UN launches fund to shield displaced people from climate shocks

NEW YORK (AFP): The United Nations said Wednesday it was launching a new Climate Resilience Fund aimed at boosting protections for “refugees and displaced communities” threatened by climate change.

The UN refugee agency said it aimed to raise $100 million for the new fund by the end of next year to support refugees, their host communities and countries of origin hardest hit by climate emergencies.

The agency highlighted in a statement that climate risks were “strongly correlated with conflict and poverty”, experienced by many refugees.

In 2022, more than 70 percent of refugees and asylum seekers fled from highly climate-vulnerable countries, it pointed out.

“The impacts of climate change are only becoming more devastating, increasingly exacerbating conflict, destroying livelihoods and, ultimately, triggering displacement,” UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said in the statement.

“Many of the countries that have been the most generous in accepting refugees are also the most impacted by the climate crisis,” he added.

But, he warned, “funding available to address the impacts of climate change is not reaching those forcibly displaced, nor the communities hosting them”.

UNHCR said its new fund would work to ensure that refugees were included in climate-related measures taken nationally and locally.

It would also aim to increase the availability of environmentally sustainable resources in refugee camps and other displacement settings. This would include providing more clean energy to for instance power water, schools, and health infrastructure.

It will also support environmental restoration, building climate-resilient shelters, and supporting climate-smart livelihoods, it said.

The UN refugee agency said the climate fund would prioritize projects which involve affected communities in their design and implementation, and that promise effects felt locally.

“By reducing exposure to climate-related hazards, securing access to sustainable resources, and promoting inclusion, these projects will deliver tangible improvements in the living conditions, safety, and well-being of refugees and their hosts,” Grandi said.

The UNHCR works to protect more than 114 million people forced to flee their homes globally.