Confronting escalating threats: adapting stabilisation for Africa’s 21st century security challenges

Over the last two decades, the United Nations, the African Union and Regional Economic Communities have conducted various stabilisation interventions to establish secure environments during crises and advance stabilisation activities in different parts of Africa. However, while these organisations and other actors work to resolve crises, the progress made in addressing existing conflicts that threaten overall security is also at risk due to the impact of climate change in various regions of the continent. This has led to significant challenges for vulnerable local communities, particularly in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, as they face the effects of climate change –,such as floods, droughts and land degradation. This article explores the understanding and implementation of stabilisation and Climate, Peace and Security (CPS) across Africa. We find that there is a need to rethink how we tackle challenges such as climate, peace and security in African-led stabilisation contexts. We argue that existing models are inadequate for dealing with emerging challenges in stabilisation contexts, and provide fresh thinking on addressing African peace and security challenges from a holistic perspective. We propose a conceptual framework that integrates the rationale of stabilisation and CPS to address the emerging 21st-century CPS challenges in Africa. This proposal aims to enhance our understanding of how stakeholders can stabilise situations in the presence of climate change challenges, thereby better equipping communities and stakeholders to manage risks.