90 million displaced people at risk from climate threats, UN refugee agency says

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🗞️ Driving the news: Nearly 90 million forcibly displaced people are living in countries exposed to severe climate risks, according to UNHCR
• Ahead of COP31 in Antalya, the agency is urging governments and climate-finance institutions to increase adaptation funding for communities facing overlapping crises of conflict, displacement and environmental degradation

🔭 The context: Nearly three-quarters of the world's forcibly displaced people live in countries vulnerable to droughts, floods and extreme heat
• Climate change is also undermining sustainable returns: more than two-thirds of refugee returns in the first half of 2026 were to countries highly exposed to climate hazards
• In Syria, returning communities face water scarcity and erratic rainfall, while settlements across sub-Saharan Africa face increasingly dangerous heat

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Climate change is intensifying humanitarian vulnerability, threatening access to water, shelter, livelihoods and safe living conditions.
• However, only around 10% of climate finance reaches fragile or conflict-affected countries, leaving many of the most vulnerable communities without sufficient resources to adapt

⏭️ What’s next: UNHCR is calling on COP31 participants to prioritize adaptation funding for displacement-affected regions
• Forecast climate extremes, including a potentially powerful El Niño, could worsen droughts and flooding, while severe flooding in East Africa could displace up to 3 million people by the end of 2026

💬 One quote: “Climate adaptation in fragile and displacement-affected areas is a matter of survival.” - UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Anton Leis Garcia

📈 One stat: 90 million people — the approximate number of forcibly displaced people living in countries increasingly exposed to climate-related risks, according to UNHCR

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