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El Niño: Preparedness and Response Situation Report – March 2016

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World
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Sources
FAO
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OVERVIEW

The current 2015-2016 El Niño cycle has been one of the strongest on record and has had significant impacts on agricultural production and food security across the globe.

At present, the agriculture, food security and nutritional status of 60 million people is affected by El Niño-related droughts, floods and extreme hot and cold weather.

While El Niño is likely to decline in strength over the coming months, and forecast models indicate a return to an El Niño neutral state during the second quarter of 2016, this does not mean that the danger has passed.

Harvests in several parts of the world have already failed and are forecast to fail in others, which will result in a dramatic increase in acute household food insecurity.

The regions most affected include the Horn of Africa, southern Africa, the Dry Corridor of Central America, Caribbean Islands, southeast Asia and Pacific Islands. Many countries within these regions have already declared a national state of emergency. In many of the affected countries, FAO is using early warning information to design and implement early action and response plans.