The United Nations and its humanitarian partners have urged solidarity with drought-affected people in Southern Africa and called on the international community to help scale up a timely emergency response to drought in the region, which includes the already crisis-hit countries of Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique. More than 61 million people in the region have been affected by drought and other extreme weather conditions caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon and exacerbated by the climate crisis.
Southern Africa is in the grip of a severe drought with potentially catastrophic consequences unless urgent action is taken to avert further deterioration before the lean season in July.
“This drought is hitting communities already enduring consecutive climate and economic crises,” said Reena Ghelani, the United Nations Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niño/La Niña response.
“Time is of the essence. Unless the response is urgently scaled up, millions of people in the region will face worsening levels of acute food insecurity, malnutrition, water scarcity and various health risks. There is a short window of opportunity to intervene in advance of the lean season in July.”
El Niño has led to warmer and drier conditions, resulting in record-breaking droughts across the region in 2023 and early 2024. The weather extremes have caused widespread crop failures in Southern Africa.
El Niño occurs on average every two to seven years, with episodes typically lasting 9 to 12 months. It is a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with warming ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. However, the pattern occurs in the context of a climate that has been altered by human activities.
The UN issued the call following an extraordinary summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Luanda, Angola, on Monday, where the SADC Humanitarian Appeal was launched. The SADC plan seeks US$5.5 billion to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to more than 56.6 million people, including 3.5 million children in need of nutritional support.
The Southern African Development Community is a regional economic community of 16 member states: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Southern African leaders launched the $5.5 billion humanitarian appeal as the region faces acute grain shortages. A communiqué issued after the virtual meeting said leaders from the SADC member states agreed to launch an appeal to help affected populations. The SADC Regional Humanitarian Appeal will augment domestic resources in response to the impact of the El Niño weather pattern.
The Regional Humanitarian Appeal was developed with the support and collaboration of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other regional and international humanitarian organizations.
SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi said the humanitarian appeal will be revised in August as more member states finalize their assessments of the impact of El Niño and look ahead to an expected change to the La Niña weather pattern later this year.
"Summit called member states to be proactive and strengthen anticipatory action programs to mitigate climate risks such as the La Niña phenomenon, which is projected for the 2024-2025 season," Magosi said.
Humanitarian agencies are calling on donors to help save lives and protect livelihoods, while enabling communities to build resilience to future shocks. Key priorities include food assistance, safe water for people and livestock, and agricultural inputs to take advantage of improved rainfall likely to be brought about by the predicted La Niña phenomenon.
Magosi said OCHA and the FAO have pledged a total of US$43 million to the humanitarian appeal.
Angolan President João Lourenço, who chaired the extraordinary meeting, also appealed to the international community to respond.
"This is a very important step taken by the organization [SADC] by launching this humanitarian appeal, and we hope that there will be good feedback on the part of the international community of support to help us overcome this difficult moment that the region is facing," Lourenço said.
He urged the media to use their wide reach and influence to highlight the needs of the affected populations and to draw the attention of the international community to the urgency and scale of the humanitarian situation facing the SADC region in order to assist in mobilizing resources.
The areas most affected by the drought include most of Zambia, Zimbabwe, southern Malawi, northern Namibia, southeastern Angola, much of Botswana, Lesotho, central Mozambique, central South Africa and parts of Madagascar, where crop production, livestock and water supplies have all been adversely affected.
Of these, three countries in the region - Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe - have declared the drought a national disaster, and more are likely to follow suit. Heavy rains from torrential rains and tropical cyclones have also caused flooding in Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, displacing thousands of people, with Madagascar declaring a national disaster due to Tropical Storm Gamane in March 2024.
The upcoming lean season could lead to a significant increase in food insecurity and high levels of acute malnutrition, while water scarcity impacts people, livestock and wildlife. Drought, flooding, food insecurity, and displacement may lead to reduced access to education and school dropouts, making children more vulnerable.
The severe drought comes at a time when the region is grappling with one of the worst cholera outbreaks in decades, and food prices are rising sharply in many drought-affected areas.
According to the UN, an immediate scaling up of the response is urgently needed to avert large-scale loss of life.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: SADC launches US$5.5 billion Regional Humanitarian Appeal to support people affected by the El Niño induced Drought and Floods, Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), press release, published May 21, 2024
https://www.sadc.int/latest-news/sadc-launches-us55-billion-regional-humanitarian-appeal-support-people-affected-el-nino
Full text: Southern Africa is in the grip of a severe drought, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), statement issued on behalf of the Regional Interagency Standing Committee (RIASCO), released May 20, 2024
https://reliefweb.int/report/madagascar/southern-africa-grip-severe-drought