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UNHCR and partners urgently seeks US$156 million to support Ethiopian refugees fleeing the Tigray crisis
As more than 52,000 Ethiopian refugees have fled the Tigray region over the past six weeks into eastern Sudan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and partners have launched an urgent appeal for funding needs.
“We are releasing together with 30 humanitarian partners an urgent appeal for US$156 million to support refugees fleeing Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis”, said Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today at a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva. “The requested funds are needed to meet the critical humanitarian needs of Ethiopian refugees fleeing the conflict in Tigray throughout the first half of 2021. This appeal will also strengthen preparedness to receive refugees in other countries in the region in case of further refugee movements”, Mahecic added.
The armed conflict broke out on November 4 between the federal government and regional forces, driving thousands of people to flee their homes - more than half of them women and children. Electricity, phone and internet have been cut off. Food and fuel is scarce. The Ethiopian government announced a six-month state of emergency in Tigray.
Despite the number of new arrivals dropping, to some 500 a day, aid agencies have been dealing with a full-scale humanitarian emergency. UNHCR and humanitarian partners have released now the Regional Refugee Preparedness and Response Plan for the Ethiopia Situation. It covers the period from November 2020 through to June 2021 and is supposed to reach up to 115,000 refugees and 22,000 people from host communities.
The Regional Refugee Preparedness and Response Plan addresses the new refugee emergency triggered as a result of the crisis in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. It aims to support the governments of Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea to facilitate access to asylum and provide life-saving assistance to those who have been forced to flee.
“The critical activities include registration, documentation, ensuring civilian character of asylum, decongesting of the border site areas, transferring refugees to the new settlements, provision of food, health and education services, support for groups with specific needs particularly for women and girls at risk, unaccompanied minors, the disabled and the elderly”, Mahecic explained.
The Um Rakouba camp in eastern Sudan, located close to the Ethiopian border, has reached its capacity. Mahecic said that “in eastern Sudan, since 14 November to date, more than 20,000 refugees have been relocated from the border areas to Um Rakuba camp, which is located some 75 kms from Gedaref town. As this site approaches its capacity, we and our partners will begin next week preparatory work on a new site further inland, some 136 kms away from Gedaref town”.
So far, according to UNHCR, only 30 % (U$46 million) of the required funds has been received by UNHCR and partners for the ongoing crisis. However, the needs remain huge.
”Currently many refugees remain in overcrowded conditions without proper facilities and there continues to be a shortage of medicines and other supplies. We have seen a huge demand for family tracing and unification, education and for child friendly spaces and nutritional programs”, Mahecic said.
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a cloudy day.
- Wide shot, press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “We are releasing together with 30 humanitarian partners an urgent appeal for US$156 million to support refugees fleeing Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis. The requested funds are needed to meet the critical humanitarian needs of Ethiopian refugees fleeing the conflict in Tigray throughout the first half of 2021. This appeal will also strengthen preparedness to receive refugees in other countries in the region in case of further refugee movements”.
- Wide shot, journalist in press room
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “The critical activities include registration, documentation, ensuring civilian character of asylum, decongesting of the border site areas, transferring refugees to the new settlements, provision of food, health and education services, support for groups with specific needs particularly for women and girls at risk, unaccompanied minors, the disabled and the elderly”.
- Wide shot, journalist in press room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “In eastern Sudan, since 14 November to date, more than 20,000 refugees have been relocated from the border areas to Um Rakuba camp, which is located some 75 kms from Gedaref town. As this site approaches its capacity, we and our partners will begin next week preparatory work on a new site further inland, some 136 kms away from Gedaref town”.
- Medium shot, journalist in press briefing room at the UN Palais
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): ”Currently many refugees remain in overcrowded conditions without proper facilities and there continues to be a shortage of medicines and other supplies. We have seen a huge demand for family tracing and unification, education and for child friendly spaces and nutritional programs”.
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a cloudy day.
- Medium shot, Palais des Nations with flags
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
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“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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