Strong El Niño heats up threats to coral reefs and livestock worldwide
The unusually intense El Niño this year is worsening heat stress for coral reefs and causing severe drought for cattle in El Salvador.
Experts warn that one outlet El Niño episode is adding a “terrifying” level of risk to the planet’s coral ecosystems, which are already vulnerable to bleaching from rising temperatures. At the same time, the weather pattern has left parts of El Salvador so dry that cattle are facing starvation. The combined effects illustrate how the climate anomaly is amplifying existing environmental pressures across different regions.
Why it matters
El Niño’s extreme heat threatens both marine biodiversity and food supplies, showing climate risks are widening.
In this story
el ninocoral reefsheat stresscattle starvationclimate changebleachingun panel
