Unicef blamed it for the worst food crisis in Malawi for nine years, affecting up to 15 per cent of the population, potentially devastating floods in Somalia and Kenya, bringing with them a heightened risk of disease, and a drought in southern Africa which could shut down Zimbabwe’s crucial Lake Kariba hydroelectric plant and has seen national prayer sessions in South Africa over crop failure and cattle deaths.
It has also been blamed for the worst famine to hit Ethiopia since the crisis that sparked Bob Geldolf’s 1984 Band Aid campaign, though the Ethiopian authorities insist that this time, they are better equipped to manage it.
James Elder, a Unicef spokesman, said after the conflicts in South Sudan and Eritrea sending refugees north, the consequences of extreme weather were also “intertwined” with migration.
“We appreciate governments are being pulled in many directions but in crises like these, investment now could stave off a bigger crisis,” he said.
Leonard Doyle, from the International Organisation for Migration, said helping countries to adapt to climate change and weather phenomenon should be among financial aid considered by European leaders in Malta to stem the migrant flow.
“There’s no question that it is part of the ingredients that lead to migration,” he said. “Money that goes towards stemming migration needs to be smart money.”