Climate change in Guatemala is a serious issue as

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

is considered one of 10 nations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In 2010, Guatemala "ranked second in the world on the Global Climate Risk Index, which indicates the level of exposure and vulnerability to extreme events." Both commercial agricultural production and

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occ ...

have declined, and thus subsistence farmers find it more difficult to find work as day laborers when their own harvests fail. About 300,000 subsistence farmers reported crop loss due to drought in 2018. About half of Guatemala's workforce is in the agricultural sector. Poor crop yields due to climate change have been identified as a factor in migration to the United States.

Greenhouse gas emissions

"Guatemala emitted 40 million metric tons (MtCO2e) of

greenhouse gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...

es in 2011, with the

land-use change Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: for ...

and forestry sector contributing 40 percent to overall emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

grew by 38 percent from 1990 - 2011 with significant contribution from the land-use change and forestry, energy and agriculture sectors."

Impacts on the natural environment

Temperature and weather changes

A report by the Guatemalan System of Climate Change Sciences in 2019 indicated that rainy season is starting later as a result of climate change, putting

subsistence farmers Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...

and indigenous people in poor communities at risk of food shortages resulting from poor harvests.

Ecosystems

Populations of Guatemala's edible giant winged leaf-cutter ant are declining. "Guatemala's ''zompopos'', yellow ants, of May are now the ''zompopos'' of June," according to Dr. Edwin Castellanos, of the

Universidad del Valle de Guatemala The Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) (University of the Valley of Guatemala) is a private, not-for-profit, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It was founded in 1966 by a private foundation, which had previously overseen ...

''.''

Impacts on people

Economic impacts

Agriculture

Guatemalan farmers have experienced

extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...

events such as

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

, as well as erratic weather patterns with spikes and drops in temperature, torrential rains, drought, and unexpected frost. One crop affected has been

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es, which suffer from fungus. Guatemala's western highlands are particularly susceptible to climate change, impacting the region’s predominantly indigenous population of subsistence farmers. The main crops, potatoes and maize, have been over increasing pressure as hard frosts in the region have become more frequent since 2013. Hard frosts can kill a whole season’s worth of crops at once. At lower elevations, new pests are becoming more prevalent and there has been decreased rainfall. The problem of

food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...

and

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

has increased, especially in the “ corredor seco" (an area extending from the departments of Izabal and

Baja Verapaz Baja Verapaz () is a department in Guatemala. In 2018, the population of the department was 299,476. The capital is Salamá. 78.5% of the department’s population identifies as Maya, with 53% belonging to the Achi linguistic group. Baja Verap ...

in the north to

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

and

Jutiapa Jutiapa is a city and a municipality in the Jutiapa department of Guatemala. Located 124 km from the city of Guatemala City, at an altitude of 892 m (2,926 ft), it is the capital of the department of Jutiapa. Its Catedral San Crist ...

in the south). Other crops affected include coffee and cardamom.

Impacts on migration

In 2018, 50% of the 94,000 Guatemalans deported from the United States and Mexico were from the country's western highlands severely affected by climate change. In 2019,

Palm Beach County, Florida Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and Broward County, Florida, Broward County ...

saw an increase in Guatemalan immigrants from the "

Dry corridor The Dry Corridor or Central American Dry Corridor (CADC) is a tropical dry forest region on the Pacific Coast of Central America. This area, which extends from southern Mexico to Panama, is extremely vulnerable to climate change due to much of the ...

", seeking to escape hunger caused by periods of drought followed by torrential rains that had impacted their crops.

Mitigation and adaptation

Adaptation

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

for projects related climate and agriculture has focused on helping farmers adapt so that they can remain on their land.

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

support for Guatemala has included development of "early-warning systems for floods and fires, as well as promoting soil and watershed conservation, rain water harvesting, and other adaptive practices." According to the

GAO Gao (or Gawgaw/Kawkaw) is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an imp ...

, the mandate for studies to determine the impact of these programs on migration has been rescinded. A third round of cuts to US aid has been proposed for FY2020. US based NGOs which have been active in climate-related projects in the forestry and agricultural sectors experienced funding cuts under the

first Trump Administration Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...

. For example, Asociación de Cooperación para el Desarrollo Rural de Occidente (C.D.R.O.) was a Guatemalan program originally funded by the United States’ government. C.D.R.O. focused on agroforestry and weather monitoring systems to help farmers mitigate the effects of climate change. The organization provided residents with resources to plant new, more adaptable crops to alongside their typical maize to protect the corn from variable temperatures, frost, etc. C.D.R.O. also set up a weather monitoring system to help predict extreme weather events, and would send residents text messages to warn them about periods of frost, extreme heat, humidity, or drought. Funding for the program was cut by the Trump administration in 2017.

International cooperation

Guatemala has joined the V20, a group of 48

developing economies A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreemen ...

working together with development banks towards

climate resilience Climate resilience is a concept to describe how well people or ecosystems are prepared to bounce back from certain climate hazard events. The formal definition of the term is the "capacity of social, economic and ecosystems to cope with a hazardou ...

and

100% renewable energy 100% renewable energy is the goal of the use renewable resources for all energy. 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issues, as well as ec ...

References

External links

Guatemala, Climate Change Adaptation
United Nations Development Programme
Guatemala
Climate Links, USAID {{DEFAULTSORT:Climate change In Guatemala Environment of Guatemala