Southern Africa is grappling with its worst drought in decades, caused in part by El Niño and the below-average rainfall it spurred and exacerbated by rising temps. The World Food Program has warned the situation could turn into a "full-scale human catastrophe." Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have declared national disasters as crops fail, pushing millions into hunger. Compounding the crisis, Zambia and Zimbabwe are experiencing severe power outages due to low water levels in the Kariba Dam, their primary hydroelectric source.
Around 21 million children are suffering from malnutrition due to the drought's impact on small-scale, rain-fed agriculture, per World Food Program estimates. And things aren't set to improve, says a World Food Program rep. "October in southern Africa marks the start of the lean season, and each month is expected to be worse than the previous one until harvests next year in March and April. Crops have failed, livestock have perished and children are lucky to receive one meal per day." He adds the WFP requires about $369 million to provide immediate help; it has only gotten 20% of that so far. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)