South Africa is experiencing its worst drought in years due to a combination of naturally occurring El Niño and higher average temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
Weather around the globe is set for record extremes in 2023 as climate change intensifies the effects of El Niño, when anomalous warming of waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean radiates heat into the air, leading to hotter weather worldwide.
A study last October found that climate change might now be as important a factor in triggering El Niño conditions as natural causes such as sunlight. Aid agency Oxfam warned last week that over 24 million people in southern Africa were facing hunger, malnutrition and water shortages due to drought.
In East Africa’s Malawi, crop theft has become a problem as food sources are rapidly drying up, with locals complaining of heat-burned corn.
Zimbabwe‘s President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a national disaster to address a long-running drought crisis, stating on April 3 that the country needed $2 billion to fight hunger caused by low rainfall that had wiped out about half of its maize crop.
