Climate change and peacebuilding in Fiji

The Fiji component of the ‘Building Peace in Climate Change-affected Communities’ Programme, which was implemented from January 2020 until June 2024 by Conciliation Resources and its Fiji-based partners, Transcend Oceania and The Pacific Centre for Peacebuilding, helped to identify key climate change-induced challenges and conflict risks faced by rural and urban communities in Fiji as well as current and emerging climate change-related peacebuilding opportunities.

This practice paper presents analysis of climate change related conflict drivers and their relationship to governance in Fiji. The work focused on three levels: 1) long-term engagement of climate change-affected communities and informal settlements in Fiji; 2) strengthening of climate change-related peacebuilding resources and approaches of partner organisations; and 3) advocacy activities to connect community representatives with government officials as well as producing policy resources such as this paper.

Policy and programming implications from this work include the need to empower climate change-affected communities to have more agency; explore ways to make governance systems more effective and collaborative when managing the impacts of climate change; strengthen consensus-making and conflict management capacities for communities; focus on increased understanding and engaging with informal settlements; and continue sharing Fiji’s experience regionally to inform the implementation of the Pacific Regional Framework
on Climate Mobility.

Funded with New Zealand’s climate finance through the International Development Cooperation (IDC) Programme.