For health, land, and livelihood:
Prepare for El Niño!
According to a new World Meteorological Organization (WMO) update, the possibility of El Niño forming later this year is growing. This would have the opposite effect on weather and climate patterns as the long-running La Niña, and would certainly fuel higher global temperatures.
At the moment, neither El Niño nor La Niña are present in the tropical Pacific, which includes the Philippines. However, the update, which is based on input from WMO Global Producing Centres of Long-Range Forecasts and expert assessment, indicates that there is a 60% chance for a change from ENSO-neutral to El Niño during May to July 2023. This probability will rise to about 70% in June to August and 80% between July and September.
It may persist until 2024 according to PAGASA.
From this update would say that the agricultural industry and the peasantry will undoubtedly bear the brunt of the harm that El Niño will cause. The agricultural losses during the previous period of extreme drought in the country totaled P400 billion. In this vein, the peasantry demands that the government take fast steps to offer a thorough plan to tackle this. It is essential to guarantee adequate assistance especially for local agriculture, small farmers, and farmworkers.
However, while pleading with the government for prompt and sufficient aid, this also necessitates readiness as farmer groups and rural organizations should band together and mobilize in anticipation of this phenomenon. History has shown that assistance from a dysfunctional government is frequently tardy, meager, or worse, absent altogether.
The need for unity in this situation may be dismissed as political, but it goes beyond in anticipating the upcoming drought to ensure food and water security as this affects local agriculture and everyone’s well-being. This includes immediate planning and execution of drought preparation measures. It is necessary to encourage farmer organizations, mutual-aid groups, and cooperatives to organize for their own benefit as communities must have adequate food caches such as rice, corn, root crops, and vegetables, for widespread starvation brought by the drought must be anticipated especially since more than half of the agricultural lands in the region are expected to be affected.
Furthermore, people must also better coordinate their efforts in order to combat the prospect of a water shortage- and that includes planning and preparing for community irrigation systems and other practical measures to guarantee that livelihoods weather the impending phenomenon.
Other than agriculture, El Niño also affects health as Changes in precipitation and temperature contribute to the effects of El Niño on human health such as diarrhea, skin diseases, poisoning, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and respiratory diseases. This can also lead to increased incidence of outbreaks and diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. Hence, people should stay hydrated, wear light and loose clothing, not doing strenuous physical activities, as well as seek medical attention in case of experiencing symptoms of disease.