Food insecurity and climate change
Climate change is an existential global issue that most affects the impoverished and vulnerable parts of the world such as Central America. El Salvador, located in the tropical region of Central America and the Dry Corridor which stretches along the Pacific Coast from southern Mexico to Panama, has experienced extreme weather events for more than 30 years, according to the 2014 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As the atmosphere gets hotter, it holds more water vapor which is then released in heavier precipitation events. For the farmers, this means fewer spring rains to support the crops and, when the precipitation finally arrives in September and October, it is often heavy, and results in destructive flooding.
The ability of the Salvadoran people to successfully cultivate corn and beans to sustain their families has been greatly impacted by climate change. The poor harvests from the extreme weather conditions leave rural subsistence farmers and their families vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition. Salvadorans were among the millions of people needing emergency food relief in the Dry Corridor between 2014 and 2016. The cumulation of years of poor harvests pushes them off the land, migrating to the city or to the north.
Food insecurity was singled out as a trigger for immigration north from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras by The World Food Programme for the first time in September of 2015. Two years later, the organization found that half of the Central American migrants describe themselves as food insecure. In October of 2020, The Science Daily reported Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health’s findings that 74% of migrants experienced food insecurity, defined as having one meal per day or less per day.
While we have to engage this issue on a global stage, we must also engage in local, grassroots, community efforts. It will be through the mobilization of those most impacted by climate change, who are the poor, marginalized and people of color, that change will happen. CRIPDES, our partner organization in El Salvador, plays a critical role in the mobilization of rural communities.
One project the organization promotes is the Organic Kitchen Gardens Project. The goals of the project are to promote food sovereignty and security through the implementation of kitchen gardens, the processing and consumption of green food, and participation in the national political dialogue around food security and nutrition. The gardens promote food security and autonomy, especially critical during climatic events, wars, disasters and pandemics such as COVID-19. Beyond the gardens and their produce, this initiative strengthens grassroots organization, citizen participation, gender equality and protection of natural resources. It is clear, however, that while these gardens empower communities and women to take a step toward food security, such efforts are ultimately threatened by climate change.
CRIPDES is one of many organizations in the Salvadoran Civil Society that urged its government to sign the Escazú Agreement by the September 26, 2020 deadline. The agreement calls for all individuals to have timely access to information about and the ability to participate in making decisions regarding their lives and their environment. These decisions include the sustainable use of natural resources, biodiversity conservation, the fight against land degradation and climate change, and building resilience to disasters. A third tenet of the agreement is access to justice in the case that the rights to information and participation in decision-making were to be infringed upon. The agreement was ratified; however, El Salvador was not one of its signatories. By opting out of the agreement, President Bukele and his administration have chosen to support corporate interests of, among others, the construction sector and the sugarcane industry, which has invaded protected natural areas and uses lethal agrochemicals that contaminate the land and cause kidney disease.
The Environmental Working Group seeks to support CRIPDES in mobilizing the communities it represents to engage in local, grassroots efforts to address the critical issues of the environment and climate change that so greatly impact food security in El Salvador.
Annotated bibliography
Link to a summary of a report on a survey conducted by Columbia’s School of Public Health on migrants passing through Mexico in 2020, with finding that ¾ experienced food insecurity during the journey. Link to the original report (which is behind a paywall) included.
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. News Release. Three-quarters of migrants traveling to US through Mexico experience food insecurity. ScienceDaily. 5 August 2020. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200805110123.htm
Link to blog post highlighting campaign by CCR in Chalatenango to encourage women growing kitchen gardens, in light of COVID19.
El Salvador Solidarity. Mario Guevara. Blog post. CCR Work Featured in Diario Co-Latino. 16 May 2020. https://www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org/ccr-work-on-diario-co-latino/
Link to a 2019 report from Scientific American on the 5 years of drought in Central America and its effects on migration.
Eye of the Storm. Jeff Master. Blog post. Fifth straight year of Central American drought helping drive migration. 23 December 2019. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/eye-of-the-storm/fifth-straight-year-of-central-american-drought-helping-drive-migration/
Link to a synthesis report of the 2014 assessment by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which assesses the science related to climate change. Links on the page to a Power Point presentation and to videos. Material is offered in many languages.
IPCC. Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC. 151 pp. 2014. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/
Link to an article in NYTimes Magazine, describing how climate change and resulting food insecurity is driving migration. Quite sobering. Includes discussion of a model showing that 1/3 of humans are living in areas that will be outside normal ecological niche for civilization by 2070. Interesting animations and other graphic features.
Lustgarten, Abrahm. The great climate migration. The New York Times Magazine. 26 July 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/23/magazine/climate-migration.html
Link to a 2015 report from the UN World Food Programme and International Organization for Migration detailing connections between food insecurity, violence, and migration in the Northern Triangle countries. Combines findings from two studies, one by IOM, the other by London School of Economics. Charts and maps.
World Food Programme/International Organization for Migration. Hunger without borders: The hidden links between Food Insecurity, Violence and Migration in the Northern Triangle of Central America. September 2015. https://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/liaison_offices/wfp277544.pdf?_ga=2.189296930.829267658.1596905683-1947463913.1596905683
Link to another report, a follow-up of Hunger Without Borders, from the UN’s World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration. This one adds climate variability to the group of push factors leading to migration from Central America. Also focuses on those left behind; the introduction states, “The findings reveal some important misperceptions about the role of remittances and bring to light the precarious situation of people remaining at home without sufficient access to food.” Contains charts and maps.
World Food Programme/International Organization for Migration. Food Security and migration: Why people flee and the impact on family members in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. August 2017. https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000022124/download/?_ga=2.108117698.1195392675.1597098403-1947463913.1596905683