Climate and security in Southern Africa: Pathways for resilience and peace

Despite significant societal transformations in Southern Africa driven by climate variability and extremes, there is a limited understanding of how these changes can erode social cohesion and undermine the stability and security of communities and societies. Consequently, resilience, peace and security continue to be treated in separate policy domains rather than interconnected priorities within climate governance frameworks. This fragmentation limits the effectiveness of adaptation and development interventions across Southern Africa. To draw attention to these issues and explore how to address them, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, in partnership with the Southern African Hub of the CGIAR Climate Security at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), organised a high-level conference in Johannesburg as part of the Climate Talks. This article summarises the key insights from the discussion and outlines possible next steps for simultaneously pursuing resilience and peace amid an intensified polycrisis in the region.