At the Berlin Climate and Security Conference 2026, UNIDIR, adelphi and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund will co-host a breakout session examining the links between climate-related insecurity and violent extremism, drawing on research, policy developments and field-based experience from affected regions.
Climate and environmental change are reshaping the contexts in which violent extremist and terrorist groups operate. While climate-related pressures rarely drive conflict directly, they can exacerbate governance challenges, deepen livelihood insecurity and intensify competition over resources, creating conditions that armed groups can exploit. Recent research points to increasingly complex and context-specific ways in which these groups adapt their recruitment strategies, governance practices and operational tactics in response to environmental and climate-related stresses.
As understanding of this nexus evolves, a pressing challenge remains: how can governments, practitioners and local communities translate emerging evidence into effective policy and programming?
Participants will explore what climate-informed approaches to preventing and countering violent extremism can look like in practice, how climate adaptation interventions may inadvertently create new security risks and what concrete steps organizations can take to better account for these dynamics in their work.
Speakers
- Lukas Rüttinger, Senior Advisor, adelphi
- Andre Alves dos Reis, Head of Performance and Impact, Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund
- Siobhan O’Neil, Head of the Managing Exits from Armed Conflict Project, UNIDIR
- Aisha Omar, Field Manager, Horn of Africa Peace Network
- Tendai Kasinganeti, Climate, Peace and Security Advisor, United Nations Office to the African Union
When and where
Tuesday, 6 October 2026 | 11:00–12:30 CEST | Breakout room 1, German Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany
Participants
The event is invitation-only.
In partnership with
