Nearly 68 million people in Southern Africa are facing severe hardships due to a devastating drought, fueled by the El Niño weather phenomenon. This drought has led to a dramatic drop in crop and livestock production, causing widespread food shortages across the region.
Elias Magosi, the executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), shared this alarming news recently. He stated that 17% of the region’s population—about 68 million people—are in desperate need of help.
“The 2024 rainy season has been tough,” Magosi explained. “Most of the region experienced delayed and insufficient rainfall because of El Niño.”
Magosi’s comments came as leaders from the 16 SADC nations gathered in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, to discuss urgent regional issues like food security. Countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia are among the hardest hit by the drought, leading to widespread malnutrition.
Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa, reporting from Harare, highlighted the gravity of the situation, noting that SADC leaders were likely discussing how to secure more funding and food aid to help those affected. “Crops are dying, and it’s a massive problem,” Mutasa reported.
In June, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) also sounded the alarm, pointing out that the drought is hitting already vulnerable communities particularly hard. Reena Ghelani, the UN’s climate crisis coordinator for the El Niño response, said that people in rural areas are deeply concerned about what lies ahead. “They’ve never seen anything like this before and are extremely worried about their future,” Ghelani reported.
The United Nations also reported that February 2024 was the driest month Southern Africa has experienced in a century, with the region receiving only 20% of its usual rainfall. To make matters worse, temperatures were significantly higher than normal.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently highlighted the broader impacts of this extreme weather, saying that the climate crisis is “increasingly tearing through economies, widening inequalities, undermining the Sustainable Development Goals, and taking lives.” He pointed to fossil fuel-driven climate change as the main culprit behind these worsening conditions. “Extreme heat is the new normal,” Guterres warned.
Experts caution that as climate change continues to intensify, weather patterns will become even more unpredictable and extreme. This means more frequent and severe droughts, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires around the world.
Source: Ghana Web
