90 Million Displaced People Live in Climate Danger Zones, UN Warns Ahead of COP31

Nearly 90 million displaced people around the world are now living in countries where the climate itself has become a danger, according to a new report from the United Nations refugee agency. That is three out of every four people who have been forced from their homes by war, violence or persecution.

The report, published by UNHCR on Friday 6 November 2026, lands just days before world leaders gather in Antalya, Turkey, for the COP31 climate summit. Its message is simple and stark: the people who have already lost their homes to conflict are now facing drought, floods and extreme heat as well — and the money meant to help them adapt is barely reaching them.

“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.”

What the UN report found

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, looked at where forcibly displaced people live and how exposed those places are to climate hazards. The overlap is now the norm, not the exception.

Nearly 90 million forcibly displaced people live in countries that are highly exposed to drought, floods and extreme heat. That is nearly three-quarters of all the people in the world who have been forced to flee their homes.

The report names Afghanistan and Bangladesh among the countries where the climate risks are most severe. Both countries host large displaced populations, and both are already living with the consequences of a warming climate — from floods that wash away homes to heat that makes daily life dangerous.

The findings show how closely conflict, displacement and climate change are now linked. A family that flees fighting may find safety from bullets, only to arrive in a place where there is not enough water, where floods destroy the shelter they have just built, or where the heat makes it hard to work, study or even sleep.

France 24, reporting on the same findings, noted that weather-related disasters have caused more than 255 million internal displacements over the past decade — about 70,000 people every single day. Climate change is not only a future threat. It is already moving people from their homes, again and again.

A week without safe water

Behind the numbers are people. The UNHCR report tells the story of a Sudanese refugee who fled fighting in al-Fashir in June 2023 and made her way to the Farchana refugee settlement in eastern Chad.

She told the agency that she sometimes goes a whole week without finding safe water. As the heat grows more intense and the seasonal riverbeds near the camp dry up, she has to walk longer and longer distances to find another source.

Her experience captures the double burden that displaced people now carry. They did not choose to leave their homes. They did not cause the climate to change. Yet they are the ones paying the price twice — first when conflict forced them out, and again when the climate makes their new home unliveable.

Water is at the centre of this crisis. In a refugee settlement, water means drinking, cooking, washing and staying healthy. When it runs short, families must choose between walking for hours to fetch it, paying money they do not have, or using water that may make them sick. For children and older people, that choice can be a matter of life and death.

Going home — to danger

The report also warns that climate change is making it harder for displaced people to return home safely and stay there.

In the first half of 2026, more than two-thirds of refugee returns were to countries that are highly exposed to climate hazards. In other words, most of the people who went home this year went back to places where drought, floods or extreme heat could force them to flee all over again.

Syria shows how this works in practice. Nearly 4 million displaced people have recently returned to Syria, according to the report. But they are coming home to worsening water scarcity and unpredictable rainfall. In May, flooding along the Euphrates River damaged homes and displaced thousands of people — people who had only just returned.

Return is supposed to be the end of displacement. When the place people return to cannot support them — when the wells are dry, the rains fail or the floods come — return becomes just another step in a cycle of being uprooted.

The heat is coming

The report also looks ahead, and the forecast is worrying.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, one in three refugee settlements could face at least 100 days of dangerous heat every year by 2050. That is more than three months a year when temperatures reach levels that threaten health and make normal life — working, farming, going to school — very difficult.

In some settlements in Ethiopia, including Helaweyn, dangerous heat could last for more than 200 days a year, increasing the risks of heatstroke and early death.

“Refugees often have limited access to cooling, water and reliable energy, making it harder to escape dangerous temperatures,” the report said.

This is what makes heat so dangerous for displaced people. It is not only that temperatures are rising. It is that the people facing the highest temperatures often have the least protection: no air conditioning, no reliable electricity, no steady supply of clean water, and shelters that trap the heat rather than keeping it out.

A settlement built for a cooler climate becomes a trap when the heat rises. And unlike a family with a home, savings and choices, a displaced family often cannot simply move somewhere cooler.

El Niño could make it worse

The dangers are not only long-term. UNHCR also warned that a forecast supersized El Niño — a natural climate pattern that warms the Pacific Ocean and shifts weather around the world — could make climate risks worse 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. These are countries that already host large numbers of refugees, and that have already been hit by both drought and floods in recent years.

In the Sahel, the band of countries across Africa south of the Sahara, drought, flooding and conflict could increase competition over scarce resources such as water and grazing land. And in parts of Asia, the risks of droughts, floods and cyclones are rising too.

El Niño is a reminder that climate risk is not spread evenly. The same global pattern can bring floods to one region and drought to another, and the places least able to cope are often the ones hit hardest.

The money is not reaching the people who need it

One of the report’s sharpest findings is about money. UNHCR called on governments and climate-finance institutions meeting at COP31 to increase funding for climate adaptation — the work of helping communities prepare for climate change, from building flood defences to securing water supplies.

Only about 10 per cent of climate finance reaches fragile or conflict-affected countries, the agency said. That means nine out of every ten dollars of climate money goes somewhere else — to places that are more stable, easier to work in, and better able to apply for funding.

A separate UN report, published on Wednesday, found that rich countries are falling well short of the $305 billion needed every year to help developing nations adapt to climate change, even as extreme weather becomes more frequent and more severe.

The gap is not just a number. It is the difference between a refugee settlement with a reliable water supply and one where a mother walks for hours to find water. It is the difference between homes built to survive a flood and homes washed away by one. When adaptation money does not reach the most vulnerable people, the cost is paid in health, in livelihoods and in lives.

What happens at COP31

The COP31 climate summit opens in Antalya, Turkey, on Monday 9 November and runs until 20 November. Governments, aid agencies and climate-finance institutions will be there to negotiate how the world responds to climate change — including how adaptation money is shared.

UNHCR wants the summit to direct more adaptation funding to fragile states and displacement-affected communities. The agency’s argument is that the people facing the worst combination of conflict and climate risk should be first in line for help, not last.

Pakistan will be watching the summit closely. The country has itself faced devastating floods in recent years, and it hosts one of the world’s largest refugee populations. Findivoza has already looked at what the summit will decide and why it matters for Pakistan.

The summit will test whether the promises made at past climate talks are finally turned into money on the ground. For the 90 million displaced people living in climate danger zones, the outcome is not an abstract debate. It is about whether they will have water, shelter and safety in the years ahead.

Why this matters

This report matters because it changes how we should think about displacement. For a long time, refugees and climate change were treated as two separate problems, handled by different agencies, different budgets and different summits.

The UNHCR report shows they are the same problem, hitting the same people. A person who flees war and then faces drought has not escaped danger — the danger has simply changed shape. And a climate policy that ignores displaced people will fail the very people who need it most.

It also matters because the numbers are moving in the wrong direction. More people are being displaced, more of them are living in climate-exposed countries, and the money to protect them is falling further behind what is needed.

But the report is not only a warning. It is also a guide. It tells governments exactly where the need is greatest, and what would help: water systems that keep working in a drought, shelters that stay cool in extreme heat, flood defences for settlements built on flood plains, and funding that actually reaches fragile states.

Whether COP31 delivers on that is the question the next two weeks will answer.

Frequently asked questions

What is UNHCR?

UNHCR is the United Nations refugee agency. It works to protect and support people who have been forced to flee their homes because of war, violence or persecution, including refugees, asylum seekers and people displaced inside their own countries.

What does “forcibly displaced” mean?

It means people who have been forced to leave their homes, rather than choosing to move. This includes refugees who have crossed an international border, and internally displaced people who have fled to another part of their own country.

What is COP31?

COP31 is the 31st UN Climate Change Conference, where governments from around the world meet to negotiate action on climate change. This year’s summit is being held in Antalya, Turkey, from 9 to 20 November 2026.

What is climate adaptation?

Climate adaptation means taking steps to prepare for the effects of climate change that are already happening or are expected — for example, building flood defences, securing water supplies, growing crops that survive drought, and designing homes that stay cool in extreme heat.

What is El Niño?

El Niño is a natural climate pattern in which the surface of the Pacific Ocean becomes unusually warm. It shifts rainfall and temperatures around the world, and can bring heavy floods to some regions and severe drought to others.

Sources

• Reuters (via SRN News), “90 million displaced people at risk from climate threats, UN refugee agency says”, 6 November 2026 — https://www.srnnews.com/90-million-displaced-people-at-risk-from-climate-threats-un-refugee-agency-says/
• BusinessWorld (Reuters), “90 million displaced people at risk from climate threats, UN refugee agency says”, 6 November 2026 — https://bworldonline.com/world/2026/11/06/791976/90-million-displaced-people-at-risk-from-climate-threats-un-refugee-agency-says/
• France 24 (via Magna Bureau), “Three in four displaced people live in climate danger zones, UN refugee agency warns”, 6 November 2026 — https://magnabureau.space/article-three-four-displaced-people-live-climate
• The Globuzz, “UNHCR Warns Climate Hazards Threaten Nearly 90 Million Displaced People”, 6 November 2026 — https://theglobuzz.com/2026/11/06/unhcr-climate-risks-nearly-90-million-displaced-people/

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.