UNHCR report: three in four refugees live in countries highly exposed to climate hazards

Three in four refugees, nearly 90 million people, live in countries facing high to severe exposure to hazards such as drought, floods and extreme heat. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said so in a report published Friday ahead of the COP31 climate change conference, which opens next week in Antalya, Türkiye. UNHCR also warned that climate financing is failing to reach many communities at risk. The report, No Escape III, finds that fragile and conflict-affected countries hosting large refugee populations receive only around 10 percent of global funding to address climate change. UN News reported the findings. The UN News summary of the report does not say which year the funding share covers.

Antón Leis García, UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, said refugees face a double injustice: they fled conflicts they did not cause and now live on the frontlines of a climate crisis they have contributed least to. He said that for millions, climate change is destroying shelters, undermining livelihoods and putting their hopes of rebuilding their lives at risk.

The report draws on the accounts of eight representatives of displaced communities. One of them, Monira Bahraldin, fled El Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region in June 2023. She now lives in a refugee settlement in eastern Chad, where climate shocks are an ever-present risk amid ongoing drought and persistent conflict. She told the authors that the dry season in Chad is much hotter than in Darfur, so the journey to fetch water grows longer just as her family's need for water rises.

The report also looks ahead. It projects that by 2050, one in three refugee settlements across sub-Saharan Africa could face at least 100 days of dangerous heat each year. UN News also reported that severe flooding linked to El Niño is expected to force three million people across Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda to flee their homes by the end of the year. In Baidoa, Somalia, displaced families in a camp live with the threat of flooding.

Returning home does not end the exposure. More than two-thirds of refugees who returned home in the first half of 2026 went back to countries that are highly vulnerable to climate hazards. In Syria, nearly four million people have recently returned to a country where declining groundwater and severe climate shocks threaten recovery after more than a decade of war. Flooding along the Euphrates River in May damaged homes and displaced thousands once again. Separately, nearly 90 percent of stateless people worldwide live in countries highly exposed to climate hazards, and many struggle to reach relief because they lack legal recognition.

The report also describes responses by refugees and host communities, including solar-powered water systems in the Sahel, climate-resilient agriculture in Uganda, and land and mangrove restoration in Colombia. Leis García said refugees are part of the solution, and that COP31 must be a turning point that recognizes their leadership and turns commitments into concrete investments reaching those most at risk.