Honduras Climate background
Honduras’ climate is hot and tropical in the coastal lowlands, with annual temperatures averaging 26°–29°C; however, the highlands have a more temperate environment, with yearly temperatures averaging 16°–24°C.
The central hilly region has the lowest annual precipitation (800–2000 mm) while the Caribbean coast has the most (+2,000 mm), with year-round rainfall. The dry season (summer) runs from November to April, and the rainy season (winter) runs from May to October, with a small break (1–4 weeks) in July/August (the cancula).
El Nio episodes, on the whole, reduce rainfall while increasing temperatures, whereas La Nia occurrences reduce rainfall while increasing temperatures.
Honduras Climate Risks
This profile gives an overview of Honduras’ climate risk issues, such as how climate change may affect agriculture, water resources, energy, human health, ecosystems, and fisheries.
Honduras’ overview and climate summary, as well as expected climate changes, are included in the short. Information on sector impacts and vulnerabilities to climate change, the policy context, and active climate change programs in Honduras are also presented.
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, and it is particularly vulnerable to climate change due to its high vulnerability to climate-related hazards (hurricanes, tropical storms, floods, droughts, and landslides), which destroy crops and key infrastructure.
The rural poor rely on rainfed agriculture as their primary source of income, and they are concentrated in the Dry Corridor in the south and west, where food insecurity has become a recurring issue.
Water scarcity and climate-related hazards will become more common and severe as a result of climate change, putting additional strain on the Honduran government’s ability to address ongoing development barriers such as extreme inequality, low levels of education, and severe environmental degradation.
Honduras Climate and hurricanes
Honduras has a hilly interior that divides the country into two different sections, each having lowland coastal parts. Tropical storms and hurricanes destroy critical infrastructure and endanger human life and well-being, making the country’s high exposure to extreme weather events the country’s principal source of climate vulnerability.
Additional stresses, such as decreased rainfall and greater temperatures, have a detrimental impact on agriculture, raise the risk of water scarcity, and may prevent the expansion of hydropower plants. Warming temperatures are putting a strain on Honduras’ coastal ecosystems and fisheries, which is exacerbated by overfishing and environmental deterioration.
Forest resources are a valuable source of income in rural regions, but they also contribute to high rates of deforestation and land use, which account for the majority of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Honduras Climate Change and Disasters
Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of its significant exposure to climate-related disasters (hurricanes, tropical storms, floods, droughts, and landslides), which destroy crops and key infrastructure.
Hurricane Mitch, which hit Honduras in 1998 and damaged an estimated 70% of the country’s crops and infrastructure, killing over 10,000 people and inflicting $3 billion in damage, pushed the country’s growth back severely. Honduras has a large rural population (more than 50%), with 65 percent of the people living in poverty.
The rural poor rely on rainfed agriculture as their primary source of income, and they are concentrated in the Dry Corridor in the south and west, where food insecurity has become a recurring issue; 58 percent of children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition.
In large cities and towns such as Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Choloma, and Tela, migration from rural regions and population growth have pushed communities into hazard-prone zones with no water management systems, resulting in regular flooding and water scarcity.
Honduras Climate Change affects
Agriculture
In Honduras, agriculture employs approximately 40% of the workforce, and main food crops (maize, beans, rice, and sorghum) are rainfed, making agricultural livelihoods and food security heavily reliant on predictable weather.
Higher temperatures and less rain are expected to lower maize and bean yields, as well as reduce the area suitable for growing coffee (the main foreign exchange earner), forcing farmers to cultivate at higher elevations, resulting in increased land degradation and deforestation in previously uncultivated areas.
Climate change has already had a significant impact in Honduras, the coffee production fell 23 percent in 2012/13 due to changing moisture conditions and higher temperatures, and the Dry Corridor lost 96 percent of maize yields and 87 percent of beans due to two years of consecutive drought beginning in 2014.
Acute food insecurity, hunger, and mass migration to inadequately prepared metropolitan areas resulted as a result.
Water
Despite rich water resources, water access is a problem in many parts of Honduras. Water quality is harmed by high levels of deforestation and pollution from agricultural runoff and mining operations, which account for 90% of the water supply.
Groundwater is also a significant supply, with villages in the interior highlands and coastal cities relying on it. Water scarcity will grow due to a lack of storage facilities, as rising temperatures and decreased rainfall exacerbate the dry cycle, reducing surface flows and lowering groundwater levels, notably in the Dry Corridor.
Water service and delivery in urban areas have deteriorated in recent years as a result of growing urbanization and insufficient expenditures in water and sanitation. Rising sea levels are threatening aquifers along the coast, increasing existing aquifer issues such as inadequate land planning and lack of administration.
Climate change is predicted to exacerbate Tegucigalpa’s year-round water shortages and rationing, which currently exist due to a 55 percent deficiency in the main water supply.
An increasing greenhouse effect is consistent with the pattern of observed changes in the climate system. Volcanoes, the sun, and natural variability, among other climatic factors, cannot explain the time and magnitude of the observed changes. Today, climates are changing.
Climate change infromation is backed up by considerable scientific study conducted and reported all over the world. Climate data is gathered from environmental observations and measurements in the past and present. Climate models are used to better understand the causes of climate change and forecast future changes.
references – Climate Riks profile USAID
recentclimate- Honduras Climate Due to the Global Climate Change