El Niño Related Drought in Southern Africa Leaves 68 million in Near Famine
Elias Magosi, executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community, shared on Aug. 17, 2024, that approximately 68 million people – 17% of Southern Africa’s population – require natural disaster relief assistance and are suffering from food insecurity because of a prolonged drought. As well, Zimbabwe has declared a state of emergency, with other SADC nations including Angola, Zambia, Malawi and Namibia which are also in crisis.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) wrote in its 2024 Fiscal Year Fact Sheet on Southern Africa, that this is the worst recorded mid-season drought in more than 100 years for much of the area. Furthermore, USAID said in its report that “below-average rainfall, heatwaves and an up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit temperature increase” have contributed to widespread crop failure and the drought.
The European Commission Science Hub reported that “prolonged above-average temperatures and minimal precipitation” have severely weakened the agricultural sector and erased the ability for consistent periods of food regrowth, contributing to mass food insecurity. District Medical Officer Kudzai Madamombe told Al Jazeera on July 9, 2024, that in Mudzi, Zimbabwe, “Cases of malnutrition have jumped by about 20 percent over the past three months.”
The World Food Program published a news release on June 5, 2024, about the United Nations’ joint-urgent call to action with humanitarian organizations asking world leaders and the public to donate and support Southern Africa. Reena Ghelani, the UN Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niño / La Niña Response, said in the release, “Rural communities we have met on the ground tell us they have never seen anything like this. They are extremely worried about their future.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines ‘El Niño’ as an abnormal climate pattern. Trade winds no longer blow west along the equator recycling cold and warm water (“upwelling”), and those warmer waters then cause the Pacific Ocean jet stream to move south from its neutral position. According to NOAA, El Niño occurs irregularly, lasting nine to 12 months on average, and can globally impact wildfires, ecosystems and extreme weather.
The SADC requested $4.4 billion of aid in May 2024 to help deal with the drought’s effects and other El Niño related disasters and to increase financing of climate resilience measures. The WFP began its effort to raise $429 million to fight growing starvation and food shortages in the region shortly after. WFP spokesperson Tomson Phiri told Reuters, “It’s fair to say this will probably be the biggest El Niño response we have ever had in Southern Africa.” However, Reuters reported that the WFP had only reached 20% of its goal as of Aug. 6, 2024.
This seeming lack of mobilization surrounding a climate-change-related event in African countries may beg the question that world leaders are not concerned with fighting global warming and its effects. An Al Jazeera ‘Inside Story’ broadcast raised this criticism after Zimbabwe first announced the beginning of the drought in April 2024.
John Sweeney, a climate researcher and Professor emeritus at Maynooth University, pointed out that many people aren’t as concerned with long-term issues as with the tangible short-term. “A country like Zimbabwe suffering these extremes and [drought] is not at fault, it is the developed world’s,” Sweeney said in the broadcast. “Getting that accountability across to the general public, I think, is the biggest problem we face in communicating climate change.”
Maurice Onyango, the Regional head of disaster risk management at the NPO ‘Plan International,’ agreed with Sweeney that the international community needs to take action against climate change and do so now. “We talk a lot and make a lot of promises in terms of climate crisis financing,” Onyango said, “But in terms of actualizing those promises, it is a bit slow.”
