Climate-linked humanitarian needs continue to grow and threaten development, warn special envoys on El Nino and climate

(New York, 19 July 2016): United Nations Special Envoys on El Niño and Climate, Ambassador Macharia Kamau and Mrs. Mary Robinson, have raised the alarm among donors and humanitarian and development partners after travelling to meet with affected communities around the world. They called for urgent action to address the humanitarian needs of more than 60 million people who are affected by droughts, floods and other extreme weather events made more devastating by the 2015-2016 El Niño.

Mary Robinson reflected on both Envoys’ recent missions to Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste during today’s High-Level Event on ‘Responding to the Impacts of El Niño and Mitigating Recurring Climate Risks’, noting that, "The coping capacities of people in El Niño affected countries are undermined because of climate change, making them even more vulnerable. This is so unfair when you consider the fact that these very people are amongst the least responsible for climate change."

The event in New York brought together affected states, donors and aid partners to draw attention to immediate life-saving needs and to consider the links between El Niño and climate change, as well as the urgent need for strategies to mitigate risks and build resilience for future episodes.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the event and warned that, “extreme weather events reverse development gains. People and communities cannot escape poverty or banish hunger if their resources are wiped out by floods, storms or droughts every few years. For many of the poorest and most vulnerable, extreme weather events linked to climate change could put the achievements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at risk.”

Although El Niño has returned to a neutral phase, the danger has not yet passed. The impact of El Niño on people’s food security, livelihoods, health, nutrition, water and sanitation is likely to grow throughout the year, possibly even extending to 2017.

Adding to the seriousness of the situation is the looming threat of a La Niña event - which typically shows the opposite weather effects to El Niño. A significant La Niña event would have a compounding effect on communities already made vulnerable by El Niño: areas that are experiencing drought right now could be hit by extreme floods.

The Special Envoys noted that a failure to adapt to the ‘new normal’ of increasing climate-linked emergencies like El Niño would put global development targets under threat. “Failure to meet the challenges presented by this new climate reality will have consequences that might be felt for generations. If we do not succeed we will be letting down the people that need us most,” said Ambassador Kamau, briefing the press ahead of the event.

Today, donors including the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy announced pledges of some US$22 million. The Envoys urged donors to continue to give generously to the El Niño response. With the announcement of new requirements today from SADC, the total global funding request for humanitarian response has risen to US$6 billion including both government and UN plans, and the funding gap stands at over $4 billion.

*For further information, please contact:

• Greg Puley, OCHA Senior Advisor, Tel: 19173672749, puley@un.org
• Amanda Pitt, OCHA USG Spokesperson, Tel: 12129634129, pitta@un.org*