Record-breaking El Nino could hurt South-east Asia’s growth

AMID human-induced climate change, July 2023 broke records as the hottest month ever documented. The World Meteorological Organization declared on Jul 4 that the world has entered an El Nino cycle, with the Meteorological Service Singapore confirming this on Aug 11.

El Nino is a natural climate pattern that features abnormal warming of the ocean’s surface in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It has significant effects on global weather; in South-east Asia, it often causes increased temperatures, prolonged droughts, and other problems.

Over the past 30 years, the collective economic impact of natural and human-induced climate change on South-east Asian nations is as high as S$295 billion, according to research by a team at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).