After heavy rains, a landslide “completely levelled” a remote village in western Sudan in early September. It was the temporary home of hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had fled the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, to what they had hoped would be a safe location. In all, more than 1,000 people are feared to have died in the landslide.

At the end of 2024, more than 80 million people were living in internal displacement worldwide. While more attention is usually paid to people who cross borders and become refugees, the reality is most people who are displaced stay within their own borders as IDPs.

A changing climate and the associated extreme or erratic weather affects everyone living in the same region – but it does not affect everyone equally.

IDPs have specific vulnerabilities because they’ve been displaced. They are likely to have used up whatever money and other assets they had prior to their displacement, leaving them unable to make the same adaptations as those who have not been displaced.

Wars and climate change are inextricably linked. Climate change can increase the likelihood of violent conflict by intensifying resource scarcity and displacement, while conflict itself accelerates environmental damage. This article is part of a series, War on climate, which explores the relationship between climate issues and global conflicts.

In northern Mozambique, the centre of a jihadist insurgency since 2017, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes – with many seeking refuge in the port city of Pemba. After their houses were destroyed by a cyclone in 2019, IDPs living in Pemba rebuilt temporary structures. But when these were burned down by insurgents, the IDPs were left with nothing at all.

Research I carried out with ODI Global colleagues on the city of Herat in western Afghanistan found that people who had not been displaced by conflict were able to make simple lifestyle changes during periods of drought and extreme heat. These included switching to clay or earthenware jars to keep their water cool, or buying air conditioners.

But IDPs were unable to make similar adjustments. Their coping strategies focused more on reducing consumption, such as skipping meals or no longer eating meat.

When IDPs arrive in a new area, the only land available to settle on is often free to use because no one else wants to live there. In Mosul, a city in northern Iraq, stagnated reconstruction following the liberation of the city from the Islamic State militant group in 2017 has resulted in a scarcity of adequate housing. This has left many IDPs residing in unfinished or makeshift shelters on unpaved roads that are prone to flooding during heavy rains.

And in Mocoa, where a large number of people moved after fleeing Colombia’s longstanding civil conflict, IDPs settled in an area susceptible to landslides as it was the only place with cheap accommodation and land available for building. A landslide in 2017 killed more than 300 people there, destroying several neighbourhoods that were populated almost entirely by people displaced by conflict.

Furthermore, IDPs are often overlooked in whatever disaster management or disaster risk reduction plans may exist. Low literacy or speaking a different native tongue – both common traits among displaced people – can result in them not heeding early warnings when they are given.

Evidence shows that early warning systems can be effective for displaced people who have sought refuge abroad. In Bangladesh, for example, Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are included in the national early warning system, allowing them to strengthen their shelters and stockpile food before cyclones hit.

However, early warning systems are only effective if they are implemented and understandable to all of the communities at risk. The UN’s Early Warnings for All initiative, which aims to ensure everyone has access to early warning systems for hazardous weather or climate events, has only been implemented very slowly. This is particularly true in the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

Reducing the risk

Reducing the vulnerability of displaced people to climate change and related extreme weather is no easy task. It will require decision-makers – humanitarian and development aid workers, government officials and local city planners – to listen and learn from what local populations are already doing to adapt and build their own resilience.

Indigenous knowledge has a huge role to play. But people who have just moved to a new area may not know about – or be capable of making – the same adaptations as people who have lived there for generations.

There are also limits to individual adaptation, of course. Displaced people need to be included in any disaster risk reduction or risk management efforts, as well as in national adaptation plans.

Yet in 2023, the OECD found that nearly three-quarters of all national adaption plans (31 of 42) did not address the effects of climate change on people who were already displaced. And this research did not include countries with high levels of displacement which lack national adaptation plans altogether.

Unless these issues are addressed, there will continue to be tragedies on the scale of the one seen recently in Sudan.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Kerrie Holloway, ODI Global

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Kerrie Holloway works for ODI Global, which receives funding from many organisations and governments. Most of our climate-related work has been funded by GIZ, BHA and the Ikea Foundation, though other donors also contribute through our central funding mechanism.