Maputo, Sept. 15, 2026 (Lusa) - Mozambique's government aims to strengthen and restore water security for human consumption, agriculture, and livestock farming, and is preparing the health, energy, education, and industrial sectors for El Niño's impact, according to a plan approved on Tuesday.
The cabinet approved the plan to mitigate the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon during its latest session in Maputo today. Spokesperson Salim Valá explained that the measure aims to prepare the country for the approaching phenomenon, emphasising that areas likely to experience significant effects must begin preparing.
«The plan aims to ensure the restoration and strengthening of water security, to guarantee water for human consumption, irrigation and livestock watering, to protect agriculture and livestock farming – including their promotion – to strengthen the capacity of water supply and sanitation systems, and to prepare the health, education, energy and industry sectors for this challenging situation,» explained Valá.
The plan, he said, aims to protect vulnerable populations by strengthening monitoring and early warning systems and by mobilising, in good time, the resources needed to implement priority measures to mitigate the impacts of this phenomenon.
The government said a multi-sectoral team is studying the financial and other social impacts of the El Niño phenomenon and will share further details shortly.
On Monday, the Mozambican President called for early action to curb the impacts of El Niño, which is approaching at an «accelerated and alarming» rate, and urged new ways of funding food security in one of the countries most affected by disasters.
«We need to anticipate the crisis. That is why (…) we are insisting on discussing El Niño precisely so that we can anticipate, prevent and build resilience, by investing in water management, irrigation, adapted technology, early warning systems and storage, as El Niño approaches, as we have mentioned, at a rapid and alarming pace,» said the president of Mozambique.
On Friday, Mozambique estimated that it would record 6 million cases of climate-sensitive diseases, notably malaria, meningitis and diarrhoea, due to the impacts of the El Niño weather phenomenon, forecast for the period 2026–2027.
The warning comes as a technical analysis by Mozambican and international organisations estimated a 55% increase in acute food insecurity by March 2027, affecting 1.84 million people, due to armed conflict in the north of the country, the El Niño phenomenon, and depleted food reserves.
The forecast is contained in an analysis of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, coordinated by the Technical Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security, which points to a worsening of the situation compared with the current figure of 1.19 million people facing acute food insecurity.
Mozambique's government had already warned of the potential impacts of the El Niño phenomenon in at least 52 districts in the country's southern and central regions, saying it was preparing an action plan to mitigate the effects of drought and water scarcity.
At the same meeting, the government approved the resolution adopting the Meteorological Development Strategy 2026–2035.
«The strategy forms part of the ongoing implementation of measures set out in the meteorological policy, notably the modernisation of the National Meteorological Observation Network, with a view to making the early warning system more inclusive and conducive to building resilience in communities in the face of climate change,» the cabinet spokesperson explained.
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