By Dele Ogbodo/Hillary Asemota
The Director, Nature for Resilience Programme at the international Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) the host of the National Adaptation Plan Global Network, Mr. Alec Crawford, during the week (May 5-7, 2026) in Abuja, has observed in the midst of Environment and Climate Change stakeholders and representatives from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Liberia, Mali, Somalia, and South Sudan that climate change impacts are unfolding alongside insecurity, violence, and displacement, and, of course, pressures on institutions.
Fielding questions from reporters at the sideline of the launch of the three-day peer-learning and knowledge exchange engagement at the Continental Hotel in Abuja, he said concerning the day’s gathering -what we have done is to bring together governments from across West Africa and the Horn of Africa to discuss ways in which climate change adaptation and peace building are linked to each other.
According to him, this can be better aligned with each other, and that we can ensure that climate change adaptation contributes to peace building outcomes across the region.
He acknowledged the links between climate change adaptation and peacebuilding, re-echoing that the meeting becomes overarching at a time when the intersection between climate risks, war, and conflict is no longer abstract.
He said: “To the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Salihu Usman, and our gracious co-hosts from the Government of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Environment, whose support in organizing this event has been so invaluable, and to our dear colleagues from Civil Society, members of the media, and other honored guests here today, you are all very welcomed to this peer-learning forum on NAPs and peacebuilding.
“We are very grateful to our friends and colleagues at the Government of Nigeria for their hospitality, and are very honored to be co-hosting this event with you this week, I also want to recognize the Government of Ireland, who, through Irish Aid, have provided the financial support to make this event happen.
“We are meeting at a time when the intersection between climate risks, war, and conflict is no longer abstract. In many of your contexts, climate change impacts are unfolding alongside insecurity, violence, and displacement, and, of course, pressures on your institutions.
“This is shaping not only what kind of climate adaptation is needed, but how it can be realistically planned and implemented. This has important implications for the NAP process.”
According to him, NAP processes themselves are often framed as technical exercises, but they are essential vehicles for countries to identify and address their medium and long-term priorities for adapting to climate change in an inclusive and effective manner.
He quoted the Ministry’s Director of Climate Change, Mrs. Adebowale-Awe, as saying that climate change is upon us. It is not something that will be happening in the future, but it is something that we are all struggling with now.
So the imperative for integrating climate change into not only development, but peace-building plans is paramount, adding that NAPs involve choices about resource allocation and about which risks and vulnerabilities are to be addressed.
Crawford, said: “At the same time, they also depend on coordination across parts of governments that do not always work together. In conflict-affected contexts, this is particularly complicated.
Adaptation, he added is competing with a host of other urgent priorities for funding, for resources, for attention, and for political capital.
“The NAP Global Network was founded over 10 years ago with the aim of supporting countries in the planning and implementation of their adaptation plans.
“Since then, and especially through the work that we’ve been doing with many of you in this room, we have seen how countries are starting to navigate this complexity in very concrete ways.
So here in Nigeria, as well as with colleagues in the Central African Republic (CAR), Niger, and Chad for example, we have been working on supporting efforts to integrate an idea of conflict sensitivity into the national adaptation planning process.
So how do you build conflict sensitivity into things like climate risk assessments? So looking not only at how people’s exposure and vulnerability to climate change and climate hazards, but also how these risks interact with local conflict tensions, patterns of displacement, and access to resources, he asked.
“How does conflict in and of itself also influence people’s vulnerability to climate change? In other contexts, we have seen the value in bringing together policy actors who do not usually sit at the same table?” He inquired.
Facilitating dialogue between those leading on adaptation planning and those who are working on security, stabilization, and peace building becomes necessary because as according to him these exchanges are not always straightforward, as I’m sure many of you have experience with. But they are essential if adaptation strategies are to be implemented in practice.
“And this is exactly why we are here this week.
“The question is not only how climate change adaptation can be delivered in contexts that are affected by conflict, but how it can be designed in ways that are aware of and responsive to conflict dynamics.
“And where possible, how climate change adaptation itself can contribute to reducing pressures that can lead to instability, (5:16) and how it can actively support and enhance peace building.
“There is, of course, no standard model for this. The realities across the countries represented here in this room, your countries, differ very significantly.
“And we will hear about that later today from you. But there is also a shared need to move beyond treating climate risk and fragility as two separate policy agendas.
“This is why we feel that peer exchange is so valuable. This forum is an opportunity for you all to move beyond formal presentations and to engage with your colleagues in honest discussion.
“Not only about what has worked, but where processes have perhaps stalled, where assumptions maybe did not hold, and where trade-offs have been difficult.
“As the NAB Global Network, our role is to support this exchange and to help ensure that insights inform future approaches, both at the country level and in how our international partners also engage with these processes.
“So let me close by emphasizing that adaptation in conflict-affected context is not a secondary issue. Climate resilience is very much at the heart of development and peace building trajectories.
“Approaching it with the necessary realism, flexibility, and openness to learning is going to be essential.”
Now, there are countries, for instance, Nigeria, just like as the Perm Sec mentioned, they have had a kind of complex environmental challenges in terms of clashes between farmers and herders, he added.