A recent data released ahead of the COP31 climate change conference in Antalya, Türkiye, a major report from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reveals that three in four forcibly displaced people—amounting to nearly 90 million individuals live in nations facing high-to-severe exposure to climate hazards like prolonged droughts, severe floods, and extreme heatwaves.
Injustice:
UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Antón Leis García emphasized that displaced populations face a profound systemic injustice—having been forced to flee conflict and persecution they did not cause, they now find themselves on the frontlines of a climate crisis they contributed least to.
Threat to Safe Returns:
The report underscores that shifting climate patterns are actively jeopardizing sustainable, long-term solutions.
More than two-thirds of refugees who managed to return home in early 2026 returned directly to highly climate-vulnerable areas, risking secondary displacement.
The report said, nearly three-quarters of the world’s forcibly displaced people are living in countries such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh that are exposed to severe climate-related risks, according to the report by the agency, known as UNHCR, published ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Turkey.
“Refugees often have limited access to cooling, water and reliable energy, making it harder to escape dangerous temperatures,” the report said.
UNHCR also warned that a forecast supersized El Niño could worsen climate-related risks in many refugee-hosting countries and trigger further displacement.
In East Africa, severe flooding could displace up to 3 million people in Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda by the end of this year, UNHCR said.
In the Sahel, drought, flooding and conflict could intensify competition over scarce resources, while parts of Asia face heightened risks of droughts, floods and cyclones.
UNHCR called on governments and climate-finance institutions meeting at COP31 to increase funding for climate adaptation, highlighting that only about 10% of climate finance reaches fragile or conflict-affected countries.
The findings show the overlap between conflict, displacement and climate change.
The Financing Gap:
Fragile, conflict-affected nations which host massive populations of displaced people continue to be locked out of essential global support, receiving only a small fraction (around 10%) of international climate finance.
The COP31 Call to Action:
The UNHCR is pressing global leaders and governments meeting at COP31 to deliberately integrate refugees, stateless people, and vulnerable host communities into national climate plans and direct financing mechanisms.
“Climate adaptation in fragile and displacement-affected areas is a matter of survival,” said Anton Leis Garcia, UNHCR’s assistant high commissioner for operations.
“We need climate financing to reach the communities where the needs are greatest,” he added.
