CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Months of drought in southern Africa caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon have had a devastating impact on more than 27 million people and caused the region’s worst hunger crisis in decades, the United Nations Food Agency said on Tuesday.
The World Food Program warned that this could become a ‘full-scale human catastrophe’.
Five countries – Lesotho, MalawiNamibia, Zambia And Zimbabwe – have declared national disasters due to the drought and resulting hunger. The WFP estimates there are about 21 million children in southern Africa are now malnourished because harvests have failed.
Tens of millions of people in the region depend on small-scale, rain-irrigated agriculture for food and to earn some money to buy provisions. Aid organizations warned of a possible disaster at the end of last year naturally occurring El Nino has led to below-average rainfall across the region, while its impact has been exacerbated by global warming caused by climate change.
“This is the worst food crisis in decades,” said WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri. “October marks the start of the lean season in southern Africa and each month is expected to be worse than the last until the harvests in March and April next year.
“Harvests have failed, livestock have died and children are lucky enough to get one meal a day.”
The five countries that have declared drought-related disasters have called for international assistance, while Angola on Africa’s west coast and Mozambique on the east coast have also been “severely affected”, Phiri said, showing how much the drought has spread around the world. region.
“The situation is dire,” Phiri said. He said WFP needs about $369 million to provide immediate relief, but has only received a fifth of that due to a shortage of donations. The WFP has begun providing food aid and other “critical support” at the request of several governments in the region, he said.
Phiri noted that the crisis in southern Africa came at a time of “rising global needs,” with humanitarian assistance also desperately needed around the world. Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere.
Other aid agencies have said this drought in southern Africa has been particularly harsh, with US aid agency USAID saying in June that it was the worst drought in 100 years during the January to March farming season, wiping out large swaths of crops and food. for millions.
El Nino, a naturally occurring weather phenomenon that warms parts of the central Pacific Ocean, has different impacts on the weather in different parts of the world. The latest El Nino emerged in the middle of last year and ended in June. It, along with man-made climate change and the overall warmth of the ocean, became responsible for twelve wild months of heat waves and extreme weather.
In southern Africa, food prices have risen sharply in many drought-affected areas, exacerbating the problems. The drought has also had other damaging consequences.
Zambia has lost much of its electricity and has been mired in hours and sometimes days of power outages as the country relies heavily on hydropower. of the huge Kariba Dam. The water level of the dam is so low that electricity can hardly be generated. Zimbabwe shares the dam and also experiences regular power outages.
The authorities in Namibia and Zimbabwe have done so resorted to killing wild animalsincluding elephants, to provide meat to hungry people.
Scientists say sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most vulnerable parts of the world to climate change due to its heavy dependence on rain-fed agriculture and natural resources. Millions of African livelihoods depend on the climate, while poor countries are unable to finance climate resilience measures.
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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa