The United Nations (UN) high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi has said that responses to climate change must also consider its link to both conflict and the displacement it causes.
In a briefing to the Security Council, Grandi expressed hope that these dimensions “will be in clearer focus” at the COP27 UN climate change conference, opening this weekend in Egypt, and at its successor conference in a year’s time.
He expressed fear that without more attention and much greater financing for prevention, adaptation, and development, and governance support, tensions, frustrations, and competition will grow and spark wider conflict with deadly consequences including displacement.
The UN refugee chief was in Somalia last week where he met emaciated women, men, and children affected by conflict and the historic drought in the Horn of Africa.
Refugees from the country have been pushed into drought-affected areas of neighbouring Kenya.
Globally, roughly 103 million people have been forcibly displaced by persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, and other factors.
