Central America—although known for being rich in mesoamerican history, biodiversity, and natural wonders—the region takes part in Latin America’s distinct and prominent environmental and climate struggles. 

 

As the rate of global climate change continues to accelerate, its impact on geographically vulnerable countries and regions, such as Central America, continues to worsen and affect communities. Central America distinctly suffers most from extreme weather events—such as severe droughts and floods—tremendous deforestation, significant biodiversity loss, and soil degradation. 

 

Within the region, climate change can be observed through the increase of temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, the rise of sea levels, and in weather variability and natural disaster events. Principal components of this vulnerability for the Central American countries include the region’s extensive coastlines, current economic dependence on agriculture, the potential for storm damage, scarcity of freshwater, and limited capacity to adapt (Mexico, The Caribbean, and Central America: The Impact of Climate Change to 2030, 2009). 

 

Central America is among the regions most exposed to natural disasters and affected by climate change. The geographical characteristics of the area make it particularly vulnerable to phenomena such as droughts, hurricanes, floods, landslides, and geological events, including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions (ECLAC, 2015, as cited in Fraga, 2020). According to the NGO German Watch's 2019 Global Climate Risk Index—which analyses the extent to which countries are affected by the impacts of extreme weather events—for the period of 1998-2017 four out of the seven Centralamerican countries were among the first twenty most affected by global climate change: Honduras (2nd); Nicaragua (6th), Guatemala (14th), and El Salvador (16th) (Eckstein et al., 2019, as cited in Fraga, 2020). 

 

Due to the increase in frequency and intensity of weather events in recent years, the same indicator for the period of 2004‐2013 shows that Centralamerican countries often rank in the top tens in terms of risk (Climate Change in Central America: Potential Impacts and Public policy Options, 2012). The ruthless hit of Categories 4 and 5 Hurricanes Iota and Eta in November of 2020 are recent proof of the region’s significant susceptibility and vulnerability to extreme weather events that presently continue to prevail and worsen. Senior advocate and program manager of the Climate Displacement Program at Refugees International, Kayly Ober, described the disasters as examples of “sudden-onset” events (Berardelli and Niemczyk, 2021).

 

“Socio natural disasters”—in which natural phenomena are aggravated by poverty and social exclusion—are the consequence of erosion, sedimentation in rivers, and other problems arising from deforestation, as said by Luis Romano from El Salvador’s Centro Humboldt. In Honduras only, total area of humid primary forest decreased by 19 percent between 2002-2020 (Global Forest Watch, n.d.). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations’ “State of the World’s Forests” report, the conversion of forest land due to urbanisation and agriculture is the main cause of deforestation in Central America, concluding that 90 percent of the wood removed in this region is for fuel wood (Valladares, 2011).

 

Likewise, the rate of deforestation in the region also accounts for significant loss of biodiversity and soil degradation. Central America is home to 8 percent of the world's animals and plants (Japan International Cooperation Agency, 2017); however, practices such as logging, palm oil extraction, agriculture, and livestock farming are the leading contributors to biodiversity loss in the region, chiefly due to the deforestation they usher. Similarly, Central America suffers from severe soil degradation due to aggressive deforestation, as well as from urbanization and the intense application of agrochemicals in agriculture.

 

Most of Central America’s issues showcase the intersectionality between climate change and socioeconomic status; an example of this is the issue surrounding the The Dry Corridor. “El Corredor Seco” is an ecological region on the Central American Pacific coast where the dry season is longer than four months; the area extends from southern Mexico through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. According to FAO’S 2016 Situational Report, The Dry Corridor—in particular Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador—is experiencing one of the worst droughts of the last ten years with over 3.5 million in need of humanitarian assistance, mostly due to food and water insecurity, as well as economic adversity. The intense drought in this region is due to the “El Niño” Southern Oscillation. For Central America, this climate phenomenon makes the region particularly vulnerable to irregular rainfall and results in both droughts and flooding, which are becoming more extreme every day because of today’s accelerated global climate change.

 

As most of Central America continues to significantly bear, not only chronic poverty, corruption, and high crime rates, but the effects of climate change as well, people from across the region therefore continue to be displaced or migrate in search of safety and economic security from environmental threats. In 2020 only—due to Hurricanes Iota and Eta—nearly 600,000 people from Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua were displaced, according to the NGO ACAPS (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2020). According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s (IDMC) 2020 report, weather-related disasters, most tied to climate change, displaced 23.9 million people around the globe—about three times more than those displaced by conflict that year. Both regional environmental issues and extreme weather account for aggregated complications— such as the loss of homes, food insecurity, environmental pollution—that drive migration across Central America. 

 

According to The World Bank's 2018 report on Internal Climate Migration in Latin America, 1.4-2.1 million people in Central America and Mexico (approximately one percent of the population) are likely to be displaced from their homes by 2050 due to factors related to climate change. However, internal climate migration may increase in the second half of the century due to stronger climate impacts combined with steep population growth; therefore, the report also estimates that, if "climate-friendly" measures are not taken, migration figures could reach up to 4 million. 

 

As Central America’s environmental condition rests chiefly on the region’s socioeconomic status, communities continue to be struck with the effects of regional and global climate change. The region’s unique environmental struggles go beyond their surroundings, as most Centralamericans are within the population that are disproportionately impacted by the repercussions of climate change. Namely, as the region’s environment degrades, so do the people's livelihood and wellbeing. The environmental situation that Central America faces is an evident delineation of the environmental, social, and economic consequences climate change can bring.