Guatemala: Adapting to climate change

Tico Times (Costa Rica): Guatemala is one of the top 10 countries most affected by climate change and one of the most vulnerable to natural disasters, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. The Central American nation’s geographical position, straddling three tectonic plates and two oceans, leaves it prone to tropical storms, droughts, hurricanes and earthquakes, which have been occurring with increasing frequency over the past decade.

In 2005, Hurricane Stan swept through Guatemala leaving more than 1,500 people dead, 500,000 victims and damages estimated at $989 million. In 2010, Pacaya Volcano erupted, scattering volcanic ash and debris across Guatemala City, bringing economic life in the capital of 1.5 million residents to a standstill. Two days later, Tropical Storm Agatha hit, leaving an equally expensive cleanup operation.

“[Natural disasters] have had serious consequences for the country: loss of infrastructure due to landslides and floods, loss of harvest causing food shortages and loss of natural space,” said José Luis Rivera, coordinator of Guatemala’s Climate Change Unit, an initiative set up by the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry. “In the last decade we have suffered dry spells and floods that have caused loss of life and severe socioeconomic damage, in addition to putting rural communities, especially women, children and indigenous populations at risk.”

Natural disasters like these 2011 floods in the department of Escuintla, 100 km south of Guatemala City, are becoming increasingly common in Guatemala, one of the world's 10 countries most affected by climate change. Johan Ordóñez/AFP

But it’s not just Guatemala’s geographical location that leaves it susceptible: Poor housing, high malnutrition and unemployment also conspire to make the country’s inhabitants more vulnerable, with indigenous communities and farmers among the most affected…