The Future of UN Peacekeeping in a Changing Climate

In a world spiralling toward greater instability—marked by a rising number of violent conflicts, increasingly dramatic climate impacts, and heightened geopolitical tensions— effective multilateral mechanisms for peace and security have never been more crucial. UN peacekeeping operations have served as a cornerstone of international conflict management since 1948. They now face unprecedented challenges at the intersection of traditional security threats and emerging climate-related risks. 

While UN peacekeeping has evolved significantly over seven decades, adapting its mandates to address complex threats, like climate security considerations, remains incomplete. Though climate and environmental factors have been incorporated into mandated tasks nine times and are referenced in four of the eleven current peacekeeping operations, these efforts fall short of addressing the full scope of climate-related security challenges. The reshuffling of the geopolitical order combined with scepticism among key permanent UN Security Council members, institutional gridlock and financial constraints pose additional challenges for peacekeeping operations. 

This policy paper has three key aims:

Aim 1: Show how climate change impacts peace, specifically in the context of peacekeeping operations; 

Aim 2: Reflect on the challenges peacekeeping operations are facing in light of a new global context and increasing climate security risks; 

Aim 3: Provide concrete recommendations on how climate change considerations can be integrated into UN peacekeeping missions.

This policy paper is part of a compendium of policy papers by the Global Alliance for Peace Operations (GAPO), which comprises 8 separate policy papers written by different teams of peace operations experts and scholars as part of the GAPO civil society and expert input for the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial 2025 in Berlin. 

Read the papers here: www.peaceoperations.net/publications