Since September 2023, an ongoing El Niño weather event has led to drought-like conditions, delayed rainfall, and flash floods during Timor-Leste’s main planting season.

The UN said a latest survey showed acute water and food scarcity and lean crop yields impacted 241,000 people living in  Lautem, Bobonaro, Liquicia, Ermera, Manufahi and Covalima.

“These are areas with the highest rates of child stunting and food insecurity,” UN’s office in Timor-Leste said in a statement.

The grant would be one of the biggest single funding commitments the UN in Timor-Leste has made to help people affected by El Niño -induced dry conditions, an agency statement said.

The emergency grant was set up under the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) – the UN’s largest such emergency fund - to help channel food, water, and agricultural assistance needed by people in regional municipalities to meet their nutrition needs to reduce malnutrition, grow more drought-resistant crops and adjust to a warming world.

The grant covers six municipalities.

"The CERF grant embodies the United Nations contribution to Timor-Leste’s El Niño mitigation efforts,” Funmi Balogun, the UN Resident Coordinator in Timor-Leste, said in a prepared statement.

“It is a strategic intervention designed to offer immediate relief to vulnerable households, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as farmers, ensuring they receive the necessary support to withstand the negative impacts of El Niño,” she said.