How climate crisis is redefining home, and who counts as a refugee
Climate change is increasingly becoming a primary driver of global displacement, challenging traditional definitions of refugees that focus primarily on conflict. The article argues that current development models exacerbate ecological risks, placing a disproportionate burden on low-income nations.
Why it matters
It reframes the global refugee crisis as a structural issue linked to climate change and economic development rather than just war.
Climate change is increasingly driving displacement, raising urgent questions about development models that foster unequal growth while exacerbating ecological risk.
Every June, around World Refugee Day, the United Nations refugee agency releases Global Trends , its annual account of forced displacement.
We have just crossed another World Refugee Day, and the figure remains unthinkable: 117.8 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2025. That is one in every 70 people on earth. Although this was the first decline in a decade, displacement remains almost twice as high as it was ten years ago.
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