Activity 8

Extreme weather events ( hurricanes, floods, droughts ). Scientists and meteorologists stress that we cannot state that any one particular weather event is due to climate change, but where  there is a trend of those weather events occurring over years or decades, particularly in regions where they had never occurred before, it could indeed signal climate change. Let us take a closer look at a recent example.   

Here is a map of Central America – to the north of the map is Mexico and the USA; to the south is South America.

El Salvador is a small, densely populated country  ( the size of Wales) which suffered a 12 year long, brutal, civil war during the 1980s. In  the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of people who had fled persecution and massacres to live in exile returned to their homeland to start a new life once the war was over and peace accords had been signed.

One such group – a community called Nueva Esperanza  (‘New Hope’) – settled on abandoned land in the fertile, low- lying region of the Bajo Lempa, (circled below on the map ). They were all campesinos – poor peasant farmers - who despite harassment, threats and obstacles from the government and army, built villages, grew crops and established their own local councils based on participatory democracy.  The Bajo Lempa is now home to 28 poor communities who live by growing crops to eat and to sell.

 

One such group – a community called Nueva Esperanza  (‘New Hope’) – settled on abandoned land in the fertile, low- lying region of the Bajo Lempa, (circled below on the map ). They were all campesinos – poor peasant farmers - who despite harassment, threats and obstacles from the government and army, built villages, grew crops and established their own local councils based on participatory democracy.  The Bajo Lempa is now home to 28 poor communities who live by growing crops to eat and to sell.

Alirio Nunez Nunez,  the 28 year old co-ordinator of the Regional Committee for  Community Resilience  in the Bajo Lempa talks here in an interview about his work:

What is the Regional Committee for Community Resilience and why was it set up?

The basic concept behind this committee is to find ways to reduce the impact that destructive forces like floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and droughts have on our communities, and also to develop the capacity to recover quickly after violent natural events.

I have been working as co-ordinator in this committee for the past 5 years. Since 2008, when ACUDESBAL (Association for the Development of Communities in the Bajo Lempa) got funding from Christian Aid, we have been planning projects which help us to improve our ability to adapt and respond to the challenges posed by climate change.

What sort of strategies have you come up with?  We develop awareness about global warming, and we run pilot projects and research into how we can adapt to different climatic conditions.  We  have set up flood early warning systems in each community, so that as soon as we see that the river is going to flood we can mobilise everyone quickly. We have built refuges – buildings that are higher than our normal houses -  where people can go to keep dry if floods are deep, and we have practice drills so that we know what to do in the case of an emergency and can make sure that everyone gets out safely.  We are also leading a campaign to force the government to build decent roads, drainage systems and proper levees.  

Do you think floods are caused by climate change?   We have always had some flooding in the rainy season, but it seems to be getting worse. The rains are getting heavier – for example, in October we had a whole year’s rain in 10 days! Apparently it was the highest rainfall on record for over 50 years.   But it’s not just the rain falling here that causes the flooding.  The river Lempa starts in the mountains in Honduras and runs hundreds of miles to the estuary here. Heavy rains in  Honduras, and in all the places along its course, means that all the streams and rivers feeding into the Lempa get swollen, and the Lempa itself  is a raging torrent by the time it reaches us, resulting in a serious threat to local communities. So it’s the intensity of the rain that is new which we think is due to climate change. 

But there other signs of climate change, too. For example, we now have prolonged droughts of up to two months in the rainy season – that was unheard of in the past.  There is also a general increase in temperature, and more intense heat waves. Sea levels are rising, there is more salt in the ground and more sickness and disease.

As campesinos ( peasant farmers) we have traditionally planted corn in  May - the start of the rainy season - and then harvested it in August.  We have been doing that for generations. But now the weather is so unpredictable that we are having to think about different ways of doing things. We have experimented with planting crops at different times, even planting completely new crops which perhaps are more suited to these wetter conditions. For example, we have never grown rice before, but we think that might work.

How did the floods this year affect you in the Bajo Lempa?   We’ve had enormous losses here, and the most devastating has been the loss of our crops – that would have been food for thousands of people in the area.  The big problem in the short term is to help those in desperate poverty who have lost food, clothing, furniture and animals. We’ve had plenty of promises of aid from the government, but nothing concrete as yet…

Why did you go to Bangladesh?  I was invited by Christian Aid to take part in an international conference of developing countries, to learn how other countries deal with climate change and to share our experiences here in El Salvador.  It was a very positive experience – it helped me to get an overview of what is happening across the world and to share experiences with Bangladeshis who live in climatic conditions that are similar to those in the Bajo Lempa.

How do you see the future?   We know that we are experiencing irreversible climate change, and in the medium and long term  the situation will be critical, with more intense heat, heavier rains, and rising sea levels. Cuban scientists and Salvadorean environmentalists have predicted that we will lose part of the Bajo Lempa as sea levels rise.  On the plus side, here in the Bajo Lempa we are very organised and that helps us to deal with difficult situations of any sort.   We’ll keep on working to improve our living conditions, our crops and to develop community resilience in the face of climate change. 

Below is the lost of losses and damages Nueva’ Esperanza’s agricultural cooperative  suffered during the floods of 2011:

Items                                                           cost in US dollars

crops

6 acres of maize ( corn)                                12,000

8 acres of sorghum                                       10,400

15 acres of pasture                                       12,750

4 acres of sugar cane                                    10,500

50 sacks of fertilizer                                      1,900

Animals;
5 calves                                                        1,250

2 milking cows                                              900

19 pigs                                                         950

25 bags of concentrated animal food             575

Machinery/equipment damaged or lost

Repairs to tractor                                         1,100

Repairs to truck                                            575

new fridge                                                    800

new computer                                              500

furniture                                                      800