STRONG EL NIÑO COULD PUSH 49 MILLION MORE PEOPLE INTO ACUTE HUNGER, UN AGENCY SAYS. (PHOTO).

 Strong El Niño could push 49 million more people into acute hunger, UN agency says

A powerful El Niño weather event could push an additional nearly 49 million people into acute food insecurity across ‌some of the world's most vulnerable regions by the end of next year, the World Food Programme said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

The U.N. agency said in a report that there was an 81% chance of a very strong El Niño event, with sea surface temperatures at their warmest levels since at least 1982 and potentially making it the strongest such event ​since 1950.

El Niño, a periodic warming of ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific, alters global weather patterns and is often associated ​with drought in Southern Africa, delayed monsoons in parts of Asia and erratic rainfall elsewhere.

"These are events that ⁠in the past have triggered large-scale hunger," Jean-Martin Bauer, director of WFP's Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service, told reporters.

Based on an analysis of 45 countries ​deemed vulnerable to the adverse effects of El Niño, WFP estimates that the number of people facing acute food insecurity could rise by almost ​49 million to a total of 274 million people, an increase of 22%, relative to the baseline population already experiencing crisis-level food insecurity or worse.

Central America and Southern Africa are expected to be among the hardest-hit regions, with the number of food-insecure people set to increase by 83% in Central America and nearly 75% in Southern Africa, the ​WFP report said.