The UN Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) has launched with the Government of Sudan a joint El Nino Mitigation and Preparedness Plan that outlines the current and anticipated humanitarian impacts driven by El Nino across Sudan's traditional rain-fed agricultural zones. The next three months offer a critical window to mitigate the impacts of El Niño in Sudan and increase preparedness within the localities most affected so far. Sudan’s humanitarian community is now moving forward with this plan in order to build on existing capacities in an effort to prevent the deterioration of the humanitarian situation for those most vulnerable to the effects of El Niño.

Under the Plan, FAO seeks USD $23 million to fund its El Nino response in Sudan. Priorities for action include animal feed distribution, vaccination and treatment campaigns, water trucking and rehabilitation of water points for livestock in affected areas, as well as for and livelihood training and start-up kits, including animal restocking, to help affected families recovery quickly from livelihood losses.

The current global El Niño event is considered one of the strongest on record. In Sudan, El Niño has significantly impacted the 2015 rainy season with delayed rains, below-average rainfall and intermittent dry spells. This has caused reduced cultivation areas, delayed planting, poor pastures and limited water availability for both people and their livestock. These impacts are threatening essential agricultural and livestock production across Sudan. The warning signs of a slow-onset disaster are present – crops that didn’t mature, fodder shortages, depleting water resources, distress sales and depressed livestock prices, increased prices for basic food commodities and resourcebased tensions between farmers and herders. There is now a high chance of poor harvest and livestock losses in 2016, the scale and the impact of which is difficult to estimate at this time.

Currently, there are an estimated 3.5 million people in 82 localities across Abyei PCA, Al Gezira, Blue Nile, all Darfur states, Gedaref, Kassala, all Kordofan states, Red Sea, Sennar and White Nile states who have already been affected by El Niño and are in need of support. Without a rapid and robust response focusing on preparedness, mitigation and resilience measures, these people are likely to suffer from significant increases of food insecurity and malnutrition that could overwhelm national disaster and social protection response capacity.

The full plan can be viewed here.

To support FAO's El Nino response in Sudan, please contact:

Veronica Quattrola, Deputy FAO Representative a.i. - [email protected]