At least ten million people are at risk of hunger as a result of changing climates and erratic rains, Oxfam has warned.
In a new report, the aid charity has said that increasingly erratic weather conditions such as floods and drought were contributing to a fall in food security. Crops have already failed in Southern Africa and Central America, driving up the price of maize on local markets, while Ethiopia and parts of South East Asia are already bracing for the effects of drought.
And scientists have warned that crops could be destroyed by a doubling of the number of “super El Niños” – a natural phenomenon that currently occurs every seven or eight years as the result of a huge release of heat from the ocean into the atmosphere, influencing global weather patterns.
Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring said: “Rice and maize crops are both at risk with serious implications for millions of poor people from Southern Africa to Central America who are dependent on these staples.
“Meteorologists are predicting a super El Niño this year which will have an even more devastating effect in the wake of 2014, the hottest year on record.
“Oxfam is already responding – now governments and agencies need to act rapidly to avert humanitarian disasters in the next year. This should serve as a wake-up call for them to agree a global deal to tackle climate change.”
The current situation is exacerbated by poor rains in Ethiopia, with the country’s government estimating that 4.5m people will need food relief by the end of the year; the maize harvest in Zimbabwe is 35% below average after drought; crops in Guatemala, Honduras and Papua New Guinea have been severely affected, including partial or total loss, due to either drought or torrential rains; and in Malawi, more than 2m people are expected to struggle to find enough food by the beginning of next year.
And the pattern of El Niños is getting harder to predict. With ongoing climate change, last year was the hottest year on record, Oxfam said. Despite the absence of an El Niño, growing seasons in Southern Africa and Central America behaved as if one were occurring. Temperatures continued to soar this year and some scientists are expecting it to be the most powerful El Niño to date.
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