health and biodiversity.
Within the Climate, Peace, and Security (CPS) space, we have developed a strong research agenda12 that aims to produce robust, scientific, policy-relevant evidence on how, where, and for whom climate is exacerbating common drivers of fragility and conflict, and to help policymakers design and identify solutions to mitigate the climate, fragility, and conflict nexus and transform climate action into an instrument for peace and stability3. This strongly aligns with the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace.
CGIAR welcomes the COP28 Presidency’s support of the CPS agenda and as CGIAR interim Executive Managing Director, I would like to offer CGIAR endorsement for the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace.
Our contribution to the operationalization of the Declaration will be threefold:
1. CGIAR commits to scaling up the CGIAR Climate Security Observatory, a decision support tool to help policymakers with targeting and prioritization, to more fragile and conflict-affected countries where climate-induced displacement is more prominent.
2. CGIAR commits to promoting resilience and sustainable livelihoods in fragile and conflict‐affected settings (FCASs) where in‐ or out‐migration pose development challenges through its newly launched Fragility, Conflict and Migration initiative.
3. CGIAR commits to help increase conflict-sensitivity and peace responsiveness of climate finance by launching at COP28 the “Climate Security Programming Dashboard for Climate Finance” and a series of Thematic Guidance Notes on Peace-Informed Programming. The two products will provide ready-to-use conflict assessments and tailored guidance to assist project design in international financial institutions and climate funds.
In addition, as part of our comprehensive engagement on climate change, in support of the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, CGIAR has been playing a leading role in the development of initiatives designed to raise climate ambition at future COPs and catalyze implementation on the ground. These initiatives include:
The main focal point for future communications on the Declaration’s operationalization will be Grazia Pacillo, Senior Scientist and co-lead of the CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security team of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (g.pacillo@cgiar.org).
Further details on these commitments are provided in the attachments to this letter.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Campbell
Interim Executive Managing Director
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1 This research agenda is led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security: https://climatesecurity.cgiar.org/
2 The CPS research is funded by two main ONE CGIAR initiatives https://www.cgiar.org/initiative/climate- resilience/ and
https://www.cgiar.org/initiative/fragility-conflict-and-migration/
3 See the CGIAR Climate Security Observatory: https://cso.cgiar.org/