Climate change and disaster displacement

Safe and sustainable solutions for displaced people are becoming harder to achieve as climate change adds to degraded and dangerous conditions in areas of origin and refuge.

From catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and parts of the Sahel, to relentless drought and suffering in Afghanistan, Madagascar and the Horn of Africa, millions were displaced in 2022 alone.

The climate crisis is a human crisis

The climate crisis is driving displacement and making life harder for those already forced to flee. Entire populations are already suffering the impacts of climate change, but vulnerable people living in some of the most fragile and conflict-affected countries are often disproportionately affected.

Refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and stateless people are on the frontlines of the climate emergency. Many are living in climate “hotspots”, where they typically lack the resources to adapt to an increasingly hostile environment. 

UNHCR is providing protection and assistance to many refugees and other people displaced by the effects of climate change, as well as helping them increase their resilience to future disasters.

The impacts of climate change are numerous and may both trigger displacement and worsen living conditions or hamper return for those who have already been displaced. Limited natural resources, such as drinking water, are becoming even scarcer in many parts of the world that host refugees. Crops and livestock struggle to survive where conditions become too hot and dry, or too cold and wet, threatening livelihoods. In such conditions, climate change can act as a threat multiplier, exacerbating existing tensions and adding to the potential for conflicts.

Hazards resulting from the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as abnormally heavy rainfall, prolonged droughts, desertification, environmental degradation, or sea-level rise and cyclones are already causing an average of more than 20 million people to leave their homes and move to other areas in their countries each year.

Some people are forced to cross borders in the context of climate change and disasters and may in some circumstances be in need of international protection. Refugee and human rights law therefore have an important role to play in this area.

The Global Compact on Refugees, affirmed by an overwhelming majority in the UN General Assembly in December 2018, directly addresses this growing concern. It recognizes that “climate, environmental degradation and disasters increasingly interact with the drivers of refugee movements”.

We need to invest now in preparedness to mitigate future protection needs and prevent further climate caused displacement. Waiting for disaster to strike is not an option.

How does climate change affect refugees and IDPs? How does UNHCR help?

• In 2020, UNHCR deployed teams to assist relief efforts in Central America and southern Mexico, where an estimated three million people had been affected by Hurricane Eta – one of the worst weather-related disasters in the region in the past two decades. When Tropical Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in March 2019, UNHCR relocated refugee families to safer shelters and provided them with tents, plastic sheeting, sanitation equipment and clean water. Similarly, UNHCR has been helping Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh to mitigate the effects of monsoon storms, flooding and landslides.
   
• People already displaced for reasons other than disasters linked to hazards – including refugees, stateless people, and the internally displaced – often reside in climate change “hotspots” where they may be exposed to secondary displacement and reduced chances of being able to return home. This is the case in the Sahel region, which is facing one of the fastest growing displacement crises in the world. In this region, intense and largely indiscriminate violence perpetrated by armed actors has forced almost 3 million people to flee both within countries and across borders. This growing humanitarian and protection emergency is exacerbating pre-existing challenges faced by the region, including climate change and environmental degradation.
   
• UNHCR plays a leading role in the Global Protection Cluster for protecting and assisting people who are forcibly displaced inside their countries and cannot safely return home. When called upon to intervene, the organization can deploy emergency teams to support registration, documentation, family reunification and the provision of shelter, basic hygiene and nutrition.
   
• Through its participation in global policy processes, UNHCR has enhanced its role in raising awareness about climate change as a driver of displacement and the need to address protection for refugees and other people displaced in the context of disasters. Since 2015, as a standing invitee to the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) and a member of its advisory group, UNHCR has strengthened its collaboration with States, partners such as IOM, UNDRR, UNFCCC, WMO, UNDP and other key actors, to respond to these challenges.
   
• PDD is a State-led initiative in support of the implementation of the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda on cross-border disaster displacement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Paris Agreement. Areas of cooperation include policy coherence, knowledge sharing, awareness raising, support to operations, legal and normative guidance, support to disaster risk reduction, climate action, clean energy and environmental sustainability, with the issuing of the Words into Action guidelines as the latest example.