First climate change famine declared in Madagascar

Several successive droughts in the past five years, and sandstorms caused by soil erosion and deforestation in the past two to three decades have allied with the COVID-19 pandemic to create a perfect storm that prevents the country from growing and harvesting. United Nations body.

We have some outbreaks in IFC Phase 5, which means famine-like conditions. This is essentially the only, and possibly the first, climate change famine on Earth, said Arduino Mangoni, deputy director of the World Food Program in Madagascar.

Mangoni said the number of people in Phase 3 and above is now higher than it was in 2016 during the crisis that triggered the El Niño weather phenomenon, while the outlook for the next few months is very worrying.

The WFP official noted that unlike other conflict famines in Yemen, South Sudan and Ethiopia, the crisis in Madagascar is likely the result of devastating climatic factors.

He added that high prices, especially for foodstuffs, including water, aggravate the situation.

According to the World Food Program, an estimated 500,000 children under the age of five are malnourished, of whom 110,000 will suffer from acute malnutrition between now and April 2022.

To help those in need, the World Food Program has expanded its rationing and nutrition programs and plans to reach more than 1 million people in the emergency phase beginning in December, the height of the lean season, for which it has requested $69 million.

msm / crc