Mozambique faces El Niño threat with 3.5 million already short of food

Some 3.5 million people in Mozambique are already facing acute food insecurity—serious difficulty getting enough food—as a new climate warning puts the country among Africa’s most exposed. According to Africanews, the United Nations has identified Mozambique as one of the continent’s most vulnerable countries as El Niño threatens further extreme weather. The warning comes while the country is under acute economic pressure following catastrophic flooding earlier this year.

Elisa Morgera, the UN Special Rapporteur on climate change, raised the alarm at the end of an 11-day working visit to Mozambique. She said prolonged droughts, cyclones and floods were predicted in the coming months in the context of what she described as the 2026 super El Niño. Her warning places the prospect of further weather shocks alongside the economic damage and food shortages the country already faces.

A climate threat on top of economic strain

Across Southern Africa, the powerful weather system is expected to bring severe heatwaves, less rain than normal and a greater risk of drought, Africanews reported. Mozambique’s exposure is therefore part of a wider regional warning, rather than an isolated national concern. Malawi and Madagascar were also named in the report as the other two African countries considered most vulnerable. The outlook combines regional heat and rainfall risks with the range of hazards Morgera highlighted for Mozambique.

Morgera stressed the imbalance between Mozambique’s limited contribution to climate change and its high exposure to the consequences. She described it as one of the most vulnerable countries not just in Africa, but worldwide. That assessment adds weight to the warning for a country already dealing with the aftermath of destructive floods and widespread difficulty obtaining enough food.

Mozambique is among the countries most exposed to climate change worldwide, despite contributing very little to it, according to UN climate expert Elisa Morgera.

The immediate backdrop is an economy strained by catastrophic flooding earlier this year. Alongside that pressure, the figure of 3.5 million people experiencing acute food insecurity shows the scale of the existing human challenge. These are current problems, distinct from the droughts, cyclones and floods forecast for the coming months. The warning is about additional dangers confronting a country already in difficulty.

Companies face a call for clearer duties

Morgera also directed attention to multinational businesses operating in Mozambique. She called for clear obligations requiring private companies to respect human rights and avoid environmental and climate damage that could reasonably be anticipated. She singled out fossil fuel companies as businesses for which those responsibilities were particularly important. Her remarks were a call for corporate duties to be clearly defined, rather than an announcement of new rules.

The next focus is the coming months: the severe heat, rainfall shortfalls and drought risk projected across Southern Africa, and the droughts, cyclones and floods Morgera warned could confront Mozambique. Alongside those weather risks, her call for clearer company obligations puts corporate environmental responsibility on the agenda as the country faces existing economic strain and food insecurity.