Florinda (33) holds her 9-month-old son, Margarito Nectalí, who suffers from acute malnutrition and severe growth deficiency, at a Nutritional Recovery Center in Jocotán, Guatemala. Chronic malnutrition, caused by prolonged nutrient deficiencies, primarily manifests as stunted growth, affecting both physical and mental development. Many cases, like this one, reveal a cycle of malnutrition, with mothers who suffered from the condition in childhood passing on its lifelong consequences to their children.
The Dry Corridor: How climate change causes mass migration from Central America
Adri Salido
Photographer
based in Lisbon, Portugal
Aerial view of Talquezal, a community in the municipality of Jocotán, Chiquimula. Access to these remote areas is challenging due to narrow, deteriorated roads. During the rainy season, landslides and road collapses often worsen the situation, sometimes leaving these communities completely isolated.
Portrait of Alicia Súchite (52), a leader and promoter at the Learning Center for Rural Development (CADER). She brings together women from the community who wish to work in the communal garden, generously offering her land for cultivation and harvest.
Portrait of Hilda Ávalos (40) in one of the community vegetable gardens in Talquezal, which she manages with a group of women. Similar projects, promoted by organizations like Acción Contra el Hambre, aim to alleviate the persistent food shortages that affect the community during both the dry and rainy seasons.
Alicia Súchite (52) cleans one of the water tanks in the 'Árbol de Lluvia' (Rain Tree) system at the communal garden. This system collects rainwater and distributes it through an underground irrigation network to the various trees and plants in the garden. The system was implemented with the support of the NGO Acción Contra el Hambre.
Yurixa Jimena Ramos Ramírez (3), who suffers from chronic malnutrition, waits for her food ration in the mud house where she lives with her siblings and parents in the community of Talquezal. Food rations in this community are scarce, and sometimes children and adults can only eat once a day.
Hilda Ávalos (40), a mother of nine with six children still under her care, adds wood to the fire in her kitchen. Most houses in this community lack electricity and water, leading to significant health issues, especially for vulnerable children.
Mirna Lisenia Ramírez (28) cooks beans for her daughter Mabelin Yorleni (6). The basic diet in these communities consists mainly of beans and corn tortillas, leading to widespread malnutrition. The lack of adequate food, combined with the region's insecurity, is one of the main reasons people choose to emigrate to countries like the United States.
Mabelin Yorleni (6) looks at her plate as she finishes her ration. Like her sister, Mabelin also suffers from chronic malnutrition. In this community, which relies heavily on agriculture, climate change is making the situation increasingly unsustainable as harvests worsen year by year.
In the dry season, crops suffer from a lack of rain, while in the rainy season, they are often destroyed by torrential rains and hurricanes, like those caused by El Niño. Climate change is exacerbating these extremes, making such events more severe in the Dry Corridor.
On the left, Yurixa Jimena Ramos Ramírez (3) eats her meager ration of beans. On the right, Hilda Ávalos Casiano (40) poses for a portrait inside the mud house where she lives with six children under her care.
Auner Aviday and Neymar Alexander Pérez (center and left), 3-year-old twins, both suffered from acute malnutrition that has now become chronic due to their age. They live with ten family members in a shack about twenty minutes from the community of Talquezal, surviving on production from their parents' land.
Mirna Lisenia Ramírez (28) holds her 1-year-old son, Anderson Moisés, who suffers from acute malnutrition. The food scarcity in the region also contributes to rising violence and insecurity, leading many families to leave these communities in search of a better life in the United States.
View of the Nutritional Recovery Center in San Juan la Ermita, Chiquimula. Children with severe malnutrition come here with their mothers to undergo treatment and recovery before returning to their communities.
Antonia García (20) watches over her 2-month-old son, Elion Gael, who suffers from acute malnutrition, in their room at the Jocotán Nutritional Recovery Center. They may stay here for up to three months while the child receives treatment and recovers. During their stay, both the child and the mother are closely monitored by a team of doctors.
Public Project
The Dry Corridor: How climate change causes mass migration from Central America
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