Three quarters of displaced people and refugees live under the threat of climate change

MADRID 12 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Added to the precarious conditions in which people who have had to leave their homes around the world, whether as internally displaced persons or refugees, are living is the threat of climate change, since three quarters – of a total of 120 million– live in countries at risk.

Ethiopia, Haiti, Burma, Somalia, Sudan and Syria are some of the examples included in a new report from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) that reflects the interaction between situations of violence and environmental risks.

This combination of threats is expected to continue to grow, given that by 2040 the number of countries subject to drastic climate conditions will increase from three to 65 and the majority of them host displaced people. Refugee camps will suffer more than double the number of days of extreme heat in the next 25 years.

The head of UNHCR, Filippo Grandi, believes that at this point it can be taken for granted that “climate change is a harsh reality that deeply affects the lives” of “the most vulnerable.” In this sense, he has warned that millions of people may be left “with nowhere safe to go.”

Fundraising, however, is not moving at the same pace. Countries in an extremely fragile situation barely receive 2 dollars per person to adapt, while in territories where the risk is not so high the proportion rises to 161 dollars. Furthermore, the little money that arrives tends to be concentrated – more than 90 percent – in the capitals.

“The climate emergency represents a profound injustice,” lamented Grandi, who stressed that those who are forced to leave their homes and host communities “are the ones who bear the least responsibility for carbon dioxide emissions.”