El Niño Drought Devastates Indigenous Maize Harvests in Honduras and Guatemala

A 2026 El Niño-driven drought, intensified by climate change, has destroyed maize harvests for Maya Ch'orti' families in Jocotán, Guatemala, and Lenca communities in La Paz and Intibucá, Honduras. The loss extends beyond food security to the disappearance of ancestral native seeds and rising mental health distress, including sadness, anxiety, and hopelessness, as reported by health professionals and researchers. This underscores the compounding socio-economic and cultural impacts of climate-induced agricultural failure on vulnerable indigenous populations.

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