Extreme Weather Events

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) issued an alert on Monday, warning of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Sudan's Darfur and Kordofan regions. The risk of famine is growing due to conflict, displacement, drought, and the critical underfunding of humanitarian response efforts. New evidence published by the IPC points to a rapid rise in acute malnutrition across much of Darfur, raising further concerns about the survival of children and other vulnerable groups.

The United Nations allocated US$160 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) on Friday to support life-saving assistance in 12 of the world’s most underfunded humanitarian crises, spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. This allocation is part of a broader effort to assist 87 million people facing the most severe humanitarian crises this year.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed alarm on Wednesday over the recent surge in gang violence in the Artibonite Department in Haiti. According to local authorities, at least 11 people were killed and homes were set on fire in the commune of Gros-Morne on Monday. Residents fled to surrounding neighborhoods and the commune of Gonaïves to seek safety.

According to new food security data released on Wednesday, millions of people across Somalia continue to face high levels of hunger, and acute malnutrition among children is set to worsen over the coming months. United Nations agencies and the Somali government are warning that funding shortages and flooding associated with the anticipated El Niño are expected to worsen the situation from October to December 2026.

El Niño has become firmly established and will intensify in the coming months, significantly impacting rainfall and temperature patterns, as well as increasing the risk of floods, droughts, and extreme heat, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed on Thursday. New WMO forecasts show nearly a 100 percent likelihood that the phenomenon will persist through February 2027.

Ten days after the deadly earthquake struck Colombia, the United Nations and its partners launched their humanitarian response appeal on Friday. According to Colombian authorities, at least 319 people have been killed and more than 280,000 people have been affected overall. The 7.4-magnitude earthquake destroyed over 31,000 homes and damaged thousands of educational, community, and health facilities.

The global funding crisis is taking a growing toll on the most vulnerable children in Somalia, where hundreds of health and nutrition facilities have been forced to close, according to a warning issued on Friday by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Severe drought is compounding the emergency and threatening the survival of communities, as some 1.9 million children suffer from acute malnutrition.

United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council on Thursday that the convergence of climate shocks and renewed regional tension threatens to deepen the humanitarian crisis in Yemen as hunger rises and health services crumble. Fletcher warned that the Yemeni people's enduring resilience should not be used to justify the international community's failure to address the collapsing humanitarian situation.

A new analysis from the World Food Programme (WFP), released on Wednesday, shows that the intensifying El Niño weather pattern is set to significantly worsen food insecurity in some of the world's most vulnerable countries into 2027. The United Nations agency is ramping up its preparedness and response efforts, as the impacts of El Niño are already being felt by those most vulnerable to hunger.

The humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) reports an alarming increase in the number of children with severe acute malnutrition and medical complications requiring lifesaving treatment in its therapeutic feeding centers in southern Afghanistan. The non-governmental organization (NGO) is calling on donors, health authorities, and other relevant organizations to prioritize and restore funding for nutrition programs across Afghanistan.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) launched their first joint anticipatory appeal on Thursday, seeking US$202 million to protect almost 9 million people in 22 high-risk countries from the potential impact of a strong El Niño weather pattern. El Niño conditions are predicted to heighten the risk of droughts, floods and storms in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned Wednesday that acute food insecurity will worsen for millions in 13 countries deemed "hunger hotspots" between June and November 2026. The latest early warning report identifies Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, and Gaza as the world's most critical hunger hotspots in terms of hunger severity and magnitude.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has issued an urgent appeal to the UN Security Council, warning that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is worsening due to rising needs, operational restrictions, and severe underfunding. During her briefing on Monday, OCHA Director Edem Wosornu emphasized that sustained international support and adherence to the humanitarian exception are essential for averting famine and safeguarding vulnerable populations, especially women and girls.

The United Nations urged all countries on Tuesday to boost their early warning systems after confirming the onset of El Niño, warning that the climate phenomenon will bring above-average temperatures "nearly everywhere" and fuel more extreme weather. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), there is an 80 percent probability that El Niño conditions will emerge between June and August, with a 90 percent chance thereafter.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that this year's record-breaking heat is likely to continue in 2025, further accelerating climate change and leading to catastrophic consequences, unless urgent action is taken to curb the "human activities" behind this looming disaster.  According to the United Nations weather agency, 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record, "capping a decade of unprecedented heat fueled by human activities."

Soaring temperatures in July had a devastating impact on the well-being of hundreds of millions of people around the world who found the month's extreme heat too much to bear, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The world's two hottest days on record were recorded last month - another indication of the extent to which greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the world's climate.

Amid new daily heat records worldwide, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned Thursday that the Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, killing nearly half a million people a year, and he blamed fossil fuels for driving global warming. Guterres also issued a global call to action focused on caring for the most vulnerable exposed to extreme heat.

The United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says last month was the warmest April on record - the eleventh month in a row with record global temperatures. Sea surface temperatures have also been at record highs for the past 13 months. While recent extreme weather events have caused numerous casualties and socio-economic disruption, the WMO warns that climate change is making heat waves - one of the deadliest types of weather - more extreme.