The Global Early Warning – Early Action (EWEA) report on food security and agriculture is developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The report is part of FAO’s EWEA system, which aims to translate forecasts and early warnings into anticipatory action.
Throughout the region, heavy rains that intensified in late April have resulted in excessive flooding, affecting more than half a million people; damaging infrastructure and livelihoods and caused over 370 deaths. Although the rains have also brought relief to some areas that have been affected by t...he worst drought in decades, namely; parts of Ethiopia, Puntland, Somaliland and a number of countries in southern Africa, the food security situation in these areas is not expected to significantly improve, due to the scale and intensity of the El Nino-induced drought that has already depleted coping mechanisms.
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The devastating impacts of the 2015–16 El Niño will be felt well into 2017. This crisis was predicted, yet overall, the response has been too little too late. The looming La Niña event may further hit communities that are already deeply vulnerable. To end this cycle of failure, there is an urgen...t need for humanitarian action where the situation is already dire, to prepare for La Niña later this year, to commit to comprehensive new measures to build communities’ resilience, and to mobilize global action to address climate change which is creating a ‘new normal’ of higher temperatures, drought and unpredictable growing seasons.
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Since December 2016, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has affected Peru, causing heavy rainfall, floods, landslides, hail and electric storms. Although the impact has been particularly serious in the northern coastal regions, levels of affectation are reported in all 24 of the country’s de...partments.
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Nutrition Situation of Children in Southern Africa
• Almost 15 million people are food and nutrition insecure (including approximately 7.8 million children) in the 7 priority countries.
• Approximately 36% of children in the 7 priority countries in Southern Africa are stunted and there...fore not able to fully achieve their full developmental, intellectual and physical potential.
• Over 513,000 children are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition in the 7 priority countries.
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Globally, millions of vulnerable people are experiencing increased hunger and poverty due to droughts, floods, storms and extreme temperature fluctuations as a result of a climatic occurrence: El Niño. This phenomenon is not an individual weather event but a climate pattern which occurs every two t...o seven years and lasts 9-12 months. The 2015/2016 occurrence is one of the most severe in a half-century and the strongest El Niño since 1997/1998 which killed some 21,000 people and caused damage to infrastructure worth US$ 36 billion. The negative consequences of El Niño are foreseen to continue through 2017, particularly in Southern Africa where this event has followed multiple droughts compounding the already fragile situation.
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IN NUMBERS
60 MILLION people affected globally at present.
32 MILLION people food insecure in Southern Africa.
10.2 MILLION people in Ethiopia need emergency food assistance.
50 PERCENT crop losses in Haiti due to El Niño-influenced drought.
El Niño is over but its impact on children is set to worsen as disease, malnutrition continue to spread
In Eastern and Southern Africa alone, 26.5 million children are in need of aid
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Southern Africa
• The impact of the drought in Southern Africa on WASH is already observed in places where the drought has been more acute and where WASH coverage was already low.
• Only 61 per cent of the region’s population has access to safe... drinking water and 39 per cent have access to adequate sanitation facilities.
• Approximately 6.4 million people (including 3.2 million children) in the seven priority countries have reduced access to safe water as a direct result of the El Niño drought.
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Health Situation of Children in Southern Africa
The impacts of El Niño and La Niña are expected to more than double the regular caseloads of childhood illnesses (malaria, cholera, pneumonia, measles and diarrhoea) in the most affected countries.
• Diarrhoea cases among children are expec...ted to increase up to 4 times that of the regular yearly cases.
• Projections of pneumonia cases among children show a 1.5 times increase in cases.
• An estimated 11.8 million children are likely to be affected by malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, measles and/or pneumonia, with 7.5 million of these cases directly related to the impacts of El Nino.
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English Analysis on World and 19 other countries about Agriculture, Food and Nutrition and Drought; published on 13 Jan 2021 by FAO
EL Nino events are associated with the warming of the Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) over the tropical Pacific Ocean, which significantly influences rainfall in various parts of the world. Recent El Nino events occurred in 1982/83, 1987/88, 1991/92, 1997/98, 2002/03, 2004/05, 2006/07, 2009/10 and 20...15/16 but at varying strength.
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