UN food agencies seek $260 million to shield 8.8 million people from El Nino

– The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) on June 18 appealed for US$202 million (S$260 million) to help protect 8.8 million people across 22 high-risk countries from the looming El Nino weather pattern.

Strong El Nino conditions in the second half of 2026 are predicted to increase the likelihood of drought, floods and storms across parts of Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, FAO and WFP said.

The 22 countries most at risk are Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe in Africa; Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines and East Timor in the Asia-Pacific; and Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Additional funding would allow FAO and WFP to expand support beyond the 1.2 million people already targeted.

Planned support includes cash transfers, climate-resilient seeds, livestock protection and flood-control measures.

El Nino is a periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific caused by weakening trade winds. It occurs naturally every two to seven years and tends to last between nine and 12 months.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the arrival of El Nino last week. It said the weather pattern was likely to intensify, with a 63 per cent probability of a very strong or “super El Nino” heading into 2027. REUTERS