El Niño has returned to a neutral phase, but the danger has not yet passed. The humanitarian impact of the 2015-2016 El Niño is deeply alarming, affecting over 60 million people globally.
Latest forecasts indicate a 55-70 per cent chance of a La Niña developing towards the end of this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has said.
June marks 14 consecutive months of record heat for the globe. Average sea surface temperature was also record high, Persistent heat on land and in the sea this June shattered records, yet again.
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.
The publication consolidates a synthetic analysis on La Niña and its potential impacts on agriculture and food security, specifically in the regions that are now dealing with the consequences of El Niño.
In Mozambique, at least 1.5 million people are in need of help because of an El Niño-induced drought, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said.
Millions of poor people in Southern Africa, Asia and Central America face hunger and poverty this year and next because of droughts and erratic rains as global temperatures reach new records, and because of the onset of a powerful El Niño – the climate phenomenon that develops in the tropical Pacific and brings extreme weather to several regions
During El Niño episodes the normal patterns of tropical precipitation and atmospheric circulation become disrupted triggering extreme climate events around the globe: droughts, floods and affecting the intensity and frequency of hurricanes. Disasters create poverty traps that increase the prevalence of food insecurity and malnutrition.
The year 2014 is on track to be one of the hottest, if not the hottest, on record, according to preliminary estimates by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This is largely due to record high global sea surface temperatures, which will very likely remain above normal until the end of the year.
The emergence of the El Nino weather phenomenon is likely to coincide with the monsoon season (June-September) this year, India Metrological Department’s (IMD) Regional Climate Centre in Pune said in its Seasonal Climate Outlook for South Asia (April-July) report.
