Climate Change, Conflict, and Faith: How Religious Institutions Respond to Political Instability in Vulnerable Regions

Abstract

Global warming only makes political instability and social tensions in the vulnerable areas worse, as environmental stressors (drought, floods, and scarcity of resources) collide with ineffective governance systems. This paper analyzes how religious institutions have been involved to address the issue of conflict and political instability caused by climate. Based on a multidisciplinary literature review and case studies of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the study sheds light on the role of faith-based organizations and religious leaders in humanitarian relief, peacebuilding, and resiliency of communities. The analysis reveals some of the main processes by which religious institutions help to resolve the conflict, promote social cohesion, and adopt locally adapted climate resilience measures. The results show that although faith based actors can have special legitimacy and access to influential groups of communities of interest, they may vary in effectiveness based on the influence of institutional capacity, interfaith relations, and socio-political limitations. The research concludes that the incorporation of religious institutions into the climate change adaptation and conflict prevention strategies improves human security and sustainable development. This study adds to the further explanations of the overlaps between climate change, conflict and faith, providing insights to the several people who are interested in creating resilient communities in political and climatologically vulnerable areas, policymakers, humanitarian organisations and scholars.