Brazil Climate change has already driven millions of people to flee
The consequences of climate change are driving millions of people around the world to flee their homes.
10.11.2025, 01:22
SDA
In the past ten years, around 250 million people have had to flee their villages and cities due to weather disasters - that is 70,000 people a day, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) ahead of the start of the World Climate Conference in Brazil.
The organization speaks of a vicious circle of conflicts and climate crises. Three quarters of people displaced by conflicts live in countries that are particularly at risk from the consequences of climate change. The UNHCR cites floods in South Sudan and Brazil, record heat in Kenya and Pakistan, water shortages in Chad and Ethiopia, among others. People fleeing from conflicts are particularly at risk because they have hardly any means to protect themselves from the consequences of climate change-related weather disasters.
Stability needs investment
According to the UNHCR, only a quarter of the funding provided for adaptation to the consequences of climate change reaches countries threatened by conflict, which have often taken in many refugees themselves. At the World Climate Conference, there is increasing pressure on richer states to make more money available.
"If we want stability, we must invest where people are most at risk," demands UNHCR head Filippo Grandi. "To prevent further displacement, climate finance must reach communities that are already on the brink." He called on the participants of the World Climate Conference to deliver - "We need real action, not empty promises," he said.
