Climate Change: Planting Amid Uncertainty in El Salvador – Havana Times

Report on Climate Change Impacts on Indigenous Communities in El Salvador and Implications for Sustainable Development Goals
Executive Summary
This report details the severe impacts of climate change on the indigenous communities of Cuisnahuat, in the Sonsonate department of El Salvador. Escalating climate variability, characterized by irregular rainfall and extreme temperatures, is causing significant agricultural disruption, economic hardship, and the erosion of cultural heritage. These challenges directly undermine progress toward several key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those related to poverty, hunger, climate action, and the protection of terrestrial ecosystems and indigenous rights.
1. Climate Change and Environmental Degradation: A Threat to SDG 13 and SDG 15
The indigenous population of Cuisnahuat is experiencing firsthand the consequences of a changing climate, a critical challenge to SDG 13 (Climate Action). The traditional agricultural calendar, once a reliable guide for planting, is now obsolete due to unpredictable weather patterns.
1.1. Observed Climatic Shifts
- Irregular Rainfall: For the past seven years, rainfall has been erratic, with periods of intense downpours causing soil erosion followed by prolonged dry spells that stunt crop growth.
- Rising Temperatures: Data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) identified 2024 as one of the warmest years on record for Latin America. El Salvador’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources reported that 2024 was 0.6°C hotter than average, classifying it as a year of extremes.
- Oceanic Influence: The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) noted a significant increase in Pacific Ocean temperatures between 2020 and 2024, a key driver of altered regional weather patterns.
1.2. Impact on Land and Ecosystems (SDG 15)
These climatic changes are accelerating land degradation, directly impacting SDG 15 (Life on Land).
- Soil Erosion: Intense, localized rains strip away the fertile topsoil (5-10 cm), diminishing land productivity.
- Desertification: The combination of soil degradation, heat-induced moisture evaporation, and changes in rainfall patterns intensifies desertification, as warned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
- Loss of Productivity: The weakened soil has a reduced capacity to retain water and nutrients, leading to a cycle of declining agricultural yields.
2. Agricultural Collapse, Food Insecurity, and Poverty: Setbacks for SDG 1 and SDG 2
The agricultural sector, the bedrock of the Cuisnahuat community’s livelihood, is collapsing, creating severe challenges for achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 1 (No Poverty).
2.1. Drastic Reduction in Crop Yields
The primary staple and sacred crop, corn, has seen devastating losses.
- Local Impact: Farmers like Sonia Perez report that corn yields per manzana (1.4 hectares) have fallen from 6,000 pounds to as low as 3,000 pounds.
- National Impact: The Salvadoran Chamber of Small and Medium Agricultural Producers (CAMPRO) reported that national corn losses surged from 16 million pounds in 2021-22 to over 230 million pounds in 2023-24.
- Economic Losses: The Inter-American Development Bank noted that climate effects caused a 13% drop in corn production and an 11% loss in rice and bean production.
2.2. Worsening Food Insecurity and Poverty
- Subsistence Failure: Harvests that once provided year-round sustenance now only last three to six months, forcing families to ration food or purchase staples they used to grow.
- Economic Hardship: The failure to recoup investments in seeds and fertilizers traps the country’s 350,000 small producers in a cycle of debt and poverty. Farmers like Veronica Barrera have lost not only crops but also livestock, eliminating supplementary income sources.
3. Erosion of Cultural Heritage and Social Fabric: A Challenge for SDG 10 and SDG 11
The climate crisis is inflicting non-economic losses that threaten the cultural identity and social stability of the Cuisnahuat people, undermining SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), which includes the protection of cultural heritage.
3.1. Loss of Ancestral Knowledge and Identity
- Disrupted Traditions: The failure of the ancestral planting calendar has led to the abandonment of associated rituals and festivities, such as the celebration of St. Marco’s day.
- Broken Knowledge Transfer: Traditional ecological knowledge, including the practice of reading weather signs (*cabañuelas*), is being lost as agriculture becomes unviable for younger generations.
- Cultural Disconnection: The anthropologist Carlos Lara Martinez notes that the disruption of the agricultural cycle implies a “disruption of religious festivities and social life,” severing the connection between the people, their land, and their sacred crop, corn.
3.2. Climate-Induced Migration and Displacement
- Forced Migration: Crop failures and economic despair are forcing families and young people to migrate, either internally or abroad, in search of livelihoods. This aligns with global trends identified by the UN Refugee Agency, where millions are displaced by climate-related disasters.
- Weakened Community Ties: This displacement breaks the intergenerational cycle of knowledge transfer and erodes the community’s connection to its ancestral territory, which is fundamental to indigenous identity.
4. Systemic Failures and Community Resilience: The Need for SDG 16
The community’s struggle is compounded by a lack of institutional support, highlighting failures related to SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).
4.1. Inadequate Governance and Support
- Lack of Representation: Despite efforts since 2000, indigenous peoples in El Salvador lack formal representation in government. A 2021 petition for an Indigenous People’s Council and legislative representation went unanswered.
- Insufficient Aid: Government support has been reduced from agricultural packets of seeds and fertilizer to a $75 voucher, which is insufficient to cover farming costs.
- Unfulfilled Commitments: The international agreement at COP27 to create a fund for “loss and damage” has yet to translate into tangible support for communities like Cuisnahuat.
4.2. Community-Led Adaptation
In the face of these challenges, the community is demonstrating resilience.
- Reviving Native Seeds: There is a concerted effort to return to planting native seed varieties that are more resilient to climate variations.
- Promoting Cultural Continuity: Leaders like Dora Agustin are working to motivate youth to reconnect with the land and their heritage to prevent further cultural loss and migration.
SDGs Addressed in the Article
SDG 1: No Poverty
The article addresses SDG 1 by highlighting the economic vulnerability of small-scale farmers in Cuisnahuat. Constant crop losses due to climate change directly impact their income and push them further into poverty. The text mentions that farmers failed to recover their US $800 investment and lost the extra income they used to get from selling surplus corn, which helped balance household expenses. The reduction of government support from agricultural packets to a mere $75 voucher exacerbates their financial instability.
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
This is a central theme of the article. It details how climate change threatens food security for the indigenous community. The drastic reduction in crop yields—corn yields have been halved—means families have less food. The article explicitly states that the harvest now only covers household consumption for “three to six months, depending on how much they ration the tortillas,” and that families “just have to eat less” or purchase basic foods they once grew themselves. This directly relates to ending hunger and ensuring access to sufficient food.
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
The article focuses on the disproportionate impact of climate change on a marginalized group: the indigenous peoples of El Salvador. It notes their historical marginalization and how their voices remain unheard in national decision-making, citing the unanswered petition for an Indigenous People’s Council. Furthermore, it discusses climate-induced migration as a consequence of lost livelihoods, which relates to the challenges of managing population movements and ensuring the inclusion of vulnerable communities.
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
While the focus is rural, SDG 11 is relevant through its target on protecting cultural heritage. The article extensively documents how the disruption of agricultural cycles due to climate change leads to the loss of invaluable cultural and ancestral knowledge. This includes the inability to use traditional weather prediction methods (the cabañuelas), the disappearance of rituals tied to planting, and the breakdown of intergenerational knowledge transfer as young people migrate, severing their connection to the land and their identity.
SDG 13: Climate Action
The entire article is framed around the impacts of climate change and the urgent need for adaptation. It describes specific climate-related hazards affecting the community, such as irregular rainfall, prolonged droughts, intense heat, and extreme weather events. The community’s struggle to adapt, the failure of traditional agricultural calendars, and the mention of international climate reports and conferences (like COP27) directly connect the local experience to the global goals of strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity.
SDG 15: Life on Land
SDG 15 is addressed through the discussion of land degradation. The article explains how altered rainfall patterns, with “violent runoff currents,” lead to soil erosion, carrying away the most fertile layer of topsoil (five to ten centimeters). It explicitly mentions that these changes are “intensifying the process of desertification and the degradation of the soil,” which negatively affects productivity and directly links to the goal of combating desertification and restoring degraded land.
Specific Targets Identified
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Target 2.1: End hunger and ensure access to food
The article shows a regression from this target. Farmers in Cuisnahuat now face food shortages, with harvests lasting only “three to six months.” Veronica Barrera’s lament, “Now we even buy those [corn and beans],” demonstrates a loss of food self-sufficiency and increased food insecurity for this vulnerable population.
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Target 2.3: Double agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers
The article provides direct evidence of the failure to meet this target. Instead of doubling, productivity has been halved, with corn yields dropping from “6,000 pounds of corn” per manzana to “barely… a yield of 3,000.” Incomes have not increased but have been eliminated, as farmers report losing their initial investment and the “extra income that has allowed them to balance their expenses.”
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Target 2.4: Ensure sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices
The community’s struggle highlights the lack of resilient agricultural systems. The article notes that traditional planting cycles are no longer viable and that hybrid seeds are “highly sensitive to the temperature and humidity variations.” The community’s attempt to “revive their tradition of using native seeds” is a direct effort to implement more resilient practices to combat climate impacts and improve soil health.
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Target 11.4: Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage
The article details the erosion of cultural heritage. The disruption of the agricultural calendar means traditional practices, like celebrating St. Marco’s day on April 25th, have been lost. Ancestral knowledge, such as observing the cabañuelas for weather prediction and performing rituals to bring rain, “barely survive as memories.” This loss of intangible heritage is a direct consequence of climate change’s impact on the land.
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Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards
The experiences of Veronica Barrera and Sonia Perez exemplify a low adaptive capacity to climate hazards. They face constant crop losses from either “prolonged drought or heavy rainfall.” The article describes their struggle as a “solitary one,” indicating a lack of institutional support to help them build resilience against these increasingly frequent and intense climate events.
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Target 15.3: Combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil
The article directly refers to the processes this target aims to combat. It quotes an expert who explains that localized, violent rains “erode the fertile soil,” carrying away the top layer. The Intergovernmental Group of Climate Change Experts is cited, warning that climate changes are “intensifying the process of desertification and the degradation of the soil.”
Indicators Mentioned or Implied
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Agricultural Productivity and Loss
- Corn Yield per Manzana: A direct quantitative indicator of declining productivity, which has fallen from 6,000 pounds to 3,000 pounds.
- Percentage of Crop Production Decline: The article cites an Inter-American Development Bank report indicating that corn production fell by 13%, and rice and bean production by 11% due to climate effects.
- Volume of Crop Losses: A dramatic increase in corn losses is reported, from 16 million pounds in 2021-22 to over 230 million in 2023-24.
- Number of Affected Producers: The article mentions that these losses heavily impact the “350,000 small producers who subsist from agriculture in the country.”
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Climate Change Data
- Ocean Temperature Change: The rate of temperature change in the Pacific Ocean increased from +0.73°C to +0.97°C between 2020 and 2024.
- Regional and National Temperature Anomaly: Latin America and the Caribbean were 0.90°C above the 1991-2020 average in 2024, while El Salvador was 0.6°C hotter than its average.
- Precipitation Anomaly: El Salvador experienced 17.8% more rainfall than the annual average in 2024, making it the fifth rainiest year on record.
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Socio-Economic Impact
- Financial Loss per Farmer: An anecdotal but specific indicator is the failure to recover an “$800 dollars they invested in the planting.”
- Household Food Sufficiency: The harvest covers household consumption for only “three to six months,” implying a food deficit for the remainder of the year.
- Climate-Induced Migration: The article references a global figure from the UN Refugee Agency of “over 20 million people” forced to move internally due to climate phenomena, implying this is happening in Cuisnahuat as well.
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Cultural and Land Degradation
- Loss of Topsoil: A physical indicator of land degradation is the erosion of the “most fertile layer – between five and ten centimeters deep.”
- Loss of Traditional Knowledge and Practices: A qualitative indicator is the abandonment of ancestral practices like reading the cabañuelas, performing rain rituals, and celebrating planting-related festivities.
Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators
SDGs | Targets | Indicators |
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SDG 1: No Poverty | 1.5: Build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their vulnerability to climate-related extreme events. |
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SDG 2: Zero Hunger | 2.1: End hunger and ensure access to food.
2.3: Double agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers. 2.4: Ensure sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices. |
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SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities | 10.2: Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of origin.
10.7: Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration. |
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SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities | 11.4: Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage. |
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SDG 13: Climate Action | 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters. |
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SDG 15: Life on Land | 15.3: Combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil. |
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Source: havanatimes.org