“How severely a community experiences an El Niño is decided years in advance, by where roads and settlements are built, how water is managed, who is covered by social protection and whether public budgets have room to absorb a shock.”

United Nations Development Programme in Asia and the Pacific · said date not stated · reported 2026-11-04

The UNDP stated that the window for governments to act on El Niño is closing and that a community's experience of El Niño is shaped by long-term infrastructure and policy decisions.