Climatelinks Photo Gallery

Guatemala has some of the world's large montane forests and they contain diverse fauna and flora. Their protection, conservation, and expansion is encouraged through training of community firefighters.

María Lancerio is a tomato farmer from Sacapulas, Quiché. After a bad marriage, she decided to use her land and produce tomato to generate income. Sacapulas has a high level of drought and agriculture becomes difficult to practice. Nevertheless, with the help of USAID's Feed the Future Guatemala Innovative Solutions for Agricultural Value Chains Project and Agropecuaria Popoyán, she installed a rainwater reservoir to increase her production up to three times per year.

Through the Feed the Future project, Mariano Diaz has learned to diversify his crops and obtain income in different seasons through the production of potatoes and chili peppers. He also generates employment in his community and shares what he has learned about different agricultural technologies with his neighbors. 

Eco-filters give families access to safe drinking water. Prior to have a filter, families had to spend time and money boiling water, and there was a risk of disease from unpurified water. 

David Faustino Fuentes farms potatoes in San Marcos, Guatemala. After receiving assistance and using new technologies (such as an irrigation system) through USAID's Feed the Future Guatemala Innovative Solutions for Agricultural Value Chains Project and Agropecuaria Popoyán, his potato production has increased and he has been able to earn more income. 

This photo was taken in Camotán, Chiquimula, one of Guatemala's most food-insecure areas. Currently, Guatemala runs the risk of having 4.6 million people in a state of food insecurity this season. In Semilla Nueva, we help farmers access new corn seeds. These seeds have higher levels of the often missing essential nutrients, higher yields, and are resilient to climate change (especially in Guatemala's driest areas). Our model is simple: we package what children and mothers most need (better nutrition) with what farmers most want (better incomes to break the cycle of poverty). Our seeds are non-GMO, and we do not believe in patents.

Ruth Tercero used to sow corn and beans for family consumption and no return of investment. As years went by, climate change challenges increased and she faced long periods of drought and low access to water, which affected or caused the complete loss of her crops. Working with the project, Ruth diversified her crops to amaranth and found an alternative to increase her income and overcome climate change challenges. In addition to using amaranth in several meals a day, Ruth could also buy from local markets corn, beans, and other food like animal protein, fruits and vegetables, that allowed her family to consume a more diverse diet.

 

Silverio Mendez embraces his daughter on their family farm in January of 2019. He and his wife Irma Mendez live in Barrio El Cedro, Chiquimula, Guatemala with their 5 daughters and 2 sons. Silverio has lived here all of his life and his family has been on this land for approximately three generations. The area where they live is known as the Dry Corridor, where water is in short supply due to extended droughts.

CRS works in this area with the Water Smart Agriculture program (ASA) to help farmers to improve the soil quality and its ability to hold moisture by applying Conservation Agriculture techniques. These techniques protect and restore vital soil and water resources. Relatively easy to implement, water-smart agriculture is cost-effective, and delivers fast results and long-term benefits such as sustainability and resilience.  This helps farmers, crops and communities thrive, which leads to more secure and prosperous farms in areas where farmers now face extreme poverty because of an increasingly erratic and extreme climate. CRS worked with Silverio to adopt these practices and he has been able to see that the soil humidity is much greater in the plot with cover crop.

Mariano Díaz is an 53-year-old farmer from Las Escobas San Miguel Ixtaguacan. Being aware of the importance of natural resources conservation has become one of the main reasons he is using Modern Agriculture. Creating and working in a safe environment is key to his future, as he believes that he can achieve his dreams through Modern Agriculture.

High quality carrots are the result of an integrated pest management system with biologicals. Biologicals protect soil, the environment and the health of the farmer and final consumer.

Name: Innovative Solutions for Agricultural Value Chains Project of USAID and Agropecuaria Popoyán.

Working together is how they achieve their dreams and support their family. Flaviano and Iddy are father and son, and work together in agriculture. Having access to technology has helped them overcome climate change challenges, improve their productivity, and increase their income to support their family.

Agricultural technology can improve farmers’ resilience and help them overcome climate change challenges. Investing in an irrigation system and a structure to protect crops can reduce water waste and the use of harmful chemicals to prevent plagues that end up affecting soil, crops, environment and health.

Eusebio López is a 55-year-old farmer from Chiantla, Huehuetenango. Access to water is one of the challenges of smallholder farmers in Guatemala. Long periods of drought and low access to water can affect food security in rural areas. Building a water reservoir and harvesting rainwater can help farmers overcome these challenges and increase crop cycles per year, resist long periods of drought, and have access to water for agriculture.

Irrigation systems help smallholder farmers conserve water and improve the quality of their crops. Having access to agricultural technologies can help farmers increase their resilience to climate change.  

A Guatemalan farmer plants tree seedlings on his coffee farm to reforest and diversify his livelihood. The Feed the Future Guatemala Coffee Value Chains Project in Guatemala’s Western Highlands provides technical assistance to members of poor rural households working in the coffee value chain and horticulture. Through improved soil conservation, agroforestry, agricultural best management practices and coffee processing, farmers sustainably increase the value of harvests from existing fields. They also increase tree cover by increasing trees outside of forests, which reduces the need to harvest timber and wood fuel from forests. The resulting reduced rates of deforestation and forest degradation will help mitigate the contribution of forest carbon to climate change.

People living in coastal zones, like the woman and child pictured, depend on mangrove forests for their livelihoods and household needs. Mangroves protect nursery habitats for freshwater and marine species, provide a source of income from tourism, and supply timber for construction. Mangroves also store more carbon per unit area than any other major forest type in Guatemala — equivalent to nearly 900 tons per hectare. However, mangroves currently occupy less than 30 percent of their original extent nationally and declined by more than 25 percent between 2010 and 2016. During the dry season, mangroves are susceptible to fire from illegal land clearing, while they are permanently threatened by sugar cane plantations and shrimp farms. USAID’s Guatemala Biodiversity project works with the National Council of Protected Areas, local authorities, and rural communities to protect mangrove forests by preventing and controlling forest fires and monitoring forest cover. The project generates weekly monitoring reports on fire status and climatological information that is used to prevent and control fire. They are also helping community members establish guidelines to create a new governance model for a multiple-use protected area.

Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Coop. Peña Roja en reforestación con donativos de Finca el Injerto, para la mitigación climática (regeneración y reforestación).

In the dry western highlands of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Project Concern International, a Global Communities Partner, is fighting climate change through on-the-ground work with local families. Thanks to a Climate Smart Commitment Grant from Rick Steves’ Europe, 10,000 trees have been planted since October 2019 as part of reforestation efforts in the region. We are also working through local women leaders to promote the use of clean, efficient cookstoves to lower carbon emissions and replace dangerous open fires traditionally used for cooking. These ongoing efforts will dramatically reduce firewood-related deforestations and smoke-related health problems while also improving air and soil quality in the region. This photo was taken in May 2020.