Science in fragile settings: Reimagining the Alliance’s support in fragile and crisis contexts

At Alliance Science Week 2025, the Climate Security team of the Climate Action Lever convened a high-level parallel session event to reexamine the organization’s role in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Titled “Building an Inclusive Agenda for Peacebuilding and Humanitarian Support in Food, Land, and Water Systems,” the event brought together the Senior Management Team, Research Directors and a small number of senior researchers to build a shared vision for how the Alliance can strengthen peacebuilding and humanitarian support through sustainable management of food, land, and water systems in fragile and crisis-affected settings. 

Conflict and climate shocks are reshaping food, land, and water systems; not just in obvious hotspots but across regions traditionally seen as stable. Across the Global South, the Alliance’s work is increasingly intersecting with humanitarian needs, governance vacuums, and social tension. 

“Peace is not just the absence of conflict. It is the presence of systems that sustain it. Lasting peace needs resilient systems, and that means our science can’t stay in the lane of pure development anymore.”