“Whether it’s floods sweeping South Sudan and Brazil, record-breaking warmth in Kenya and Pakistan, or water shortages in Chad and Ethiopia, excessive climate is pushing already fragile communities to the brink,” the UN company mentioned.
Over the previous decade, weather-related disasters accounted for 250 million inner displacements, the equal of round 70,000 day by day, or two displacements each three seconds. Returns to Syria and Afghanistan this yr have contributed to decrease world displacement than in 2024.
Frontline battle
In a brand new report, UNHCR additionally identified that three in 4 of all those that’ve been uprooted now reside in international locations the place frontline communities face “high-to-extreme” publicity to climate-related hazards.
“Extreme climate is placing individuals’s security at larger threat; it’s disrupting entry to important providers, destroying properties and livelihoods and forcing households – many who’ve already fled violence – to flee as soon as extra,” mentioned Filippo Grandi, the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“These are individuals who have already endured immense loss, and now they face the identical hardships and devastation once more. They are among the many hardest hit by extreme droughts, lethal floods and record-breaking heatwaves, but they’ve the fewest sources to get better.”
Protection system strung out
Around the world, primary survival techniques for refugees are already below pressure, UNHCR warned.
In elements of flood-affected Chad, for example, newly arrived refugees fleeing the battle in neighbouring Sudan obtain fewer than 10 litres of water a day, which is much under emergency requirements.
Evidence additionally signifies that by 2050, the most popular refugee camps might face almost 200 days of utmost warmth stress per yr, with critical dangers to well being and survival.
“Many of those places are more likely to develop into uninhabitable as a result of lethal mixture of utmost warmth and excessive humidity,” the UN refugee company maintained.
African land degradation menace
It famous that 1.2 million refugees returned house in early 2025 however half of this quantity arrived in “climate-vulnerable” areas. Meanwhile, UNHCR additionally famous {that a} full 75 per cent of land throughout the continent of Africa is deteriorating and that a couple of in two refugee settlements are situated in “excessive stress” areas.
“This is shrinking entry to meals, water and revenue,” the UN company insisted, driving recruitment to armed teams in elements of the Sahel, fuelling battle and repeated displacement.
Despite rising wants, funding shortfalls and what UNHCR calls “a deeply inequitable local weather finance system” have left thousands and thousands unprotected. Today, conflict-affected international locations that host refugees obtain just one quarter of the local weather finance they want, whereas the overwhelming majority of world local weather funding by no means reaches displaced communities or their hosts.
“Funding cuts are severely limiting our capacity to guard refugees and displaced households from the consequences of utmost climate,” Mr. Grandi mentioned, talking on the opening day of the UN COP30 local weather summit in Belem, Brazil.
“If we wish stability, we should make investments the place individuals are most in danger,” the UNHCR chief added. “To stop additional displacement, local weather financing wants to achieve the communities already dwelling on the sting. They can’t be left alone. This COP should ship actual motion, not empty guarantees.”
Key UNHCR report findings:
• Three in each 4 refugees or individuals displaced by battle are at present dwelling in international locations going through high-to-extreme publicity to climate-related hazards.
• 1.2 million refugees returned house in early 2025, half to climate-vulnerable areas.
• 75 per cent of land in Africa is deteriorating, with over half of refugee settlements in high-stress areas.
• Nearly all present refugee settlements will face an unprecedented rise in hazardous warmth. By 2050, the most popular fifteen refugee camps on the earth – situated in Gambia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Senegal and Mali – are projected to face almost 200 days or extra of hazardous warmth stress per yr.
• By 2040, the variety of international locations going through excessive local weather hazards might rise from three to 65.
• Since April 2023, almost 1.3 million individuals fleeing the battle in Sudan have sought refuge in South Sudan and Chad, two international locations among the many least outfitted to deal with the rising local weather emergency.
