Tens of millions of the world\u2019s poorest people are also expected to be plunged into humanitarian crisis as the extreme weather event hits – just as vital support for health, nutrition and disaster response is being gutted by devastating foreign aid cuts from wealthy countries. Britain, for example, is currently slashing bilateral aid<\/a> to eight African countries by more than 80 per cent.<\/p>\n Torrential rains and flooding are expected to come to parts of East Africa, while droughts are expected to intensify across southern Africa – threatening food supplies and livelihoods on both sides of the continent. <\/p>\n Already, the impacts are being felt in other parts of the world, from unusually weak monsoon rains<\/a> in India, to catastrophic wildfires<\/a> in Indonesia. <\/p>\n In the UK, still reeling from a summer of heatwaves that has killed thousands and pushed water levels to critically low levels, the Met office has forecast a particularly wet and stormy winter<\/a> due to the El Ni\u00f1o. But perhaps the biggest impact will be felt in people\u2019s pockets. Around one quarter of UK food imports \u2013 including rice, coffee, cocoa, and tropical fruits \u2013 are from parts of the world most exposed to the El Ni\u00f1o, according to research from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. <\/p>\n The impacts will come on top of an ongoing cost of living crisis<\/a> that experts say has been exacerbated by climate change. Poor harvests drove a 77 per cent rise in the price of coffee imported into the UK from Brazil in 2025, while cocoa bean prices from C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire have doubled. <\/p>\n But it is people on the ground across Africa and Asia that will feel the most critical impacts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world is heading into this El Ni\u00f1o at precisely the wrong moment,\u201d Dr Philip Goodwin, CEO of Unicef UK, told The Independent. \u201cWe can see the warning signs coming, yet humanitarian agencies are being asked to prepare with fewer resources.\u201d<\/p>\n MPs from across the political divide are now calling on the government to step up its support, as aid groups warn that countries set to be most impacted by the super El Ni\u00f1o are also those bearing the brunt of the global aid squeeze<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must change course in order to meet the scale of this crisis,\u201d Dr Ellie Chowns, Green MP for North Herefordshire, told The Independent. \u201cThe government must turn all of their efforts to urgently reducing emissions at home\u2026 and restore development aid to ensure the Global South is not abandoned to face the worst realities of a crisis they did so little to cause.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Mitchell, Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield and a former development minister, added: \u201cIt is the poorest in the world who suffer first and hardest from climate change and this summer has shown the rich world, too, the grave climate threats that await us<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cCuts to Britain\u2019s development budget – as both Prime Ministers Johnson and Starmer did – were acts of the greatest folly\u2026 Britain needs to reinvigorate this international leadership if we are to tackle at their roots the threatening evils of climate change, illegal migration, starvation, water shortage and pandemics.\u201d <\/p>\n Comments come as this week the UN warned that this year\u2019s El Ni\u00f1o – an event caused by unusually warm temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific – is already exceptionally strong. \u201cEl Ni\u00f1o is being supersized before our eyes\u2026 The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up,\u201d said UN secretary general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres.<\/p>\n Occurring on average every two to seven years, a typical El Ni\u00f1o will see sea surface temperatures in a specific patch of the tropical Pacific rise by 1-2C, with 2C considered a very big event.<\/p>\n This year, the temperature has already crossed 2.6C above the El Ni\u00f1o – and current forecasts suggest it could peak at around 4C in November. <\/p>\n Speaking of the super coming El Ni\u00f1o, Dejene Dadi, the general manger of a coffee-growing cooperative in Ethiopia, said: \u201cWe aren’t ready for this kind of disaster\u2026 We can do climate adaptation activities<\/a> like soil and water conservation, shade management, managing pests and diseases, and water harvesting and irrigation. But it is not possible without more help from coffee companies and governments like the UK.\u201d <\/p>\n For its part, the UK government carried out<\/a> a \u201cresponsible business conduct review\u201d as part of its trade strategy published last year, which advocacy groups understand contains plans that would compel companies to better respond to environmental and human rights concerns in their supply chains. However, the publication of that review has been continually delayed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe super El Ni\u00f1o urgently need businesses to invest in their supply chains: paying fair prices, tackling human rights abuses, and safeguarding the environment. And the UK Government must also stop delaying publication of its Responsible Business Conduct review,\u201d said Dr Carley-Jane Stanton, from the Fairtrade Foundation. <\/p>\n The most urgent El Ni\u00f1o concern, however, remains around the impact that El Ni\u00f1o-fuelled weather events will have on food systems at a time when there is very little money available to help the world\u2019s poorest.<\/p>\n The UN\u2019s World Food Programme (WFP) has projected that an additional 49 million more people could be pushed into hunger<\/a> globally.<\/p>\n \u201cThe places most affected by El Ni\u00f1o are often those already facing some of the worst food crises – and over the past year we have already had to make incredible choices on prioritising populations on the brink of famine and starvation,\u201d Richard Choularton, director of WFP’s Climate and Resilience Service, told The Independent. <\/p>\n \u201cWe simply do not have enough resources. This year we estimate that we need around $13bn to meet emergency food needs around the world, but we expect to only get around six and a half billion,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n A major WFP appeal to donors for $200m to fund \u201canticipatory action\u201d \u2013 programmes that provide families with cash <\/a>ahead of climate shocks, allowing them to weather the crisis without leaving their communities \u2013 has also met with a muted response. \u201cWe asked for 200 million for about 22 countries\u2026 and we still need over 150 million. And the window for putting those funds to good use is rapidly closing,\u201d said Mr Choularton. <\/p>\n Ummy Dubow, the country director for Somalia at the global development charity CARE, described the super El Ni\u00f1o as a \u201cdisaster\u201d for her country during a briefing with journalists this week – in which she emphasised how Somalia is already reeling from crises including the impact of aid cuts as well as the knock-on effects of the War in Iran. <\/p>\n \u201cSomalia is facing a very severe and compounding humanitarian crisis\u2026 3.3 million people are already internally displaced, and 1.88 million children under five in Somalia are acutely malnourished,\u201d she said. \u201cMeanwhile, while CARE used to operate 150 health facilities, this has come down to 50 due to the aid cuts – and food prices have risen between 10 and 20 per cent and fuel costs have gone up by 10 per cent due to the War in the Middle East<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n Unicef\u2019s Dr Philip Goodwin added that it is \u201cchildren who are paying the highest price\u201d despite the fact that they did not create the climate crisis. <\/p>\n Pippa Heylings, Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire and net zero spokesperson, also called on the government to better prepare for the climate crisis and restore the foreign aid budget. <\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot afford to abandon our reputation as a global climate leader by betraying our pledges to countries that desperately need climate resilience,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Liberal Democrats want to see the government reverse their cuts. Burnham must set out a roadmap to restore the aid budget back to 0.7 per cent [of Gross National Income, GNI], as well as convening cross-party talks on climate resilience.”<\/p>\n The UK retained its aid budget at 0.7 per cent of GNI for a number of years, before Boris Johnson cut it to 0.5 per cent in 2021, and Keir Starmer announced further cuts to 0.3 per cent last year, cutting billions of pounds from the budget.<\/p>\n Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham and chair of the International Development Committee, echoed warnings that cuts to the UK aid budget are misguided at a time of such severe global danger. <\/p>\n “Climate change is rapidly undermining development gains across vulnerable countries, as we have recently witnessed with the disaster in Nepal,\u201d she said. \u201cWe must recognise El Ni\u00f1o risks further worsening food and water security, and will exacerbate poverty and humanitarian need.<\/p>\n “Successive cuts to overseas development aid… are increasingly undermining good intent, at a time when the climate crisis is rapidly intensifying,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Both the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Department for Business and Trade, have been approached for comment. <\/p>\n![\"Wildfires,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2292721464...jpeg\")
Wildfires, which scientists say are being fuelled by El Ni\u00f1o, are seen burning across Indonesia earlier this month (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n