El Nino threatens livelihoods in Southeast Asia
Key takeaways
- Hotter, drier weather is impeding rice and palm-oil production as households across Southeast Asia struggle with higher fuel, food and transport costs.
- The UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), expects the El Nino conditions to emerge before August and continue until at least November.
- Southeast Asia is entering the months when monsoon rains usually replenish water reservoirs, cool overheated cities and inundate the fields ahead of the next planting season.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Hotter, drier weather is impeding rice and palm-oil production as households across Southeast Asia struggle with higher fuel, food and transport costs.
https://p.dw.com/p/5FQj MEl Nino is likely to have a negative impact on crop yields in Southeast Asia and India, say experts Image: AFPAdvertisement Southeast Asia is bracing for an extreme El Nino weather pattern as households and governments in the region are struggling to respond to higher energy, transport and food bills linked to the Iran war.
The UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), expects the El Nino conditions to emerge before August and continue until at least November. This means surface waters in large parts of the Pacific Ocean will warm up more than usual, and a disruption in the usual east-to-west wind pattern is likely to bring more heat to central and eastern Pacific.