A severe El Nino could deepen the humanitarian crisis across Southern Africa by worsening drought, hunger, water shortages, and disease outbreaks, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has warned.

SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi said seasonal forecasts pointed to a high likelihood of an El Nino event that could surpass the intensity and impact of the 2023/24 phenomenon.

Addressing the opening of the SADC Council of Ministers meeting in Durban on Wednesday, Magosi said the region needed to strengthen its preparedness as climate-related disasters continued to threaten communities and infrastructure.

”Earlier this year, devastating floods claimed lives, damaged critical infrastructure, displaced communities, and disrupted trade across parts of our region.” 

Magosi said the expected El Nino could further worsen food and nutrition insecurity while increasing fertilizer and energy costs, putting pressure on government finances and increasing humanitarian needs.

“These interconnected shocks threaten to undermine hard-won development gains and hinder our aspirations for regional integration, industrialization, and inclusive economic growth.” 

Magosi said the region could no longer rely solely on responding to disasters once they had occurred and needed to invest more in measures that would allow it to anticipate and withstand climate-related shocks.

”We must therefore move from reacting to disasters to investing in resilience through strengthened early warning systems, anticipatory planning and action, climate-resilient infrastructure, disaster risk financing and resilient recovery efforts,” he said.

Stronger early warning systems and anticipatory planning would allow governments and regional structures to prepare for potential emergencies before they escalated.

Magosi also highlighted the need for infrastructure capable of withstanding climate-related shocks, as well as financing mechanisms that could support countries during disasters and the recovery period that followed.

The SADC Humanitarian Emergency Operations Centre in Nacala, Mozambique, was identified as an important part of the region’s response capacity, he said.

”Adequate financial and human resources must be provided to enable the Centre to co-ordinate contingency planning, emergency response and recovery efforts effectively and swiftly,” Magosi stressed.