A multi-year drought has desiccated farmland across the southern part of the Indian Ocean island known for its rich biodiversity, with no end to the crisis in sight.
More than 1.3 million people are severely hungry and tens of thousands are facing famine conditions that the United Nations says are driven by global heating.
"We must take decisions and act to prevent this type of situation from happening in other countries."Already people are faced with desertification and temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius"throughout the year", said Raharinirina. To have a hope of avoiding this fate, energy intensive lifestyles in the rich world -- from taking cheap flights for holidays to using gas heaters on outside terraces -- will have to change.
"It's called empathy, climate empathy, maybe it's a new term but that's what it takes -- empathy from north to south, and between citizens," she said.Children wasting away Half a million children are acutely malnourished, including 110,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition.The"lean season" has only just begun and people face another six months before the next harvest. If it comes in.