UNHCR, the environment and climate change: an overview

This document presents an overview on the work of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) with displaced people due to climate change. It includes the following chapters: i) Why is climate change and disaster displacement a concern to UNHCR; ii) How is UNHCR addresing climate change and disaster displacement; and iii) How is UNHCR enhancing the resilience of its persons of concern.

In 2013, 22 million people were displaced by disasters brought on by natural hazard events. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN's science advisory board, projects an increase in the number of displaced over the course of this century. The majority of the people of concern to UNHCR are concentrated in least developed countries, which are climate change hotspots around the world. Climate change will force people into increasing poverty and displacement, exacerbating the factors that lead to conflict, rendering both the humanitarian needs and responses in such situations even more complex.