New York, United States — Somalia has told world leaders at the United Nations that climate change is now the leading force uprooting millions, pushing the country to the edge of crisis.

At the High-Level Roundtable on Solutions to Internal Displacement during UNGA 80, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lt. Gen. Bashir Mohamed Jama described displacement as a daily reality rather than a distant statistic. With 3.5 million Somalis already displaced and nearly three million new movements recorded in 2023 alone, the country faces a humanitarian emergency of staggering proportions.

The scale of climate-driven upheaval is stark. The 2021–2023 drought, the worst in four decades, left 7.8 million people in need and caused an estimated 43,000 excess deaths in 2022. Crops failed, herds perished, and families fled parched lands in search of survival. When rains returned, they brought devastating floods, forcing 1.7 million people from their homes in 2023. Analysts warn that as many as four million Somalis now live in protracted displacement, unable to return or rebuild.

Somalia has begun weaving durable solutions into its National Development Plan and strengthening institutions such as the National Disaster Management Agency. The government is also advancing a climate resilience agenda ahead of COP30. Yet the minister cautioned that national efforts cannot match the scale of the challenge without global backing.

For Somalia, displacement is not only a humanitarian crisis but a threat to stability and development. The appeal at UNGA was blunt: without sustained financing, bold political commitments, and urgent adaptation measures, the country risks being trapped in an endless cycle of climate disaster and displacement.

Somalia’s message carries weight far beyond its borders. What is unfolding there may soon be mirrored in other fragile states, as climate change reshapes lives and redraws maps of human security.