UNHCR Warns Three in Four Forcibly Displaced People Face Severe Climate Risks

Author: Nayan Bansal

November 10, 2026

HRRC echoes the warnings of the effects of climate change on forcibly displaced people reported by the UNHCR and urges international communities and national parties participating in the COP 31 meetings to consider them on an urgent basis. We support the principles enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention to protect the human rights of refugees and displaced people globally. We also demand high-income countries to provide the complete adaptation finance for the developing countries to meet their climate change responses appropriately.

Girls carrying water in Kibati camp, Democractic Republic of the Congo [Image credit: Julien Harneis/Flickr]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released a new two-part report on November 6 regarding the effects of climate change on forcibly displaced people. The report warns that nearly 90 million forcibly displaced people are living in countries facing high-to-extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. The hazards include severe floods, droughts, and extreme heat. Many of these displaced people have had to flee conflicts and violence in their home countries. The climate change hazards add to their vulnerability and require urgent actions to address the challenges. The report arrived in the wake of the scheduled 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Conference of Parties 31 (COP 31), in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9-20. Türkiye currently holds some of the highest numbers of forcibly displaced people in the world and the UNHCR has urged the COP 31 to focus on the climate risks of displaced people. 

The first part of the report highlights that “the consequences [of climate change hazards] are not experienced equally. Age, gender, disability, health, legal status, and documentation all shape people's exposure and their ability to respond.” On extreme heat, the report emphasizes that “by 2050, most refugee settlements and camps are projected to experience around twice as many days of dangerous heat each year.” The report argues that climate shocks can also contribute to a new kind of displacement and cites that four internal displacements due to weather related disasters occur every five seconds. 

The UNHCR aims to reduce the number of displaced people dependent on aid by 50 percent by 2035, known as its 50 by 35 vision. The aim of the vision is “to move beyond aid through greater self-reliance and pathways to solutions by 2035,” which includes voluntary, safe, and dignified return of the refugees to their home countries; achieving self-reliance through the right to work, move, and access the same services as nationals and inclusion in national systems; local integration through opening legal pathways by the host countries; and through third-country solutions such as “resettlement, labour mobility, education opportunities, family reunification, community sponsorship, and humanitarian admission open doors for protection and solutions.” 

Part two of the report discusses potential paths forward. By citing the example of UNIDOS in Uganda, the report emphasizes the importance of “locally led action.” Training displaced people to survive and earn their livelihood in their new location can reduce their dependence on external aid. 

Climate finance provides another way to improve humanitarian aid. Climate finance is money aimed to reduce emissions, enhance sinks of greenhouse gases (absorbing more gases than the amount released), reduce vulnerability and maintain and increase the resilience of human and ecological systems to negate climate change impacts. The report mentions that “fragile and conflict-affected countries receive only around 10 per cent of global climate finance” and emphasizes that “climate, development and humanitarian financing should work together, with humanitarian funding responding to immediate needs.” 

Finally, the report discusses the importance of international protection of refugees and displaced people through the enforcement of international law to reduce human rights violations. According to the report, the “UNHCR guidance on international protection in the context of climate change and disasters supports decision-makers and practitioners on presenting and assessing claims for protection” and that the international communities have to ensure that the 1951 Refugee Convention can be effectively implemented in these complex and overlapping situations. 

The recently released Adaptation Gap Report 2026 on November 4 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) stressed that adaptation finance, money used to increase resilience in the most affected but least resource-owning developing countries, is falling “short of needs, implementation remains constrained by institutional barriers, and losses and damages are mounting as climate impacts intensify.” The UNHCR urged international communities to increase adaptation finance funds before the start of the COP31. 

On November 9, Amy Pope, the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), argued that people would prefer to stay safe at home and those who are displaced want to return when they can, but to ensure it “takes long-term investment, not quick fixes after disaster strikes. What’s missing is investment at the scale needed. Every year we wait, more families lose everything. That’s why COP31 must deliver.” Furthermore, the IOM is “calling for urgent, long-term development and investment to help communities adapt and stay safely at home, before they are forced to flee.”

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Glossary

• Climate change - long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns

• Climate risks - The potential negative effects of climate change on various aspects of the environment, businesses and society.

• Commitments - An agreement or pledge to do something in the future

• Conference of Parties (COP) - The supreme decision-making body of the UN Conventions where members of state parties take part

• Constrained - To hold back by or as if by force

• Director General - A chief executive or administrator placed in overall charge of a bureau, department, or agency especially in a national government or organization with international orientation

• Displacement - Act or process of moving from a position; often a force always involves to it

• Extreme heat - Occurs when high temperatures and other environmental conditions create elevated risks for human health, ecosystems, infrastructure and livelihoods

• Humanitarian financing - Monetary and management assistance to save lives, alleviate suffering, and protect human dignity during and immediately after natural disasters, conflicts, and complex crises.

• Implementation - The process of making something active or effective

• International communities - The countries of the world considered or acting together as a group

• Practitioner - One who practices or is regularly engaged in a skillful activity

• Refugee - A person forced to flee their country because of violence or persecution