Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa declares national disaster over drought

Subject: IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared a national disaster in response to a severe drought crisis.
Main affected region: South-western provinces of Matabeleland North and South.

African countries facing severe droughts

Details:

The country requires $2 billion to address hunger caused by diminished rainfall, which has led to the loss of roughly half of the maize crop.
An estimated 2.7 million people in Zimbabwe are facing hunger due to the grain shortage and rising food prices.
Similar declarations of disaster have been made by neighbouring Zambia and Malawi, also affected by drought.
There are concerns that the current drought in southern Africa could be one of the worst in decades.
According to the World Food Programme, around 13.6 million people in the region are experiencing crisis-level food insecurity.
Zimbabwe is dealing with high inflation, significantly impacted by food prices.
The drought, worsened by the El Nino weather pattern, has also impacted electricity production due to reliance on hydroelectric power.
Zimbabwe, once a major agricultural contributor in southern Africa, has faced several severe droughts in recent years, affecting both crops and cattle.
The country experienced its worst drought in 1992 and has seen increasing frequencies of such events, with significant droughts also declared in 2016 and 2019.

Causes of severe drought in Southern Africa:

El Nino, a naturally occurring climatic phenomenon that warms parts of the Pacific Ocean every two to seven years, has varied effects on the world’s weather.
- In southern Africa, it typically causes below-average rainfall, but this year has seen the worst drought in decades.
While not all droughts are directly linked to climate change, the phenomenon exacerbates drought conditions by increasing atmospheric heat and moisture extraction.
Global temperatures have risen approximately 1.2C since the industrial era, with ongoing increases expected unless significant emissions reductions are achieved.

Source: TH