Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz has declared a national state of emergency to mobilize resources and strengthen disaster response as the country braces for severe droughts and flooding linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon . "This will be a phenomenon that will have very severe impacts in terms of drought and floods, and we need the cooperation of all institutions," Paz said. Bolivia braces for extreme weather The president's decree allows the deployment of additional rescue teams and calls for coordination between national and regional authorities, the armed forces and police.
According to a Bolivian government report, drought has: affected at least 78,000 families across seven of Bolivia's nine departments led to the loss of more than 75,000 cattle Authorities have also warned of potential floods, flash floods, and landslides as the rainy season begins. What is El Nino? El Nino is a periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific that disrupts global weather patterns, often bringing drought to some regions and heavy rainfall to others.
The current El Nino developed in June and has strengthened rapidly since. It is now on course to become an exceptionally strong — sometimes called "super" — El Nino. Researchers have estimated that the unusually high temperatures linked to the current El Nino could cause around 451,000 excess deaths worldwide from June 2026 to February 2027. The United Nations has described the current El Nino, which is expected to peak in December, as "heading off the charts."
Its impact could last years, with the UN urging nations in the Pacific to prepare for the worst. Just in the past month, changing weather patterns associated with El Nino have been linked to: forest and land wildfires in Indonesia Supercharged Typhoon Champi in Taiwan Hurricane Isaias in the US Gulf Coast water and power shortages in India after weak monsoon El Niño in Africa: Flooding in Kenya, Drought Risk in South Africa. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Deutsche Welle reports Bolivia's national emergency over drought and coming floods, with government figures on families affected and cattle lost, and explains the strong El Nino now developing. It links the drought, the floods and a run of wildfires, typhoons and hurricanes elsewhere to El Nino, and never says that human-caused warming makes such droughts, downpours and storms more frequent or more severe.
Leaves out the climate link
Serious
“severe droughts and flooding linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon”
Why this matters
The words "linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon" give Bolivia's drought and coming floods one cause, a natural cycle in the Pacific.
The impression it gives
A reader comes away thinking the drought that has hit 78,000 families and the flooding Bolivia expects are purely a product of El Nino, with nothing to do with the warming of the planet.
The context
Human-caused warming has made agricultural drought and heavy rainfall more frequent or more severe. El Nino now acts on a warmer world. The article never uses the word climate anywhere.
How we know
On the recordThat warming has made hot extremes, heavy rainfall, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
On the recordIt is unequivocal that human influence, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “climate”.
“changing weather patterns associated with El Nino have been linked to: forest and land wildfires in Indonesia Supercharged Typhoon Champi in Taiwan Hurricane Isaias in the US Gulf Coast”
Why this matters
This list puts wildfires, a "Supercharged" typhoon and a hurricane down to El Nino alone. The article offers no other reason the typhoon was supercharged.
The impression it gives
A reader takes it that fire weather and intense tropical storms around the world this month come from El Nino and nothing else.
The context
Warming has made fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe. The article leaves that out of its account of this month's disasters.
How we know
On the recordThat warming has made hot extremes, heavy rainfall, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
Bolivia is bracing for severe drought and flooding linked to a strong El Nino. Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is making droughts, heavy rainfall, fire weather and intense storms like these more frequent and more severe.