Matt Raulerson points to a vista in eastern Kyrgyzstan that the locals told him just five or ten years ago would have been covered with snow. In this short video from nonprofit organization Climate Refugees, he explains that rising temperatures are impacting livestock and the water supply.
In India, Nivedita Biswal interviewed people who survived a 2022 heat wave in Odisha, where temperatures exceeded 40ºC (104ºF). These included a student who couldn’t leave her home or concentrate on her studies after about 10:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, a farmer who used to live in Niger near Lake Chad reports that “the water in the lake and the rainfall are not there anymore, so we’re suffering a lot.”
Mother and her child in a refugee camp in Syria
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 250 million people worldwide have already had to leave their homes and move elsewhere in the past ten years because of the impacts of climate change. Floods, droughts, storms, and crop failure are projected by the World Bank to make 1.2 billion people into climate refugees by 2050.
Now that everything has been devastated by the floods, where should I go?
The United Nations’ 2025 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) overlaid climate and environmental risk factors onto the map of human poverty for the first time. The report shows that the kinds of negative impacts of climate change that drive people from their homes often most affect those already living in poverty. Seventeen percent of the world lives in acute poverty, and of these people, 80 percent are exposed to at least one hazard—storms, droughts, extreme heat—made worse by climate change. Also, the countries expected to see the steepest rise in temperature by 2100 already have high levels of poverty.
Refugee camp after a fire in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
It can be difficult for climate refugees to access the assistance they need to start new lives. Over the past decades, treaties and international agreements have recognized people’s rights to escape life-threatening situations by seeking asylum abroad. These agreements have provided refugees with legal protections, and nonprofits and governmental agencies have set aside funds to assist them with rebuilding their lives.
However, many climate refugees do not qualify for this sort of assistance as they do not meet the definition of a refugee under international law, codified by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 1951. That requires a person to have escaped their country of origin and be living abroad due to a well-founded fear of persecution for their race, religion, social group membership, or political opinions.
According to the MPI, 55 percent of climate refugees still live within their native countries, which often lack the resources needed to accommodate a large migration of people. Also, the laws concerning refugees were set up for people escaping conflict, violence, and discriminatory treatment, rather than those fleeing natural disasters or areas that are becoming increasingly hot and uninhabitable.
Floods, droughts, storms, and crop failure are projected by the World Bank to make 1.2 billion people into climate refugees by 2050.
Extreme storms and fires can make global news and inspire governments and private organizations to take action to assist survivors. However, many chronic, climate-related hazards look less dramatic on camera but still force people from their homes. Reductions in rainfall or snowmelt can lead to drought, lack of water for drinking and washing, and the failure of crops people depend on for food. Christophe Hodder, the first United Nations Climate Security and Environmental Advisor to Somalia, explains, “In 2020, 75 percent of all new displacement in the country was driven by environmental reasons, rather than conflict.” He expects factors such as drought to displace even more Somalis in future years.
Suddenly increasing severity of regular coastal floods can drive large groups of people away from coastlines, as is happening in Pakistan and Bangladesh. As Fatima Bibi, displaced in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa District of Pakistan in September 2022, asks while speaking to NGO Alight Pakistan, “Now that everything has been devastated by the floods, where should I go?”
A united global response is essential—not only to mitigate future harm but to uphold justice and compassion in the face of this urgent challenge.
Research from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development finds that climate-related displacement remains significantly underfunded, with climate-action and adaptation financing failing to adequately address the needs of people displaced by climate change. The World Resources Institute observes that 40 percent of countries lack the infrastructure to support the climate refugees projected to head their way in future years. The Norwegian Refugee Council, a large organization operating internationally among many displaced populations, states that most of the world’s current climate refugees lack any pathway to legal status in the nations to which they have fled.
Women in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya
Clearly, the global community has work to do developing the legal and physical infrastructure needed to support the world’s current and future climate refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees acknowledged this need in a 2020 statement, opening the door to new frameworks to help environmentally displaced people. Organizations such as the Environmental Justice Foundation and the International Organization for Migration are also putting out reports urging humanitarian assistance for all those displaced by climate, whether they stay within their home countries or move abroad.
As Kenyan climate refugee Fardowsa Sirat Gele, resident of the Dadaab refugee camp, says, “We urge world leaders to step up, commit to meaningful action, and prioritize the needs of those on the frontlines of this crisis. A united global response is essential—not only to mitigate future harm but to uphold justice and compassion in the face of this urgent challenge. Let’s protect our most vulnerable and ensure a world where all can thrive.”
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