Maputo, Aug. 21, 2025 (Lusa) - The African Union has approved support of $1.8 million (€1.5 million) to mitigate the effects of El Niño for 18,000 Mozambicans, following an assessment by specialised agency ARC, according to information from the government.
According to a document detailing Mozambique's budget execution in the first half of the year, sent to Lusa on Thursday, the support is the result of an analysis by the African Risk Capacity (ARC), an agency of the African Union, which calculated the amount through a parametric insurance policy against drought for the 2024/25 rainy season.
In April 2025, “a payout in the order of $1.8 million was determined, which will enable assistance to around 18,000 households in the regions most affected by the drought”, the document reads, explaining that Mozambique “continues to suffer from the impacts of the 'El Niño” phenomenon, which has a greater incidence in the south and centre of the country, causing situations of food insecurity'.
Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by global change, facing cyclical floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs annually between October and April.
"On the other hand, the impact of climate shocks, especially tropical cyclones Dikeledi and Jude, which occurred in January and March of this year, caused enormous damage to economic and social infrastructure," the government recognises in the same document.
It adds that these two cyclones alone caused the deaths of 171 people, mainly in the north of the country, from "collapsed walls, drowning, lightning and cholera", as well as 248 injured and a total of 1,372,441 people affected, corresponding to 310,956 families.
According to government figures, 317,460 homes were also affected, "of which 158,135 were partially destroyed, 146,538 totally destroyed and 12,787 flooded", but also "3,188 classrooms were destroyed, affecting 373,472 students", as well as 142 health centres, 588 places of worship, 13,489 power poles and 119 communication towers, among "other socio-economic damage".
It also notes that since January, extreme events have also affected the road sector to the tune of 6,991 kilometres, damaging 814 kilometres, 23 bridges, 10 pontoons and 63 aqueducts.
In agriculture, 1,200,000 hectares of various crops have been affected, of which 429,317 hectares due to flooding and the rest due to the effects of drought and pests, "harming around 202,028 producers", while in fisheries 212 artisanal vessels have been affected.
Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) recently estimated losses of almost 115 million meticais (€1.6 million) from the consequences of Cyclone Jude's passage through the north of the country in March alone.
Between December and March alone, during the last cyclone season, Mozambique was hit by three cyclones, including Chido, the first and most serious, at the end of 2024.
The number of cyclones hitting the country "has been increasing over the last decade", as has the intensity of the winds, according to the State of the Climate in Mozambique 2024 report by the Mozambican Meteorological Institute (Inam), released in March.
Inam states in the document that, although the report refers to 2024, it carried out an analysis "by decades of tropical cyclones that have hit Mozambique", in the cyclone seasons (November to April) from 1981/1982 to the current one, 2024/2025.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
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