Climate refugees: who are they and how can we help?

They are called "climate refugees", "environmentally displaced people" or "climate migrants". The term varies from one organisation to another, but the reality is the same: millions of people are leaving their homes not because of war or persecution, but because their land can no longer feed them, because water has swallowed everything, or because the heat has made survival impossible. This is already happening. It is speeding up. And it affects people who have had almost nothing to do with the carbon emissions driving these upheavals.

What exactly is a climate refugee?

A climate refugee, or climate-displaced person, is someone forced to leave their usual place of residence, temporarily or permanently, because of environmental changes linked to climate change. There are many causes of this displacement:

• Sudden disasters: floods, cyclones, landslides, tsunamis
• Slow-onset degradation: rising sea levels, desertification, prolonged drought, salinisation of farmland
• Combined shocks: areas where armed conflict and climate change feed off each other, making any kind of stable life impossible

The vast majority of this displacement happens within the same country: people flee their village for a city or another region, without crossing an international border.

The figures: an unprecedented scale

The scale of the problem is already huge, and it is growing fast. According to the report UNHCR published in November 2025 for COP30, weather-related disasters have displaced 250 million people over the past ten years – around 70,000 a day. In 2024, the IDMC (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre) recorded a peak of 46 million new disaster-related displacements, double the annual average of the previous decade.

Who is hit hardest?

Climate displacement does not affect the world evenly. It hits hardest those living in the most exposed areas, with the fewest resources to adapt.

The Sahel and the Horn of Africa

The creeping desertification of the Sahel is driving millions of herders and farmers off their land. In Niger, Chad, Mali and Burkina Faso, a combination of drought, armed conflict and vanishing natural resources creates a vicious circle of repeated displacement.

South Asia

Bangladesh is one of the worst-affected countries: flooding from rising waters, ever more intense cyclones and erosion of coastal land. According to UNHCR, more than 870,000 Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar are now exposed to increasingly frequent cyclones and floods in Bangladesh's camps.

The Pacific and Indian Ocean islands

Some island states, such as Tuvalu and the Maldives, are at risk of disappearing beneath rising seas. Their people could become the first "stateless" displaced people in the history of climate change.

Conflict zones

According to the UNHCR report published at COP29 (November 2024), half of the world's forcibly displaced people are in places facing both conflict and severe climate risks. Ethiopia, Haiti, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Syria are explicitly named.

How LIFE helps people affected by climate crises

LIFE works in several of the areas hit hardest by combined climate and humanitarian crises, including the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and South Asia. Our programmes are tailored to the specific needs of each crisis:

• Emergency food aid for families whose harvests have been wiped out by drought or flooding
• Access to clean water in areas hit by desertification or contaminated groundwater
• Rebuilding shelters after cyclones or floods
• Livelihood support to stop temporary displacement becoming permanent

Climate crises often strike areas where LIFE is already running programmes. Being there already means we can act straight away, without the logistical delays of setting up from scratch. To learn more about how LIFE handles humanitarian emergencies, our article Humanitarian emergencies: how NGOs respond on the ground explains the response process step by step. And to understand the difference between refugees and internally displaced people, our article Internally displaced people vs refugees: understanding the difference and taking action covers the essentials.

How can you help climate refugees from France?

Giving money: the most effective way to help

As with every international humanitarian crisis, a financial donation to an NGO working on the ground remains the most effective way to help. It means what people need can be bought locally, without the logistical hurdles of shipping goods from France. A donation to LIFE for its programmes in climate-vulnerable areas qualifies for 66% French tax relief. A €100 donation really costs you just €34. Our complete guide to tax relief on donations explains everything.

Advocacy and raising awareness

Climate refugees have no international legal status. Supporting organisations that campaign for their recognition, sharing reliable information about their situation, and backing ambitious climate adaptation policies are all ways to make a difference from France.