Climate Resilience and Democratic Governance in Central America’s Northern Triangle
A new report from the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program explores the impacts of extreme weather events on three Central American countries—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—and the efforts of local communities, against all odds, to build resilience in the face of the increasingly brutal impacts of climate change.
In recent years, hurricanes, prolonged drought followed by intense rainfall and flooding, and wildfires have afflicted the region. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that “the countries of Central America consistently rank highest in the world for risks associated with extreme weather.” The new report, Climate Resilience and Democratic Governance in Central America’s Northern Triangle, tells a more hopeful story. Experts based in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras conducted extensive fieldwork to determine how local communities—on their own or in coordination with local, regional, or national authorities and international supporters–are responding to climate challenges in ways that build resilience.
The report draws policy lessons about forest protection, the role of community-based climate action in deepening social cohesion, and the involvement of community leaders, municipal authorities, and non-governmental organizations in projects that improve agricultural yields for small farmers.
About the Authors
Cynthia J. Arnson
Mónica Salazar Vides
Larissa Brioso
Arne Kristensen
Latin America Program
The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
Environmental Change and Security Program
The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) explores the connections between environmental change, health, and population dynamics and their links to conflict, human insecurity, and foreign policy. Read more
