Climate change and disasters shape migration trends in Central America

Together, to try to change their lives. They migrate alone or in large groups, and for multiple reasons: fleeing poverty, violence, discrimination and, increasingly, to leave behind the disasters caused by extreme weather events that have devastated their communities.

Some of these environmental migrants have shared* their experiences with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). What they all have in common is that they lost everything in the wake of hurricanes "Eta" and "Iota" in November 2020. Their testimonies show how migration around the world is increasingly affected by the consequences of floods, hurricanes and storms.  In short, by climate change, since, as a report published yesterday by UN News showed, Latin America and the Caribbean will be one of the regions most affected by global warming.

The Central American region has been characterised as particularly vulnerable to the impacts of environmental and climate change. In the Dry Corridor, an arid area covering much of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, subsistence agriculture is regularly affected by drought. As a result, when sudden disasters, such as those that occurred in November 2020, occur, they overwhelm the resilience of households.

Marvin, Jenny and Carlos do not know each other, but all three are Central Americans. They are in Tijuana for the same reason: they lost everything at the end of last year as a result of the aforementioned hurricanes.

All three are stranded, expectantly, in one of the busiest cities on the US-Mexico border. They want to somehow make it to the other side and leave behind the moment in their lives when nature annihilated their property and their dreams. 

Marvin is a thirty-year-old farmer. He emigrated with Karen, his wife, and their two children from the department of Izabal in Guatemala. What he left behind is a nightmare.

In November 2020, the two hurricanes "Eta" and "Iota", category 4 and 5 respectively on the Saffir-Simpson scale, devastated the region, affecting seven million people in ten countries, including several in Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico.

Guatemala was one of the worst affected countries, along with Honduras and Nicaragua, according to the International Organization for Migration's Displacement Monitoring Centre's assessment of the impact of the hurricanes. In addition, Eta and Iota caused 1.7 million new displacements, especially in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras, according to the Centre.

Marvin and his family experienced it first-hand: "When they told us that 'la llena' (the river flood) was coming, we didn't believe it. It didn't rain much, but we didn't know that there were big storms in the west of the country. A river that comes from Honduras filled up completely, and ended up filling the Motagua river as well," says the farmer.

"I had a poor little animal, a horse, to pull the produce, the maize, the cassava.... I had a daily job with the help of the horse, to take the produce out of the field, to the road, to take the bus or the car, to take the produce to the markets, and the flood also took it away, the poor animal died, we lost it, the fences were lost, everything was lost", he adds.

Before this, Marvin worked in a banana company that later closed down: "The company collapsed and laid off all its workers. We practically all depended on them because, without those wages, we have no means to cultivate the land, to buy the seeds, the fertilisers, the liquids, that are needed", says Marvin.

His wife, Karen Patricia, completes the story of how difficult it was and explains how migration became their only method of survival: "My children wanted to eat, but we had nothing. It was very hard to live through that, so we made the decision to get out of there; we had no other option," says the migrant mother.

Crossing Mexico was not easy. They spare the details, but make it clear that the road was full of difficulties.

"What I want is for my children not to go through what we went through. It would be very hard for them to go through this again," says Marvin, who reproaches the authorities in his country for never warning them in advance of "Eta". 

Jenny, meanwhile, is Honduran, from an area in the department of Cortés called Bajos de Choloma. In 2020 she worked in a sewing company, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic she was left without a job, like many others.

In her case, the experience of 'Eta' and 'Iota' reminded her of that other traumatic moment in her life, the passage of Hurricane "Mitch" through her community 23 years ago.

"When Hurricane Mitch hit, they had to take us out in boats to a hill and from there, thanks to God, my father and my mother, we recovered, but now with hurricanes Eta and Iota, we practically lost everything...", she explains, on the verge of tears. 

The area where she lives is surrounded by "bordos" (retaining dams) which, during heavy rains, as on this occasion, break and overflow, causing flooding and destruction. He says that the family was saved, but lost their property.

When he returned to the village, his worst fears were realised: "the houses were lost, the water took everything, everything, everything. It was sad for us to come back and find nothing after so many years of fighting to have something," she says.

Carlos had the same experience: "It was very painful to see how the little we had was lost". 
"I am a farmer and I used to farm in my country, but when the hurricanes hit, I lost everything and decided to emigrate to the United States", says this farmer from the community of El Belloto, in the Honduran department of Lempira, who emigrated with his 5-year-old son.

The mountainous area where he lived is not particularly conducive to agriculture, but he used to plant coffee, maize and beans, staple crops in Central America.

"We lived well, we didn't lack anything. After the hurricanes, our house was destroyed, we lost the plot of land where we were working, it got bad," he says.

Several weeks of rain meant that "we were left empty-handed" and many people ended up on the street, without work, without the possibility of earning a living. With no options for supporting his family financially, Carlos thought the best option was to leave.

On 1 February, together with his son, he left for Tijuana, arriving on 19 March. The decision does not weigh on him: "It's horrible to be left with nothing overnight. It's as if nothing had occurred to you, there was nothing to do at that moment and it occurred to me to move here, to the United States, because it's the only way", he adds.

Together with her son, Carlos Alfredo, she remembers what they left behind and insists that, whatever happens, they will return to their community. However, he reminds his youngest son that things will not be the same. 

"The lesson he (having emigrated) left him with is that, even if you face adversity, you can always get back up, no matter how hard it is. He's going to realise what we lost and that, by God, we're going to get it back one day, right? And, thank God, he is living the adventure with me here," Carlos shares.

The International Organization for Migration has been working for decades on the links between migration, environment and climate change. The UN agency helps people and governments prepare for the adverse effects of climate change on migration. It also runs climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk reduction and community stabilisation programmes to help people stay at home and avoid forced migration.

When migration is the only option, the Organization works with governments to ensure safe, orderly and regular channels for migration, and provides assistance to those forced to flee their homes.

Together with the Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SICA), IOM has published a recent study on the relationship between migration, disasters and climate change in Central America. It also supports the development of appropriate policies to prevent forced migration and address the needs of climate migrants.

*Original report produced by Cesia Chavarría, Alejandro Cartagena and Alberto Cabezas of the Communication Unit of the International Organization for Migration in Mexico, and Pablo Escribano, Regional Thematic Specialist on Migration, Environment and Climate Change of the Regional Office for Central America, North America and the Caribbean (RCO).