On 7 April, SRSG Parfait Onanga-Anyanga participated in the Geneva-Addis Ababa Peace Dialogue on Climate, Peace and Security, organized by the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and Amani Africa, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The “Geneva Peace Week Meets” initiative is designed to strengthen collaboration between multi-lateral hubs engaged in peacebuilding, bringing together key actors working on sustaining peace across institutions and geographies.

SRSG Parfait participated in a high-level panel on Climate, Peace and Security alongside the Swiss Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament and Deputy Head of the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Julien Thöni; Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, Ms. Ko Barrett; Climate Diplomacy Expert and former AU Commission Advisor, Ms. Faten Aggad; and the Director of the IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre , Dr. Abdi Fidar.

The dialogue highlighted the complex and growing climate security risks across the African continent, including competition over natural resources, extreme weather events, prolonged droughts, water stress, food insecurity, and other climate-related shocks.

Participants underscored the importance of strengthening collaboration, building sustainable partnerships, enhancing institutional capacity, and adopting holistic approaches to climate-security prevention and response. The African Union’s leadership in developing a Common African Position on Climate, Peace and Security was recognized as a significant and precedent-setting initiative. Once adopted, it is expected to offer a comprehensive framework for addressing the root causes of conflict and advancing climate resilience in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

In his intervention, SRSG Parfait highlighted the role of the United Nations Climate Security Mechanism in supporting regional climate-security coordination, including through the deployment of Climate Security Advisors. He also presented the support of UNOAU in advancing the climate security agenda at the African Union level and reaffirmed UNOAU’s commitment to continue supporting this work.