The African Development Bank (AfDB) is intensifying investments to tackle the intersection of climate change and security risks across Africa, where nine of the world’s ten most climate vulnerable nations face overlapping crises of environmental disruption and armed conflict.
Officials from the pan African lender outlined expanded financing commitments during a November 14, 2025 roundtable discussion in Belém, Brazil, held on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The event explored strategies for building resilience against climate related security threats through coordinated international action.
Dr. Al Hamndou Dorsouma, AfDB Manager for Climate Change and Green Growth, highlighted the severe human cost of climate disasters across the continent. He noted that climate related emergencies caused 9.8 million new internal displacements within Africa during 2024 alone, demonstrating the scale of population movements driven by environmental crises.
Dorsouma cited irregular rainfall patterns, water scarcity, and altered migration routes as primary drivers of escalating conflicts between pastoral and agricultural communities. These tensions have intensified across Ethiopia, Darfur region of Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, and the Sahel, creating volatile situations where resource competition fuels violence.
The United Nations Office to the African Union, UN Economic Commission for Africa, and African Union Commission jointly convened the roundtable under the theme Adapting for Stability: Scaling Partnerships for Peace and Climate Resilience in Africa. Representatives from international organizations, development finance institutions, civil society groups, and other development actors participated.
Africa accounts for 12 of the 19 countries most affected by armed hostilities globally, while nine of the 20 nations experiencing institutional and social fragility are located on the continent. This concentration of conflict in climate vulnerable regions creates compounding challenges that traditional development approaches struggle to address effectively.
Nazanine Moshiri, Senior Advisor at the Berghof Foundation, emphasized the fundamental connection between climate action and stability. She stated that implementing climate projects requires peaceful conditions, arguing that efforts to combat climate change cannot succeed without addressing underlying security concerns in affected regions.
The AfDB has integrated fragility considerations throughout its operations through several mechanisms. The bank’s Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience provides overarching guidance, while the Transition Support Facility offers targeted assistance to countries emerging from or experiencing conflict situations.
The institution’s Climate Change and Green Growth Strategic Framework for 2030 establishes long term priorities that explicitly recognize how environmental pressures interact with governance challenges and security threats. This comprehensive approach reflects growing recognition that climate and conflict cannot be addressed in isolation.
In 2023, the AfDB launched the Climate Action Window with an initial commitment of $450 million dedicated specifically to supporting climate adaptation and mitigation projects in fragile and vulnerable countries. During its first operational year, the facility supported 59 projects valued at $386 million across multiple nations.
Dorsouma argued that investing in climate adaptation represents not only a humanitarian imperative but also an economically rational decision. He explained that research demonstrates every dollar spent on adaptation measures can generate returns ranging from two to ten dollars through avoided damages and enhanced productivity.
The bank has identified several priority areas where climate finance can simultaneously address environmental and security concerns. Water resource management projects reduce conflicts over scarce supplies, while climate smart agriculture initiatives help communities adapt to changing rainfall patterns without abandoning traditional livelihoods.
Civil society representatives at the roundtable stressed the importance of including affected communities in policy development processes. Charles Mwangi of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance emphasized that local actors must participate in defining national, continental, and global policies to prevent climate induced conflicts and injustices.
Mwangi argued that civil society organizations maintain closest proximity to communities experiencing climate security pressures, providing insights that government officials and international institutions cannot access through conventional channels. This grassroots perspective proves essential for designing interventions that address actual local needs.
The AfDB’s climate peace security initiatives operate alongside broader institutional commitments to scaling climate finance across Africa. In 2024, the bank committed $5.5 billion to climate action, representing nearly half its total annual approvals, with 60 percent of climate investments directed toward adaptation rather than mitigation.
Bank officials acknowledged that African nations contribute less than four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions yet host nine of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries while receiving barely three percent of global climate finance. This fundamental inequity drives the institution’s advocacy for dramatically increased international support.
The Climate Action Window specifically targets the 37 least developed and most fragile African nations, providing concessional financing and technical support to help governments implement climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. Projects funded through the facility focus on building resilience in communities facing both environmental and security pressures.
AfDB President Dr. Sidi Ould Tah has made climate action a central pillar of his Four Cardinal Points strategic agenda for the institution. This framework prioritizes climate resilient infrastructure, renewable energy expansion, and a just energy transition aligned with Africa’s development goals while maintaining low carbon pathways.
The bank’s engagement at COP30 in Belém includes advocacy for reform of international climate finance architecture to ensure developing nations receive adequate resources. African delegates emphasize that current funding flows remain grossly insufficient relative to adaptation needs and historical responsibility for emissions.
The roundtable discussion generated momentum for enhanced coordination among multiple stakeholders working at the climate security nexus. Participants identified opportunities for collective action to make climate finance more accessible and effective in fragile contexts, emphasizing national platforms as central mechanisms for delivering support.
Representatives noted that climate finance instruments must become more flexible and responsive to realities in conflict affected regions, where conventional project cycles and governance requirements often prove incompatible with security conditions. Simplified procedures and risk tolerance adjustments could unlock greater investment flows.
The AfDB has established partnerships with specialized agencies including the Climate Security Mechanism at the United Nations, enabling better analysis of climate security linkages and development of appropriate response strategies. These collaborations help ensure that projects account for complex interactions between environmental and conflict dynamics.
Officials emphasized that sustained collaboration across governments, development partners, and local communities will prove essential for building more resilient and peaceful conditions across Africa. No single institution possesses sufficient resources or expertise to address interconnected climate security challenges independently.
