Anticipatory Action Framework Dry Corridor El Salvador

Summary

The purpose of this document is to present the anticipatory action (AA) for drought in El Salvador Dry Corridor, including objectives, context in the Dry Corridor, crisis timeline, and the action plan. It is part of the Regional Dry Corridor Anticipatory Action Framework, which also includes Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Objectives of anticipatory action within the El Salvador Dry Corridor

The main objective is to reduce the humanitarian impact of drought on people at risk in the Dry Corridor in 2024 or 2025. In other words, once a severe drought is forecast, the aim is to reach many vulnerable people identified within the Dry Corridor most vulnerable areas to drought before the humanitarian impact of the shock, with multi-sectoral interventions led by UN agencies and their partners, complementing the Governmental contingency drought plan.

Drought in the Dry Corridor – EL SALVADOR

The Dry Corridor is a tropical dry forest region on the Pacific Coast of Central America. This area, which extends from southern Mexico to Panama, is extremely vulnerable to climate change due to much of the population living in rural areas and poverty, and thus dependent on grain crops for their livelihood, and particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Over an El Niño period, there is a significant risk of below-average rainfall in El Salvador, which could severely impact agriculture and food security in the region. Figure 1 below shows the seasonal calendar in ‘normal’ and in ‘El Nino’ years. El Nino phenomenon brings a delayed start of the season, and below-normal rainfall, adversely affecting the sowing and growing of the main maize cropping season in El Salvador. This situation may result in reduced yields, crop damage - losses, and an increased number of food insecure people.