El Niño is back with a vengeance – and fears of ‘Godzilla’ strength may be the least of our worries
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#1
The United Nations World Food Programme and its agriculture agency have issued a joint global appeal for emergency funding to combat a looming hunger crisis driven by the return of El Niño.
聯合國世界糧食計劃署及其農業機構已發起一項聯合全球呼籲，募集緊急資金以應對因聖嬰現象回歸而即將來臨的飢餓危機。
#2
Officials cautioned that the cyclical weather phenomenon, which scientists first linked to devastating droughts and extreme weather in the 1970s, could this time inflict even more severe consequences on food security worldwide.
官員警告，科學家在 1970 年代首次與毀滅性乾旱和極端天氣聯繫在一起的這種週期性氣候現象（聖嬰現象），這一次可能會對全球糧食安全造成甚至更嚴重的後果。
#3
Rarely has the international community faced such a convergence of climate risk and agricultural vulnerability.
國際社會鮮少面臨如此交織的氣候風險與農業脆弱性。
#4
El Niño, named by Pacific fishers in the 1800s, is characterised by abnormal warming of ocean surface temperatures that disrupts weather patterns across continents.
聖嬰現象由太平洋漁民於 1800 年代命名，其特徵是海洋表面溫度異常升高，進而破壞跨大陸的氣候模式。
#5
The 1972-73 episode, for instance, warmed Peruvian coastal waters so dramatically that it collapsed the world's largest anchovy fishery.
例如，1972-73 年的事件使秘魯沿岸海域溫度急劇上升，以致於摧毀了全球最大的鯷魚漁場。
#6
That same event brought harsh drought to South Asia, the Sahel, and parts of East Africa, compounding an oil crisis that deepened global hunger.
那同一個事件給南亞、薩赫爾和東非部分地區帶來了嚴重的乾旱，加劇了一場使全球飢餓加深的石油危機。
#7
Were governments to underestimate the current threat, the humanitarian fallout could dwarf previous episodes.
要是各國政府低估了當前的威脅，其所造成的人道主義災難可能會使先前的事件顯得微不足道。
#8
Adugna Woyessa, an Ethiopian epidemiologist at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, has studied El Niño's devastating effects since childhood.
自童年時期起，衣索比亞公共衛生研究所的衣索比亞流行病學家阿杜格納·沃耶薩就一直在研究聖嬰現象的毀滅性影響。
#9
As a boy in the early 1970s, he witnessed drought ravage his country's harvests while his school converted a classroom into a grain store.
作為一個在 1970 年代初期的男孩，他目睹了乾旱摧毀他國家的收成，而他的學校則將一間教室改造成穀倉。
#10
He has since argued that nutrition is fundamental to a population's capacity to withstand the cascading health consequences of extreme weather, including malaria epidemics.
自那時起，他便一直主張，營養對於一個群體抵抗極端氣候（包括瘧疾疫情）所帶來的連鎖健康後果之能力至關重要。
#11
His research emphasised that proactive intervention, rather than reactive aid, is essential for vulnerable communities.
他的研究強調，預防性的干預措施，而非事後反應性的援助，對於脆弱的社群而言是至關重要的。
#12
Historically, El Niño has triggered political upheaval alongside environmental catastrophe.
從歷史上看，聖嬰現象在引發環境災難的同時，也引發了政治動盪。
#13
In Ethiopia during the 1970s, widespread protests against the emperor's mishandling of famine ultimately facilitated a military coup that ushered in a communist dictatorship.
在 1970 年代的衣索比亞，針對皇帝對饑荒處置失當所發起的廣泛抗議，最終促成了一場軍事政變，進而引入了共產獨裁政權。
#14
Such precedents underscore why the current global appeal demands urgent attention.
這些先例強調了為什麼目前的全球呼籲需要緊急關注。
#15
Not only does El Niño threaten crop yields and fisheries, but it also destabilises entire political systems in regions already grappling with poverty.
聖嬰現象不僅威脅到作物產量和漁業，還使本就與貧困搏鬥的地區之整個政治體系動盪不安。
#16
The question remains whether the international community will mobilise sufficient resources before this crisis escalates beyond containment.
問題在於國際社會是否會在這次危機惡化到無法收拾之前，動員足夠的資源。