Congolese refugee, Deborah, 44, stands outside what was once her two-roomed house in Tongogara camp in Chipinge, Zimbabwe. Her home was destroyed by Cyclone Idai in 2019.


shoes. Everything was washed away,” Deborah says.


To help people like Deborah, UNHCR relocated many refugee families to safer shelters and provided them with tents, plastic sheeting, sanitation equipment and clean water.


While this offers short-term relief to those in need, climate change can have long lasting repercussions.


In January 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee determined that people who flee the effects of climate change and natural disasters should not be returned to their country of origin if essential human rights would be at risk on return. This landmark decision has far-reaching implications, demonstrating the importance of countries taking action to help those affected by climate change.


“In order to best support individuals who have been displaced by the impacts of climate change, we need to first better understand the relationship between climate change and displacement,” Harper says.


UNHCR has helped refugees face climate-related challenges through supplying renewable energy, providing seedlings to reverse deforestation, and mobilizing equipment, volunteers and enlisting staff to help clean up litter in refugee communities.


By not taking urgent action, some of the most vulnerable people who have done the least to create the current crises, are suffering the consequences.


Together with partners from around the world, UNHCR has implemented environmentally-conscious programs like distributing Liquefied Petroleum Gas — a clean cooking fuel — to Rohingya refugees.


Collaboration between organizations


Important points from the climate strategy


The 2019 to 2024 Global Strategy for Sustainable Energy focuses on improving refugees’ protection and well-being and reducing the environ- mental impact of refugee operations


and countries is another vital step in addressing the climate crisis. For countries like Canada, there are ways to limit effects of the changing climate on everyone — including refugees.


“High-emitting countries, such as Canada, need to take drastic steps beyond solidarity,” he says. “The environmental and human price of emissions is felt considerably less within high-producing countries, but rather in countries that contribute dramatically less to the problem of climate change.”


The consequences of climate change take many forms, from a decrease in quality of life and an increase of conflict to the inability to farm. As temperatures rise, these problems will become more pronounced, threatening environmental sustainability and driving displacement.


“By not taking urgent action, some of the most vulnerable people who have done the least to create the current crises, are suffering the consequences,” Harper says.


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The vision is that all refugees, host communities and support structures should be able to satisfy their energy needs in a sustainable manner, without fear or risks to their well-being


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