The world is now in the grip of a super El Niño: a Godzilla-sized version of a natural climate phenomenon that has already shriveled rivers, upended aquaculture, and flattened crops with drought.
The world is now in the grip of a super El Niño: a Godzilla-sized version of a natural climate phenomenon that has already shriveled rivers, upended aquaculture, and flattened crops with drought. But the global organizations that keep an eye on food security are warning of even tougher times ahead.
The impacts of an El Niño can be far reaching and catastrophic. In the late 19th century, one of the strongest El Niños on record helped to fuel multiyear droughts across Asia, Brazil, and Africa that spurred a global famine: Some 50 million people, or 3 percent of the global population, died. Thankfully, the ways we plan for bad weather and move food around the planet have improved massively since then, with organizations working hard to provide relief where it’s needed. But the impacts of bad weather on crops are still hard to avoid. After a strong El Niño hit in 2015, cereal yields across Southern Africa were 20 percent below normal; crop yields in parts of Ethiopia dropped by 90 percent.
This year’s El Niño has already, by one measure, topped those previous record holders in strength. And it’s still growing. By the time the phenomenon peaks in early winter, sea-surface warming in the tropical Pacific could be higher than anything seen in a millennium. In August, the World Food Programme warned that this El Niño might push an additional 49 million people into acute food insecurity by the end of 2027, taking the total number to 274 million. Worryingly, this year’s event comes as global aid dollars are pinched and wars are making it hard to plug holes in global food systems.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
Photo Credit: josealbafotos via Pixabay
