El Niño is a weather phenomenon that occurs irregularly, every two to seven years, when the Pacific Ocean warms and causes global temperatures to rise.
In Africa, El Niño wreaked havoc throughout last year and will continue to wreak havoc on many regions in 2024.
This natural phenomenon results in extreme weather conditions, ranging from devastating floods to prolonged droughts – with Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and southern Africa being the hardest hit areas.
Torrential rains at the beginning of the month caused several dozen victims in Tanzania and Kenya.
According to the humanitarian organization Oxfam, more than 20 million people face hunger and malnutrition in southern Africa because of drought, which is affecting water supplies and crops.
According to the World Food Fund, “the expected production deficit, particularly for corn, is expected to intensify food insecurity, drive up prices and increase import needs” in the region, while corn represents almost 20% of the calories consumed in the countries of the area.
Lack of financial means
Countries like Zambia, which are struggling with the worst drought in their history, are seriously lacking the financial means to support their populations.
Grace Ronoh, a Kenyan environmental activist, believes that “developing countries are unable to prioritize the climate crisis because they need financing to do so. However, at present, most countries are in debt, and they will prioritize debt repayment.”
During the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, Grace Ronoh thus pleaded in favor of reforming financial institutions to optimize access to funds for climate emergencies.
“We need to remove administrative red tape and reform the World Bank to ensure it is fair. We also need to remove overly complicated mechanisms that limit increased financing to address climate issues”assures the activist.
On April 16, a donor meeting, organized under the aegis of the United Nations to address the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, certainly made it possible to raise 630 million dollars, but the sum is far from the initial objective which was to ‘a billion dollars.
Strategies for the future
David Gikungu, director of Kenya’s meteorological department, however, sees the end of the tunnel. He said he expects “the (El Niño) season to end in most areas by the end of May. On the coast, we expect it to end around June.”
He adds that collaboration between weather services, disaster management agencies and governments is crucial, emphasizing that in the case of Kenya, the role of the Kenyan Ministry of Environment and Climate Change as spearhead is essential.
“There are offices responsible for monitoring and reporting. We work with other actors who deal with disaster management, and they are all supported by the government”explains David Gikungu, even if the system did not prevent the deadly consequences of recent floods.
“Whenever there is flooding, we can expect sewage problems,” the meteorologist also notes. “When you cook with contaminated water, you put yourself at risk for problems like cholera outbreaks.”
In Zambia and Zimbabwe, water shortages have in fact favored the outbreak of cholera and other diseases linked to water quality, according to the research group World Weather Attribution.
