Developmental Impacts of La Nina
La Ni帽a has positive and negative developmental impacts on health, livelihoods, infrastructure, water security and economic growth
Abstract
La Ni帽a has a number of both positive and negative developmental impacts. These include impacts on health, livelihoods, infrastructure, water security and economic growth. La Ni帽a is part of ENSO (El Ni帽o-Southern Oscillation), a climate phenomenon, consisting of the El Ni帽o, neutral, and La Ni帽a phases. La Ni帽a usually occurs following an El Ni帽o event. La Ni帽a causes opposite conditions to those associated with El Ni帽o. Thus, areas experiencing drought during El Ni帽o are likely to experience flooding during La Ni帽a. Likewise, areas that have experienced excessive rainfall during El Ni帽o, are likely to experience drought during La Ni帽a. According to a paper produced for DFID, 鈥榥o two La Nin虄a events will be the same 鈥� the timing and magnitude of events differs considerably. Geographically, the majority of the literature on the impact of La Ni帽a identified during this rapid literature review focuses on countries in Southeast Asia. In particular, there are several rigorous research studies on the linkages between La Ni帽a and agricultural production. There is less coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. The literature on the impacts of La Ni帽a focuses predominantly on the humanitarian impacts of the phenomenon, rather than on the developmental impacts. Moreover, there is limited evidence of causality, suggesting a need for more rigorous studies on the linkages between La Ni帽a and development impacts. A significant number of the studies available are quantitative, suggesting that there is also a need for more mixed methods research to enable a more in-depth understanding of the correlations identified by the existing quantitative research. In addition, a number of the studies on this topic are of low quality.
This report was prepared for the UK Government鈥檚 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and its partners in support of pro-poor programmes
Citation
Strachan, A.L. (2020). Developmental Impacts of La Nina. K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.