Latest content: Environment and climate change

The ocean took centre stage at a high-level dialogue organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the UK Government during London Climate Action Week, with influential voices calling for all climate change negotiations to include the ocean commitments and outcomes as a matter of urgency. 

A new international initiative, Space4Resilience, has been launched at the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), marking a significant step toward strengthening climate resilience across the 56 Commonwealth member countries.

The Commonwealth Secretariat and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ahead of London Climate Action Week to enhance cooperation on climate- and disaster-resilient infrastructure across Commonwealth member countries.

Ocean ministers and senior officials met today in Mombasa, Kenya, on the margins of the global Our Oceans Conference, for a high-level roundtable to review Commonwealth progress in protecting the ocean. Two critical instruments guided this review, namely the Apia Commonwealth Ocean Declaration and the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement (BBNJ Agreement), which came into force in early 2026.

Op-ed by Commonwealth Secretary-General, Hon Shirley Botchwey

Sixty per cent of the Commonwealth’s 2.7 billion people are younger than 30 years old. Meaningful access to development and policy processes is a critical way to ensure that young people’s unique perspectives and ideas are heard and included in decision-making, and negotiation skills is a core building block.

Delegates from across the Commonwealth gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 28 and 29 May 2026 for the 8th Steering Committee Meeting of the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub (CCFAH), marking a decade of support to member countries in accessing climate finance and building resilience to climate change.

A blog by John E Scanlon AO. John is Australian and British, and lived in Kenya while working for the United Nations.

The Commonwealth Secretariat acknowledges that our land resources are facing a triple crisis: climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss. Growing evidence makes one thing clear, tackling these interconnected threats demands collective, co‑ordinated and integrated action on a global scale.

Within three different corners of the Commonwealth, nature-based solutions are proving effective in restoring water systems - positively improving biodiversity and the lives of people who live there.

In a major step towards strengthening support for semi-nomadic agro-pastoral communities in the transboundary Kunene River Basin of Angola and Namibia, the global Adaptation Fund awarded US$24.55 million to a regional climate resilience project. The Commonwealth supported the project through its Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub (CCFAH).

The Commonwealth Secretariat and Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation today announced a new partnership to accelerate ocean conservation for Commonwealth countries in Asia and the Pacific.

Opening remarks by the Commonwealth Secretary General, Hon Shirley Botchwey, at the Commonwealth Investment Network Summit on Tuesday, March 10 2026 in London.

Entrepreneurs from across Commonwealth small island developing states (SIDS) in the Pacific and Caribbean are presenting practical climate and economic solutions to global investors this week at the Commonwealth Investment Network (CIN) Summit.

In the heart of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, where the sprawling Durumi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp is home to thousands of people forced from their communities by conflict and chaos, a powerful new light known as the Lighthouse for Peace has dawned.

At the centre of this initiative is Stanley Anigbogu, a 26-year-old Nigerian energy innovator, who saw the IDP camp’s tangled walkways and makeshift shelters not just as hardship, but as an opportunity to foster hope and practical resilience through energy access.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Hon Shirley Botchwey, and His Excellency Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, recently announced a roadmap for collaborating on the establishment of a new Commonwealth Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity. 

The following statement was issued today by the Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Hon. Shirley Botchwey, on the devasting floods in Mozambique and across Southern Africa.

The Commonwealth Secretariat launched The Commonwealth Guide to Blue Bond Issuance at its inaugural environmental resilience day, held at Marlborough House. It is a practical, user-focused resource to help governments unlock innovative finance to protect the ocean while delivering benefits for people and nature.

The Commonwealth Secretariat today launched its Commonwealth Model Mining Feasibility Study Guidelines at its inaugural Environmental Resilience Day on Wednesday, 21 January.