UN officials call for urgent action to address a deepening hunger crisis in Namibia

Windhoek, 19 July 2024 - United Nations leaders urge the international community to stand in solidarity with the people of Namibia as almost half of the country’s population faces the devastating impact of a severe drought brought on by El Niño.

Reena Ghelani, the UN Assistant Secretary-General, Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niño/La Niña Response witnessed firsthand the debilitating impact of the drought during a mission to Namibia. In the arid region of Omaheke, a malnutrition hotspot, she met with marginalized communities targeted by relief activities.

“What I saw and what the communities told me is deeply alarming,” said Ms. Ghelani. “They lost all their crops and are on the verge of losing their livestock due to a lack of pasture. Aid must be scaled up immediately.” Omaheke is among the worst-affected regions by the drought, with about 10 per cent of the population already facing emergency levels of food insecurity.

Overall, 1.4 million people in Namibia – 48 per cent of its population – are now experiencing acute food insecurity and require urgent support, according to a recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis. This is twice as much as last year. All 14 regions of the country are impacted, largely because of El Niño dry conditions affecting crop and livestock production, inflation, economic decline, and unemployment. There has been a 53 per cent decline in cereal production and a nearly 70 per cent reduction in dam water levels.

The President of the Republic of Namibia declared a National State of Emergency on account of drought on 22 May, and the Government scaled up its drought relief programme, targeting 340,000 households with food distributions, water provision, livestock support and seeds programmes. However, their resources are now overstretched and cannot meet the growing needs. The UN and partners are supporting the Government’s response efforts to address the crisis and build climate resilience.

“The devastating impacts of climate change are with us for a while, so how we work with communities to anticipate, prepare for and respond to these shocks is crucial. Building resilience is one solution and the UN in Namibia is working with the Government of Namibia on a holistic resilient strategy.” added Hopolang Phororo, the UN Resident Coordinator in Namibia.

In her week-long mission, Ms. Ghelani was joined by Ms. Andrea Noyes, the Head of the Regional Office for Southern & Eastern Africa for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is helping ramp up humanitarian coordination efforts.

Namibia is the fourth country to declare a state of national disaster because of the El Niño-induced drought in the region, after Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In June, Botswana announced an extreme agricultural drought and in July, Lesotho declared a state of national food disaster due to drought. In May this year, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) launched the SADC Regional Humanitarian Appeal of at least US$5.5 billion to support over 60 million people, including through resource mobilization from national, regional, and international partners in response to the impacts of El Niño induced drought and floods.

Contacts:

- For OCHA, Tapiwa Gomo: gomo@un.org

- For Reena Ghelani, Priscilla Lecomte: lecomte@un.org

- For the United Nations in Windhoek, Justus Sinimbo: justus.sinimbo@un.org