{"id":1688,"date":"2024-04-04T15:06:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T15:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/04\/tens-of-millions-facing-hunger-and-water-shortages-as-extreme-drought-and-floods-sweep-southern-africa\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T15:06:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T15:06:10","slug":"tens-of-millions-facing-hunger-and-water-shortages-as-extreme-drought-and-floods-sweep-southern-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/04\/tens-of-millions-facing-hunger-and-water-shortages-as-extreme-drought-and-floods-sweep-southern-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Tens of millions facing hunger and water shortages as extreme drought and floods sweep southern Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 24 million people in southern Africa face hunger, malnutrition and water scarcity due to drought and floods, <\/strong>an aid group has warned, as experts say the situation risks spiraling into an \u201cunimaginable humanitarian situation.\u201d <\/p>\n

The warning from Oxfam on Wednesday came as Zimbabwe joined other southern African nations in declaring its drought a national disaster, following earlier declarations by Zambia and Malawi. <\/p>\n

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said more than 2.7 million people in the country will go hungry this year and more than $2 billion in aid is required for the country\u2019s national response, Reuters reported. <\/p>\n

The country\u2019s top priority \u201cis securing food for all Zimbabweans,\u201d the president told journalists at the state house in Harare. \u201cNo Zimbabwean must succumb to, or die from, hunger.\u201d <\/p>\n

The drought has been fueled by El Ni\u00f1o, a natural climate pattern originating in the Pacific Ocean along the equator, which tends to bring high temperatures and low rainfall to this part of Africa. When it does rain, dried-out ground is unable to absorb the moisture, making flooding more likely. <\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o is exacerbating the impacts of the climate crisis, caused primarily <\/strong>by burning fossil fuels, which is driving more frequent and severe weather \u2014 including drought and floods \u2014 across southern Africa, a region Oxfam describes as a \u201cclimate disaster hotspot.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> Cyclone Freddy survivors dig with bare hands for victims as death toll reaches 326<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As southern Africa enters its traditional dry season this month, vast parts of the region \u2014 including Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe \u2014 have already been grappling with a prolonged dry spell. <\/p>\n

From late January to February, <\/strong>rainfall levels were the lowest in at least 40 years, a recent report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs revealed. <\/p>\n

Central parts of the region experienced the driest February in more than <\/strong>100 years, according to a report by the United States Agency for International Development\u2019s Famine Early Warning Systems Network. <\/p>\n

In Zambia, Malawi and Central Mozambique, extreme drought has damaged more than 2 <\/strong>million hectares of crops, Oxfam said. <\/p>\n

Zambia declared its drought a disaster on February 29. <\/p>\n

Malawi\u2019s president declared a state of disaster across the majority of the country on March 23. It\u2019s the fourth consecutive year the country has been forced to do this due to the impact of extreme weather conditions. The World Food Programme said this week the El Ni\u00f1o impact is \u201cexacerbating the devastating effects of the climate crisis in Malawi.\u201d <\/p>\n

Southern Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change despite being responsible for only a tiny portion of global planet-heating pollution. <\/p>\n

In Mozambique \u2014 a country accounting for only 0.2% of global emissions \u2014 3 million people face hunger, according to Oxfam. The country\u2019s capital, Maputo, experienced devastating floods in March, after Tropical Storm Filipo hit <\/strong>followed a few weeks later by further intense rainfall. <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> Catastrophic drought that\u2019s pushed millions into crisis made 100 times more likely by climate change, analysis finds<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt is so deeply unjust that climate change impacts are hammering Mozambique over and over again. One of the poorest countries in the world is carrying the costs of the climate crisis it has done little to cause and is being pushed deeper into debt and spiralling poverty,\u201d Teresa Anderson, ActionAid\u2019s International Climate Justice Lead, said last week following the flooding. <\/p>\n

\u201cWealthy polluting countries need to own up to their responsibility for the damage they are doing through climate change and be willing to provide climate finance so that vulnerable communities can cope with the climate disasters that are being unleashed,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Oxfam\u2019s southern Africa program director, Machinda Marongwe, said the region is \u201cin crisis\u201d and called on donors to \u201cimmediately release resources\u201d to prevent the spiral into an \u201cunimaginable humanitarian situation.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWith all these countries facing multiple crises simultaneously, the urgency cannot be overstated,\u201d Marongwe said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

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