El Niño exacerbates southern Africa's severe drought and hunger crisis
As a severe drought, worsened by El Niño, takes hold of southern Africa, an estimated 20 million people face acute hunger due to failing crops and climbing food prices.
Somini Sengupta and Manuela Andreoni report for The New York Times.
In short:
- The drought has triggered national emergencies in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as agricultural communities grapple with the effects.
- Locals are resorting to desperate measures, such as gathering wild tubers in dangerous waters, to fend off starvation.
- Surging corn prices are exacerbating the crisis, with other factors like the Ukrainian conflict and local economic conditions playing a role.
Key quote:
“It’s really important that resilience to droughts, especially in these parts of the continent, should really be improved.”
— Joyce Kimutai, study author and researcher at the Grantham Institute
Why this matters:
The frequency and intensity of El Niño events may be influenced by climate change, potentially leading to more severe and prolonged impacts. As such, during El Niño years, Southern Africa could face heightened challenges in food production and access, thereby worsening the existing hunger crisis in the region.
Climate change—and the subsequent increase in droughts, flooding, and extreme heat—has held back agricultural gains and impeded global food security efforts.
