El-Nino: FAO’s Updated Anticipatory Action And Response Plan

GS Paper I Geography

Context:

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has initiated an Anticipatory Action and Response Plan to address the potential impacts of the ongoing El Nino climate phenomenon on vulnerable populations.

With the World Meteorological Organization forecasting the continuation of El Nino until April 2024, the plan aims to mitigate risks in 34 at-risk countries, focusing on Eastern and Southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

About FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
Goal: To achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.
Members: 195 members (194 countries and the European Union), India is a member of FAO.
Established in 1945
Headquarters: Rome (Italy)

Urgent Funding Needs: The Anticipatory Action and Response Plan requires nearly $160 million urgently to support over 4.8 million people through March 2024.
Vulnerable Regions Targeted: The plans prioritized 34 countries based on historical El Nino impacts, seasonal climate forecasts, and vulnerabilities, the plan addresses regions in Eastern and Southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
The plan covers two critical time frames: preventive actions and immediate responses to El Nino-induced devastation.
Objectives of the Anticipatory Action and Response Plan:
- The Anticipatory Action and Response Plan focuses on three key objectives:
  - Mitigating disaster impacts through anticipatory actions.
  - Capitalizing on positive spillover effects and offsetting losses.
  - Delivering early response in the aftermath of El Nino devastation.

El Nino

El Nino is the warmer-than-normal phase of El Nino Southern Oscillation when the sea-surface temperatures in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean are warmer than the average by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius.
El Nino is generally known to bring warmer-than-normal temperatures to many regions around the world and disrupt other major weather systems, such as the Indian summer monsoon.

News Source: DTE