Confronting climate change in Central America - OCHA

Confronting climate change in Central America | OCHA

Title Confronting climate change in Central America

Title Confronting climate change in Central America

Body

Schools suffered from the impacts of hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020. Photo: OCHA/Vincent Tremeau

by Marc Belanger

Photos: Vincent Tremeau, Marc Belanger

Climate change continues to influence an alternating cycle of increasingly devastating storms and droughts that leave severe humanitarian consequences in their wake. These shocks harm vulnerable populations in the north of Central America, jeopardising their food security and livelihoods and causing various repercussions.

When these events affect sowing and harvesting, job opportunities are limited. People like Ovidio and his wife, Teresa, residents of Guaraquiche in eastern Guatemala, cannot generate an income if they cannot go out to the fields to work.

“I can’t provide for my family, but it’s not because I don’t want to,” says Ovidio. Ovidio, a former soldier, suffers from chronic seizures that limit his ability to work.

"When we don’t have food, well… we won’t eat until we have more food, hopefully the day after,” says Teresa, as she washes two pounds of corn to feed her family. They depend on Ovidio's brothers to provide food, which they then ration.

Learn more about their struggles and the efforts by various organizations to support them here.