A recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) has identified Pakistan as one of the 20 countries that are at risk of excessive rainfall and flooding due to the return of the El Niño oceanographic phenomenon in June 2023.
Other countries on the list include Afghanistan, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Paraguay, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United States, and Uzbekistan. The report highlights that El Niño is a significant factor in extreme weather events that pose a high risk to global food security.
The report also stated that dry weather conditions are expected in key cropping areas of Central America, Southern Africa, and Far East Asia, while Near East Asia and East Africa are expected to experience excessive rainfall and possible flooding.
The world has experienced a rare third consecutive La Niña event in 2022 and early 2023, which is commonly associated with wetter conditions in Australia and drier conditions in the US, South America, and East Africa. The report also projected that up to 222 million people in 53 countries/territories could face acute food insecurity in 2022.
