Over the past decade, climate-related disasters caused 250 million internal displacements, the equivalent of around 70,000 per day, or two displacements every three seconds. Returns to Syria and Afghanistan this year have contributed to less global displacement than in 2024.
Front line fighting
In a new report, UNHCR also noted that three in four of all those who have been uprooted now live in countries where frontline communities face “high to extreme” exposure to climate-related hazards.
“Extreme weather is putting people’s safety at greater risk; It is disrupting access to essential services, destroying homes and livelihoods, and forcing families – many of whom have already fled violence – to flee once again.”said Filippo Grandi, the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“These are people who have already endured immense losses, and now face the same hardships and devastation again. They are among the hardest hit by severe droughts, deadly floods and unprecedented heat waves, but they have the fewest resources to recover.”
Extended protection system
Around the world, refugees’ basic survival systems are already under strain, UNHCR warned.
In some flood-affected areas of Chad, for example, Newly arrived refugees fleeing war in neighboring Sudan receive less than 10 liters of water a day, which is well below emergency standards.
Evidence also indicates that by 2050, the hottest refugee camps could face almost 200 days of extreme heat stress a year. with serious risks to health and survival.
“Many of these places are likely to become uninhabitable due to the deadly combination of extreme heat and high humidity,” the UN refugee agency said.
Threat of African land degradation
It noted that 1.2 million refugees returned home by early 2025, but half of this number arrived in “climate vulnerable” areas. Meanwhile, UNHCR also noted that 75 percent of land across the African continent is deteriorating and that more than one in two refugee settlements are located in “high tension” areas.
“This is reducing access to food, water and income,” the UN agency insisted, driving recruitment into armed groups in parts of the Sahel, fueling conflict and repeated displacement.
Despite growing needs, funding shortages and what UNHCR calls “a deeply inequitable climate finance system” have left millions of people unprotected. Today, conflict-affected countries hosting refugees receive only a quarter of the climate finance they need, while the vast majority of global climate finance never reaches displaced communities or their hosts.
“Funding cuts are severely limiting our ability to protect refugees and displaced families from the effects of extreme weather,” Grandi said on the opening day of the UN COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil.
“If we want stability, we must invest where people are most at risk,” added the UNHCR chief. “To avoid further displacement, Climate finance must reach communities already living on the edge. They can’t be left alone. This COP must generate real actions, not empty promises.”
Key findings from the UNHCR report:
• Three in four refugees or people displaced by conflict currently live in countries facing high to extreme exposure to climate-related hazards.
• 1.2 million refugees returned home by early 2025, half of them to climate-vulnerable areas.
• 75 percent of land in Africa is deteriorating and more than half of refugee settlements are in high-stress areas.
• Almost all current refugee settlements will face an unprecedented increase in dangerous heat. By 2050, the fifteen hottest refugee camps in the world (located in Gambia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Senegal and Mali) are predicted to face nearly 200 days or more of dangerous heat stress each year.
• By 2040, the number of countries facing extreme climate hazards could increase from three to 65.
• Since April 2023, nearly 1.3 million people fleeing conflict in Sudan have sought refuge in South Sudan and Chad, two countries among the least equipped to address the growing climate emergency.