As climate shocks hit harder, more often and in more places, displaced people are increasingly finding themselves forced to move again and again in search of somewhere safe and habitable – even as the number of such places dwindles.
In the Americas, the second most disaster-prone region globally², climate change and human displacement are deeply interconnected. Brazil is witnessing a dramatic rise in extreme climate events, with severe floods, droughts, and fires impacting millions annually, while also affecting displacement dynamics. In 2023 alone, the country recorded 745,000 displacements caused by disasters³. In 2024, severe floodings and landslides in Rio Grande do Sul affected over two million people. Brazil’s diverse geography and social landscape exacerbate the complexities of responding to these crises. In the Amazon region, one of the main entry point for refugees and other forcibly displaced people to Brazil, severe droughts and environmental degradation disproportionately harm indigenous and traditional communities, limiting mobility and access to critical services. The State of Roraima in the Amazon region is home to almost 12,000 indigenous refugees from Venezuela who face compounded challenges to access their rights, including collective rights, and local integration opportunities adapted to their socio-cultural needs.
Meanwhile, the State of Acre faces compounded vulnerabilities due to mixed population movements and extreme climate events. Coastal areas and the Northeast experience rising sea levels, intense heatwaves, and semi-arid conditions, underscoring the varied risks across the country. These realities demand a region-specific, inclusive approach to the impacts of climate change, including mitigation, adaptation, resilience-building and disaster risk reduction measures.
In response to the escalating global climate crisis, UNHCR has intensified its focus on climate action. In 2020, the High Commissioner for Refugees appointed a Special Advisor for Climate Action to lead the organization’s climate agenda⁴.
This agenda prioritizes strengthening international and national legal and policy frameworks, embedding climate resilience into operational responses, and promoting the environmental sustainability of UNHCR’s activities.
UNHCR is intensifying its climate action efforts to enhance protection, foster adaptation and resilience, and ensure that its own operations are environmentally sustainable. To address the complex challenges at the intersection of climate change and displacement, UNHCR in Brazil is focusing on fostering environmental awareness and enhancing resilience among refugees and host communities, while also contributing to adaptation and disaster risk reduction policies and reducing the ecological footprint of UNHCR’s operations.
These efforts are closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and form a core component of UNHCR’s Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030, which emphasizes the importance of addressing the interconnected challenges of climate change, displacement, and sustainable development. UNHCR’s response to the growing global climate emergency provides a common framework and approach under three core pillars: operations, law and policy, and “greening” UNHCR. Through targeted interventions, UNHCR in Brazil aims to build more resilient communities and ecosystems while advocating for sustainable solutions to the climate and displacement crises.