Ravaged by Drought, a Honduran Village Faces a Choice: Pray for Rain or Migrate
Georgina Gustin of InsideClimate News:
Some people here know about climate change, about the vast, complex forces of cambio climatico roiling the weather. Or they've been told the disappearance of the pine forests around the village is partly to blame for the rising temperatures and the diminishing streams, which once ran, clear and plentiful. The hillsides that surround El Rosario used to be covered in cooling swaths of pine trees, but logging has left giant patches of shadeless stubble and an infestation of beetles has destroyed much of the rest.
As their staple corn and bean crops shrivel and they face depleted kitchen pantries, everyone here fears something has shifted. Ronis Martinez, a village farmer, says he doesn't remember a summer when the critical August rains didn't fall in El Rosario. But last year, amid the prolonged drought, even these never came. This year, forecasters say an El Niño weather pattern could mean another dry season.
"If that is repeated this year, we don't know what's going to happen," Martinez says. "How are we going to replenish the loss?"