New York TImes
A feature in The New York Times explores the implications of the powerful El Niño pattern currently forming in the Pacific Ocean.
SCRI’s Executive Director, Laurie Laybourn, was interviewed for the piece, highlighting the urgent need to watch for cascading "domino effects" across economic and political boundaries rather than viewing the climate event in isolation.
There’s possibility for “a perfect storm of factors,” said Laurie Laybourn, who leads the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative, a think tank based in Britain. “You could see an increase in poverty, malnutrition, conflict, indebtedness, and all of the domino effects that come from that.”
If history offers any lesson, it’s that strong El Niño events, like the one that started in 1877, play upon existing weaknesses. That El Niño led to punishingly dry conditions that spanned the world, including Brazil, southern Africa and China.
