Introduction

Climate change has a devastating impact on societies and people in West and Central Africa. It threatens national and regional security, and affects stability in states and across borders. These phenomena also collide with existing challenges such as population growth, urbanization and environmental degradation, often alongside violent extremism and weak state capacity.

Disciplines such as climate change; climate, peace and security (CPS); and stabilization have all offered distinct approaches for tackling these compound efforts. Yet few discussions have focused on how these concepts evolved, where they overlap and where possible areas of synergy exist. This paper puts forward a conceptual framework synthesizing stabilization and CPS to provide new insights and thinking for practitioners, policymakers and subject- matter experts. It argues that the nexus and linkages between stabilization and CPS should be incorporated into an adaptive stabilization approach designed to deal with instability and insecurity more comprehensively. Finally, the paper aims to complement, strengthen and enhance existing work on stabilization and CPS for practitioners, policymakers and subject- matter experts.