Communiqué of the 1301st Meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, held on 17 September 2025, in Open Session on the Nexus between Climate Change, Peace and Security.

Abstract

The AU Peace and Security Council (PSC), at its 1301st meeting on 17 Sept. 2025, reaffirmed the nexus between climate change, peace, and security, recalling prior AUPSC decisions and strategies. It welcomed outcomes of the 2nd Africa Climate Summit, acknowledged climate change as a “risk multiplier” that worsens insecurity, livelihoods, food systems, and migration, and stressed coordinated action among AU Member States, RECs/RMs, African Climate Commissions, civil society, and partners. The PSC emphasized inclusive adaptation strategies integrating Women and Youth, stronger early warning systems with climate indicators, and the finalization of a Common African Position on Climate, Peace and Security. It called for operationalizing the Continental Mechanism for Disaster Preparedness, supporting sustainable cross-border transhumance, and mobilizing predictable financing for adaptation, loss and damage, just transition, and climate-security initiatives. The PSC urged strengthening African financing facilities, upholding UNFCCC principles, implementing the Climate Response for Sustainable Peace, and noted the ICJ’s 2025 advisory opinion affirming states’ legal duty to protect the climate. It welcomed upcoming African and global climate summits, underscoring the need for a unified African voice, and decided to remain seized of the matter.