UN agencies call for active response to El Nino impact in Africa, Asia-Pacific regions

Leaders from three Rome-based UN food agencies on Wednesday called on governments and the international community to combine their efforts to prevent further human suffering, strengthen resilience and safeguard livelihoods in the wake of possible El Nino's devastating effects worldwide.

The leaders of UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) urge the countries to coordinate responses to the climate change challenges and to support the affected region during a meeting at the Rome headquarters of FAO.

According to the meeting, scientists are predicting an increasing likelihood of the opposite climate phenomenon, La Nina, which will increase the probability of above average rainfall and flooding in areas affected by El Nino-related drought, whilst at the same time making it more likely that drought will occur in areas that have been flooded due to El Nino.

The UN food agencies estimate that without the necessary action, the number of people affected by the combined impacts of the El Nino/La Nina could top 100 million.

FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva warned that the impact of El Nino on agricultural livelihoods has been enormous and with La Nina on the doorsteps the situation could worsen.

"El Nino has caused primarily a food and agricultural crisis," Graziano da Silva said.

FAO will therefore mobilize additional new funding to "enable it to focus on anticipatory early action in particular, for agriculture, food and nutrition, to mitigate the impacts of anticipated events and to strengthen emergency response capabilities through targeted preparedness investments," he stressed.

The UN food agencies believe more than 60 million people worldwide, about 40 million in East and Southern Africa alone, are projected to be food insecure due to the impact of the El Nino climate event.

The heads of the UN agencies urged greater preparedness to deal with the possible occurrence later this year of a La Nina climate event, closely related to the El Nino cycle that has had a severe impact on agriculture and food security.

The meeting also called for action to recover agricultural livelihoods that have been severely damaged by the droughts associated with El Nino.

At the meeting, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said mobilizing resources for rapid action now can save lives and minimize damage while reducing costs in the future.

"The massive impact of this global El Nino event, exacerbated by persistent poverty and chronic hunger in many countries, threatens the food security of millions of people who are the least able to cope," she said.

"Farms have failed, opportunities for work have evaporated, and nutritious food has become increasingly inaccessible for many communities," said Cousin.

"But new humanitarian crises are not inevitable if we invest in support for communities and provide the tools and skills required to endure climate-related shocks," Cousin added.

IFAD Associate Vice President, Lakshmi Menon, reminded the global community not to forget about small-scale farmers, who are the most vulnerable to these extreme weather events.

"Small-scale farmers in rural areas are disproportionally impacted by these natural disasters because many of them depend on rainfed agriculture for their lives and livelihoods, and they do not have the capacity to bounce back from shocks. We need to invest in building their long-term resilience so when the next El Nino and La Nina cycles hit, they are better prepared and can continue to grow food for their families," she said.

UN Special Envoy for El Nino and Climate, Ambassador Macharia Kamau said: "It is clear that these types of extreme weather events are stressing already-vulnerable communities, threatening to undermine development gains of recent decades and impede achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals." Endit