Climate-Fragility Risk Brief: El Salvador

El Salvador is one of the countries forming the Central American Dry Corridor. The Central American Dry Corridor faces poor distribution of irregular rain, drought, environmental degradation and low crop yields, which creates vulnerability. El Salvador is caught in a vicious circle of poverty, migration and violence, and this convergence implies that the country is fragile to climate change impacts undermining human security. The country lacks the resources and capacities to cope with the rapidly growing adverse impacts of climate change, which interact with socioeconomic, demographic and political factors to compound fragility risks.

This risk brief charts how food insecurity, gang-related violence and migration interact, creating human insecurity and how adverse climatic conditions exacerbate this vicious circle in El Salvador. It also presents entry points to address climate-fragility risks in El Salvador. These include:

•  Implement a coordinated approach to address climate vulnerability, migration, and conflict in El Salvador by conducting locally grounded sub-national climate and security risk assessments.
• Support sustainable rural development and stable local economies to create opportunities for vulnerable youth. Strategies to confront violence should target marginalized populations, provide education, security, and economic opportunities, and build institutions to combat corruption and increase trust in the political system.
•  Support landscape restoration initiatives to create the basis for inclusive rural development and increase climate resilience.
•  Awareness raising, capacity building and institutional strengthening for climate change resilience and socially inclusive development
•  Support reintegration of ex-convicts and youth at-risk populations within green job initiatives to prevent crime sustainably.

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To contact the author, please email: secretariatclimate-security-expert-network [dot] org (secretariat[at]climate-security-expert-network[dot]org).