The El Niño extreme weather pattern could cost the global economy up to $11 trillion and seriously impact food security, said the UN agency tackling rural poverty in developing countries on Monday.
The new IFAD report identifies El Niño as one of several overlapping climate and economic shocks affecting small-scale food producers and rural economies, warning that agricultural disruptions can ripple through the wider economy.
In 2026 alone, global energy and fertiliser shocks drove up costs across food systems within a single planting season - from production and processing to transport and distribution.
Comprehensive protection
To strengthen rural economies' resilience to overlapping shocks, the report calls for bundled investments that help farmers access markets, agricultural inputs, technologies, and financial services, including credit and weather insurance.
"Resilience is not built by investing in single interventions, but by connecting investments in inputs, markets and finance so that gains in one area are not lost in another," said Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
IFAD modelling shows that combining these measures is nearly twice as effective at protecting farm incomes when drought and price shocks strike simultaneously.
Financial support alone, such as insurance, reduces farm-income losses by 9.8 per cent, while combining investments in inputs, markets and finance cuts losses by 18.7 per cent.
Mozambique's Cabo Delgado still in grip of violence
In Mozambique, UN teams are helping thousands of mainly women and girls flee armed groups spreading chaos in the north of the country.
Since the four-week period to the end of October, more than 7,000 people have been displaced in the northeastern province of Cabo Verde.
The province, which is the about the size of Austria, now hosts more than 205,000 people in over 80 displacement sites.
"They are displaced because of…these non-State armed groups that are invading their villages, that are threatening them, or they hear rumours that they are going to be coming," explained Dana Graber Ladek, Chief of Mission in Mozambique for the UN International Organization for Migration, IOM .
Toll of long-running insurgency
Years of insurgent attacks in northern Mozambique have fuelled a displacement crisis that has debilitated communities that traditionally relied on fishing and farming.
Ms. Dana Graber explained that many communities hosting new arrivals have high levels of poverty and lack basic services such as healthcare, water and sanitation.
In addition to tracking displacement needs, the UN migration agency provides basic assistance for the most vulnerable.
"Food is their number one need, along with shelter" and work, the IOM official stressed.
You can hear the full interview below:
https://soundcloud.com/unradio/thousands-flee-their-homes
Yemen: WHO launches measles-rubella vaccination campaign to reach nearly one million children
The UN's World Health Organisation ( WHO ) is launching a measles-rubella (MR) vaccine campaign aimed at protecting more than 957,196 children aged 6 to 59 months across 11 governorates in southern Yemen.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease and remains a major cause of death among young children worldwide, despite the availability of an effective vaccine. Rubella is also a highly contagious and vaccine-preventable viral infection that can cause serious birth defects.
Both continue to pose serious public health threats in Yemen, especially as a growing displacement crisis is pushing more and more people into crowded displacement camps.
Reaching those in need
With the financial support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance - a public-private global health partnership - the campaign will deploy 2,291 vaccination teams, including 643 fixed teams operating from health facilities and 1,648 mobile teams reaching communities directly.
Special attention will be given to reaching those who've been internally displaced recently, living in displacement sites and other underserved settings.
Mobile teams will play a key role in reaching children in remote, isolated, hard-to-reach communities.
"Every child deserves protection from vaccine-preventable diseases, regardless of where they live or the challenges their families face in accessing health services," said Dr. Syed Jaffar Hussain, WHO Representative in Yemen.
