Recently, it has come to notice that much migration from Central America and for that matter around the world, is purely fueled by climate change.
The northern triangle of Central America is a region comprising of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. It is the largest sources of asylum seekers crossing border in recent years. Also, it is deeply affected by environmental degradation and the impacts of a changing global climate.
There has been a dramatic impact on weather patterns, on rainfall, on soil quality, on crops’ susceptibility to disease, and thus on farmers and local economies. As per the US Agency for International Development, countries in the northern triangle would witness decreased rainfall and prolonged drought in the years to come.
In Honduras, rainfall will be sparse in areas where it is needed, yet in other areas, floods will increase by 60%. While, El Salvador is projected to lose 10-28% of its coastline before the end of the century.
Violence and environmental degradation are inextricably linked, and both lead to mass migration. It has come to notice that an unstable planet and ecosystem lends itself to an unstable society, to economic insecurity, to human brutality.
Foreign aid to Central America, a place that is unduly hit by climate change, is supporting the kind of climate change resiliency that would keep people from having to leave in the first place.
This is because of the fact that people really don’t want to leave their homes for the vast uncertainty of another land. And, especially when that land proves itself again and again to be hostile to migrants’ very existence.
The UN estimates that by 2050, there will be 200 million people forcibly displaced from their homes due to climate change alone.
In today's time, climate change is one of the largest drivers of migration, and will continue to be for years to come – unless we do something about it. If we want people to be able to stay in their homes, we have to tackle the issue of our changing global climate, and we have to do it fast.
Image Credit: USA Today
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com
