4 Mil People in Pacific Lacking Drinking Water

Two dozen people have already died from hunger and drinking contaminated water in drought-stricken Papua New Guinea, but the looming El Niño crisis could leave more than four million people across the Pacific without enough food or clean water

The El Ni̱o weather pattern Рwhen waters in the eastern tropical Pacific ocean become warmer, driving extreme weather conditions Рmay be as severe as in 1997-98, when an estimated 23,000 people died, forecasters believe.

In Papua New Guinea’s Chimbu province in the highlands region, a prolonged drought has been exacerbated by sudden and severe frosts which have killed off almost all crops. The provincial disaster centre has confirmed 24 people have died from starvation and drinking contaminated water.

Provincial disaster co-ordinator Michael Ire Appa told RadioNZ he feared the death toll could even be higher.

“The drought has been here for almost three months now and in areas that were affected by the drought there’s a serious food shortage, including water, and some of the districts have not reported, so there may be more [deaths] than that,” he said.

Two highlands provinces have already declared a state of emergency.

Oxfam Australia’s climate change policy advisor Dr Simon Bradshaw said many parts of PNG would run out of food in two or three months, but in some areas there was as little as a month’s food left, and few ways to get more in.

“In the highland areas people are almost exclusively reliant on subsistence farming, farming of sweet potatoes. We do know that water is becoming very scarce, that’s of course impacting food production, and PNG is almost entirely dependent on its own food – I think 83% of its food is produced in-country – so any hit on food production poses immediate challenges in terms of food security.”

Over the coming months, the El Niño pattern will bring more rain, flooding and higher sea levels to countries near the equator, raising the risk of inundation for low-lying atolls already feeling the impacts of climate change.

At the same time, the countries of the Pacific south-west – which have larger populations – will be significantly drier and hotter.

El Niño years typically have a longer, more destructive cyclone season.

Children at Algi village in Papua New Guinea. PNG is in the midst of what could be its worst drought in close to 20 years. Photograph: AAP/Care

“El Niño has the potential to trigger a regional humanitarian emergency and we estimate as many as 4.1 million people are at risk from water shortages, food insecurity and disease across the Pacific,” Sune Gudnitz, head of the Pacific region office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

“Countries including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands are already feeling El Niño’s impact with reduced rainfall affecting crops and drinking-water supplies. Drought conditions would further complicate the humanitarian situation in countries that are just emerging from the devastation caused by tropical cyclones Pam, Maysak and Raquel.”

Many countries across the region are entering the El Ni̱o period in a vulnerable state. Drought has been officially declared in 34 provinces in Indonesia, while in Vanuatu Рstill recovering from the devastation of cyclone Pam, which struck in March Рauthorities are warning reduced rainfall will damage food security, health and livelihoods.

In some parts of Fiji, water is already being trucked into villages that have run out. And Tonga, which has suffered a drought for nearly a year, has been forced to ship water supplies to the country’s outer islands.

Countries where food insecurity affects large proportions of the population were of special concern, Bradshaw said.

“With an El Niño event, you usually get about one-fifth less rainfall across the country as well as significant changes to the timing of the rainy season, a lot more rain concentrated in January, and that, combined with deforestation, increases the risk of landslides, flash floods, damage to infrastructure and destruction of crops. Timor Leste is somewhere we’re watching particularly closely because of the existing challenges, and the effect the El Niño will have on top of that.”

Bradshaw said the impact of the El Niño would compound the difficulties faced by Pacific countries struggling to cope with the effects of climate change.

Source: The Guardian

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Taxonomy

• Environment
• Drought
• Drinking Water