CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Extreme weather attributed to the El Niño phenomenon is causing a rise in hunger in several countries, including Zambia and Afghanistan, the UN World Food Program said Wednesday, and appealed to donors for much-needed aid.
El Nino is a natural, temporary and occasional warming of part of the Pacific that alters global weather patterns, and studies say that climate change is making them stronger.
Tens of millions of people in Southern Africa depend on the climate to grow food for themselves.
In a statement, the WFP warned that Southern Africa was the “epicenter of the crisis” after a cycle of floods and droughts has ravaged the region in the last three years. Three countries, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia, are the most affected and have seen between 40-80% of their maize harvests destroyed by drought this season, leaving millions of people affected, according to the UN food agency.
The WFP said Executive Director Cindy McCain traveled to Zambia and saw how “severe drought destroyed harvests in a region where 70% of the population depends on agriculture to survive.”
“We cannot ask millions of people to wait for the next harvest season – a year from now – to put food on their tables,” McCain said in a statement. “These families need our support today as we help build a more resilient future.”
WFP said its “teams have begun to respond, but $409 million is needed over six months to help 4.8 million people in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.”
Other countries, including Congo and Afghanistan, face similar problems due to changing weather conditions that have led to the destruction of crops, the death of livestock and the displacement of people, causing an increase in hunger, the agency said in a separate statement.
This comes as hunger crises caused by the conflict in Gaza and Sudan are already increasing the agency’s aid capacity.
The WFP’s call for help came days after the Southern African Development Community made a call for help following a special virtual meeting of government leaders and officials to discuss the impact of extreme weather.
In a joint statement, Southern African countries said the region needed $5.5 billion to help more than 61 million people.
There has been a “multifaceted and cascading impact of El Niño-induced drought and flooding across multiple sectors,” the regional bloc said, noting how it has caused other problems, such as contributing to large, deadly outbreaks waterborne cholera disease. Countries that rely on hydroelectric generators, like Zambia, are struggling to produce enough electricity due to drought.
Along with El Niño, the Southern African region recently saw a series of tropical cyclones which scientists say have likely become stronger and wetter due to human-caused climate change and rising global temperatures.
Although the African continent contributes the least to climate change, it is expected to suffer the most. Poorer countries are often not as well equipped to deal with the impact.
Even before the floods and drought, food insecurity and malnutrition were reaching alarming levels in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia and humanitarian assistance was stagnating due to a shortage of aid funding, the WFP said.
All three countries have declared national disasters due to this year’s drought, and others have provided similarly grim assessments.
The United Nations humanitarian agency said this month that about half of Zimbabwe’s 15 million people were in need. “Life-saving and life-sustaining” help because of the drought.
Last week, the non-profit organization Action Against Hunger warned that “a hunger crisis could be imminent” in Kenya, East Africa. after catastrophic floods displaced more than 250,000 people.
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