GENEVA — Nearly 90 million forcibly displaced people are living in countries facing mounting exposure to climate-related droughts, floods and extreme heat, the UN refugee agency said on Friday, warning ahead of the COP31 climate summit that more funding is needed to help vulnerable communities adapt.

Nearly three-quarters of the world's forcibly displaced people live in countries such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh that are exposed to severe climate-related risks, according to the report by the agency, known as UNHCR, published ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Turkey — the 31st round of global climate negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The findings, the report said, show the overlap between conflict, displacement and climate change.

"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," he added.

The report highlighted the experience of a Sudanese refugee who fled conflict in al-Fashir in June 2023 and now lives in the Farchana refugee settlement in eastern Chad. She said she sometimes goes a week without finding safe water and must walk increasingly long distances for alternative sources as nearby seasonal riverbeds dry up amid intensifying heat.

Returns at risk

UNHCR also warned that climate change is making it harder for displaced people to return home sustainably. In the first half of 2026, more than two-thirds of refugee returns were to countries highly exposed to climate hazards, placing returnees at risk of renewed displacement, the report said. Voluntary return is one of the durable solutions UNHCR promotes, making climate pressures on home countries a direct concern for the agency's work.

In Syria, where nearly 4 million displaced people have recently returned, people face worsening water scarcity and erratic rainfall, while flooding along the Euphrates River in May damaged homes and displaced thousands, according to the report.

Dangerous heat

Across sub-Saharan Africa, one in three refugee settlements could experience at least 100 days of dangerous heat each year by 2050, threatening health and livelihoods, the report said. Extreme heat is consistently ranked among the deadliest weather-related hazards worldwide. In some settlements in Ethiopia, including Helaweyn, dangerous heat could persist for more than 200 days a year, increasing the risks of heatstroke and premature death.

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

El Niño warning

UNHCR further cautioned that a forecast supersized El Niño — the periodic warming of Pacific Ocean waters that shifts rainfall and temperature patterns around the world — could worsen climate-related risks 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, the agency said. In the Sahel, drought, flooding and conflict could intensify competition over scarce resources, while parts of Asia face heightened risks of droughts, floods and cyclones.

Funding gap

UNHCR called on governments and climate-finance institutions meeting at COP31 to increase funding for climate adaptation, highlighting that only about 10% of climate finance reaches fragile or conflict-affected countries. The appeal makes adaptation finance for fragile and conflict-affected states one of UNHCR's core asks heading into the Antalya talks.

On Wednesday, a separate UN report found that rich countries were falling well short of the $305 billion needed each year to help developing nations adapt to climate change, even as extreme weather events become more frequent and severe. The back-to-back assessments land days before negotiators convene in Antalya, giving UNHCR added evidence for its call to channel adaptation funding toward fragile and conflict-affected settings.

— Reuters