PS Dr. Korir Singoei delivers a speech during the Berlin Climate and Security Conference in Nairobi on July 6, 2023.
The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, the German Federal Foreign Office, and Adelphi collaborated to host the first-ever African edition of the Berlin Climate and Security Conference (BCSC), which took place in Nairobi on July 6, 2023.
The Annual Conference, which had its first iteration in 2019, has grown into the largest gathering place for governments, international organizations, specialists, and practitioners who are working to better address the effects of climate change on global peace and security through diplomacy, development, and defense approaches.
The conference concentrated on exchanging best practice examples from Africa, progress in multilateral engagement on climate security, and strengthening synergies between multilateral initiatives like Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace (CRSP) and Climate for Peace (C4P) to ensure climate, peace, and security risks. This was done in the run-up to the Africa Climate Summit in September and to continue the momentum of Africa’s common position and integration into international fora like COP28.
The conference brought together specialists to better understand these difficulties and aimed to promote agreements and outcomes that better climate financing that is conflict-sensitive, informed by climate risk, easier to access to reach those most affected, find better linkages across sectors and regions, and scale up intra-regional learning.
The conference was officially opened by the Prime Cabinet Secretary H.E. Musalia Mudavadi accompanied by Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs Dr. Korir Sing’Oei as well as the German Secretary of State and Special Envoy for International Climate Action H.E. Jennifer Morgan.
In his opening remarks, the Prime CS mentioned that although Africa emits the fewest greenhouse emissions, it is the region most affected by their effects. He pointed out that the continent’s abundant untapped natural resources, especially its potential for renewable energy, along with its young and rapidly expanding labor population, make it a very cost-competitive site for setting up green manufacturing and industrial capacity as well as for mass carbon removal.
Principal Secretary Dr. Singoei, in his remarks, stated that “Climate Change is a threat multiplier and has become a major threat to peaceful co-existence among communities within and across borders.”