FAO.org

On Tuesday, 29 July 2021, FAO’s Dryland Forestry team hosted the webinar “Drylands: at the crossroads between climate change and conflict” as part of the Forestry Technical Network (FTN) series. The FTN is a network aiming to ensure a high standard of technical expertise through the promotion of innovative practices in FAO’s work with forestry by providing a platform to sponsor the exchange of ideas and experiences.

In-line with the FTN mission statement, the webinar goal was to provide a better understanding of the ways in which climate change in dryland regions can affect conflict and violence while discussing how FAO, together with other organizations, can adapt to those new challenges by strengthening forests to ensure food and climate security while also avoiding further degradation in drylands.

Building climate resilience in drylands

In her opening remarks, Tiina Vahanen, Deputy Director of the Forestry Division at FAO, reminded the audience that climate change is an emerging risk that we will have to cope with in the coming decades. She highlighted the fact that there is a serious and growing concern regarding land degradation and drought across the Earth’s land area. This is especially the case for drylands, which cover over 40 percent of the Earth’s land surface and are home to around 2 million people. Fidaa F Haddad, Dryland Forestry Officer at FAO, pointed out that drylands are disproportionately affected by climate shocks, environmental degradation, and conflict. Climate change impacts are already contributing to food insecurity, changing processes of radicalization and in some cases, challenging governments’ legitimacy with newfound consequences for peace and security. To address this challenge, Florian Krampe, Senior Researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), insisted on the importance of incorporating climate security into conflict prevention and resolution strategies.

Adapting to different contexts

Of course, interventions must adapt to different contexts. Sandra F. Joireman, Professor of Political Science at the University of Richmond, emphasized the crucial role of local land governance in the Sahel region, where local communities suffer from the combined effects of changing weather patterns, increased demographic pressure, land degradation and conflict. Moreover, based on his experience working in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps, Rajib Mahamud, Senior Forestry Specialist at FAO Bangladesh, then discussed the complex socio-ecological dynamics of conflicts and how land restoration could contribute to conflict and violence prevention. Building social cohesion and local accountability is also a key in conflict mitigation and resolution. Sheri Lim, Climate Change & Resilience Team Leader at CARE International, highlighted the importance of adopting participatory and gender transformative approaches to respond efficiently to local communities’ needs.

FAO’s contribution to the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus

To tackle this critical global challenge, better coordination is needed between humanitarian, development and peace actors. Julius Jackson, Technical Officer at FAO pointed out that as a dual-mandate agency, FAO finds itself uniquely positioned in relation to the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) nexus. In his closing remarks, Rein Paulsen, Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience, stressed that the challenges posed by those interacting risks are expected to get worse in the coming decades as environmental crises increase both in frequency and intensity. Director Paulsen then added that FAO, as the co-leader of the Decade on Restoration, will work on building more efficient, inclusive, and climate-resilient food systems to offer long-term sustainable and stable solutions to people in need, thereby reducing risks of conflict and violence.