Towards a Common Vision of Climate, Peace, Security and Migration in Zimbabwe

Compounded climate change impacts, fragility and displacement are major obstacles to sustainable development as they lock affected populations into a trap of increased vulnerability and human insecurity, leaving them less resilient and ill-equipped to withstand future shocks. In Zimbabwe, these phenomena increasingly co-occur with adverse consequences for food, land and water systems and dependent livelihoods. At the same time, they interact with pre-existing socioeconomic and political challenges and even create new ones to generate social dynamics that make peaceful community relations and social cohesion harder to achieve and sustain. This vision is reflected in the Government of Zimbabwe’s National Climate Response Strategy (2021), which acknowledges climate change as one of the biggest threats to the country and its people, undermining efforts to meet the country’s development goals.

Understanding the ways in which climate change, displacement and fragility interact and reinforce each other to affect peace and security is part of the country’s priorities and, thus, must be at the core of Zimbabwe’s policy framework across sectors. Hence, in its National Climate Response Strategy (2021), the government of Zimbabwe seeks to create a pathway towards a climate-resilient and low-carbon development economy in which the people have enough adaptive capacity and continue to develop in harmony with the environment.

The need to advance a responsive and evidence-based approach to climate-related risks to peace and security remains critical as Zimbabwe continues to experience devastating impacts of climate variability.

Zimbabwe has also experienced prolonged periods of droughts and water scarcity. On the 2nd of April 2024, the President declared a state of disaster following the El Nino-induced drought in the country.

The CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security team at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, together with the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Dispute (ACCORD), the Southern Africa Partnership for the Prevention of Conflict (SAPPC), are convening a two day workshop in Harare on the 27th and 28th of May 2024 at the African Sun Monomotapa Hotel as part of the CGIAR initiative on Fragility, Conflict and Migration (FCM). This workshop aims to bring together experts from government ministries, international organisations, civil society and academia to build a shared understanding of the peace and security risks that can emerge across various social scales as a result of the interaction of climate change impacts with displacement and other sources of fragility and identify priority actions towards a better alignment of humanitarian, development and peace responses. This is reflected in the government’s call for partnerships to increase knowledge and joint actions to address the compounded impacts of climate variability and change.

A common vision of climate, peace, security and migration in Zimbabwe will be produced as the main outcome of the workshop and will set the foundations for more coordinated and collaborative efforts to advance the Sustainable Development Goals agenda in Zimbabwe.