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High alert in Central America | More than 10 million people affected by the Super El Niño drought

Telesur, 09/18/2026

Sinopsis: More than 10 million people across Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica are facing the worst drought the region has seen in decades-a climate shock that has raised alarm bells among farmers and threatens to turn into a large-scale food catastrophe.

Temperatures have soared to 42 degrees Celsius, scorching the earth and making it impossible to sustain the crops upon which millions of families depend. Corn and beans-the two pillars of the Central American diet-have suffered severe losses, leaving rural communities without the staples of their daily meals. Crops once planted for subsistence are now being lost before they can even be harvested.

Driving this emergency is the "Super El Niño" phenomenon, which is set to peak at the end of the year, foreshadowing an even worse situation in the coming months. Accustomed to living with extreme weather events, the population watches with bewilderment as the drought reaches a severity unprecedented in living memory.

Water scarcity has hit every aspect of the agricultural sector hard. Livestock are dying or losing weight due to the lack of pasture and water sources; in rural Central America, producers are forced to sell their animals at rock-bottom prices before they perish, sacrificing the assets that served as their primary financial safety net. The drought does more than kill crops; it dismantles the family economies of those who rely on the land for their livelihood.

Farmers report that food and economic crises are compounding the climate crisis. Without their own harvests, many families have cut back on the number of meals they eat each day or are forced to buy food in the market that they once produced with their own hands.

The emergence of the Central American Dry Corridor encapsulates a brutal paradox: the communities that contribute the least to global warming are the first to suffer its consequences, and they do so without the resources to cope with them.

French government offers one billion in aid to farmers amid protests.

Prensa Latina, 09/04/2026

Sinopsis: In an effort to curb rising prices and safeguard food sovereignty, the French government announced today a one-billion-euro aid package for the agricultural sector to compensate for drought-related losses.

Following the hottest summer on record in France-marked by at least four heatwaves and extreme drought-the national agribusiness sector has been severely impacted, with crop yields dropping by nearly 50 percent.

Vegetable production has seen an alarming 80 percent decline, a situation that could drive many producers to ruin this season, according to the broadcaster BFMTV.

Compounding the issue, a lack of rainfall-or a total absence thereof-has drastically reduced the capacity to produce fodder for livestock and poultry, resulting in significant volume losses for these sectors as well.

"The water is up to our knees": climate hazards left millions of children out of school in 2025.

Noticias ONU 09/10/2026

Sinopsis: For millions of children, climate-related hazards not only disrupt lessons but also destroy schools, uproot families, and push the most vulnerable out of the classroom for good. The consequences are lifelong.

According to a new UNICEF report, the schooling of nearly 171 million students worldwide was disrupted by climate hazards in 2025-approximately one in ten students, ranging from preschool through the end of secondary school.

Storms were the most common cause of disruptions, affecting 109 million students, followed by floods and heatwaves. These extreme weather events, driven by climate change, led to school closures, damage to school facilities, a shift to remote learning, reduced instructional time, lower school attendance, and an increased risk of dropping out for millions of children.

Three-quarters of those affected live in low- and lower-middle-income countries, UNICEF notes, as education systems in these nations often lack the resources needed to safeguard learning during climate emergencies.

Germany reports 16,300 deaths due to high temperatures in 2026.

Telesur, 09/04/2026

Sinopsis: The Robert Koch Institute confirmed that 16,300 people died in Germany during the summer of 2026 due to health complications linked to extreme temperatures. This toll makes the recent summer season the deadliest for the European nation in the last decade, occurring amidst a severe heatwave that also affected Spain, France, Greece, Italy, and Portugal.

The elderly population bore the brunt of this climate crisis. Of the total victims recorded up to September 3, approximately 8,200 were aged 85 or older, making this age group the most vulnerable to the period's extreme weather conditions.

GLOBAL: August 2026 broke a historic heat record.

RT, 09/10/2026

Sinopsis: This past August became the hottest on record, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reported on Thursday. The month fell within a Northern Hemisphere summer marked by several extreme heatwaves in Europe, accompanied by scant rainfall and severe wildfires.

This August matched the hottest month ever recorded-July 2023-with a difference of less than 0.01 degrees Celsius between the two. Meanwhile, the planet's average surface temperature reached nearly 17 degrees. Furthermore, August proved warmer than the year's typically hottest month, July; the temperature in August was 0.06 degrees higher. This situation has occurred only four times since 1940.

The record global temperature affected both sea-surface temperatures outside polar regions and land temperatures, with both reaching unprecedented levels. Compared to pre-industrial temperatures, August 2023 was 1.65 degrees higher.

ONU: Global warming will exceed 1.5 degrees, but it can still be reversed with urgent policies.

Noticias ONU, 09/03/2026

Sinopsis: The planet is expected to exceed the 1.5-degree global warming limit in the coming years. However, it is still possible to lower temperatures and return below that threshold, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned in a report.

The most optimistic scenario projects that the temperature rise will peak at 1.8 degrees. Other scenarios point to warming exceeding two degrees.

The report warns that every additional fraction of a degree above 1.5 degrees will intensify extreme weather events and increase the risk of crossing irreversible tipping points. These include the destabilization of major ice sheets, the degradation of the Amazon, and the disruption of a key Atlantic current circulation system that is vital for regulating the climate.

"We can still bring warming back below 1.5°C by the end of the century," reiterated UN Secretary-General António Guterres. "We must make the overshoot as small and brief as possible, limiting both the peak temperature and the duration it remains above 1.5 degrees."

This requires "greater ambition" through accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuels and the renewable energy revolution, drastically reducing methane pollution, and protecting land, forests, and oceans, Guterres noted.

El Niño reached a record anomaly of 3.03°C and is projected to cause prolonged droughts in the region.

La iguana tv, 09/21/2026

Sinopsis: The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (Inameh), citing reports from the specialized account @huracaninfopr, announced that the El Niño phenomenon has preliminarily reached a record sea-surface temperature anomaly in the Niño 3.4 region, registering 3.03°C and surpassing the previous daily record set on November 19, 2015.

Meteorological projections indicate that this climate cycle is expected to continue strengthening over the coming months, raising alert levels due to its regional impacts. Significantly drier-than-usual conditions are anticipated for the Caribbean, Central America, and southern Mexico, increasing the risk of prolonged drought.

Conversely, for the southeastern United States-including Florida-models forecast a wetter and stormier-than-normal autumn and winter, necessitating constant monitoring of atmospheric conditions.

"Fifth River": Ecuador marches again in defense of water and against mining.

EXTRA.ec, 09/17/2026

Sinopsis: On September 16, a demonstration took place for the second consecutive year in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca-located in the country's southern Andes-to defend the Quimsacocha lagoons against mining activities perceived as a threat to their existence.

Quimsacocha is a vast Andean *páramo* (high-altitude moorland) ecosystem in the province of Azuay. Its water sources supply numerous local communities, including Cuenca-the country's third-largest city. The Loma Larga mining project, led by the Canadian company Dundee Precious Metals (DPM), is planned for the area surrounding the city.

Opposition to mining in the region was also voiced through public referendums held in 2011, 2019, and 2021, in which citizens voted overwhelmingly against extractive activities in these areas; consequently, the Loma Larga gold, silver, and copper project has faced a strong wave of public rejection and opposition.

Social, Indigenous, environmental, and university organizations gathered in downtown Cuenca to once again form "the fifth river"-a human stream of people wearing blue shirts that wound through the Andean city, which is already defined by the four rivers flowing through the urban landscape of the Azuay capital.

Colombia is once again the country where the most environmental leaders were killed: Global Witness.

El Espectador, 09/15/2026

Sinopsis: In its latest report, the NGO Global Witness reveals that at least 124 land defenders were killed worldwide in 2025, with 39 of those deaths occurring in Colombia. This marks the fourth consecutive year the country has held the top spot.

Since 2012, the killings of 2,375 environmental leaders worldwide have been reported.

For the fourth year in a row, Colombia is the country with the highest number of murdered environmental leaders globally, according to the latest Global Witness report published on September 15. Of the 124 killings of land defenders reported worldwide, 39 took place in Colombia. "We found that the country accounts for one-third of the global total," notes the British NGO, which has been tracking the killings of land and environmental defenders across more than 20 countries since 2012.

Trump administration removes emission limits for gas and coal power plants.

EFE, 09/14/2026

Sinopsis: The administration formalized the decision during the G20 energy ministers' meeting in Houston.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced the removal of various limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants.

The official argued that this regulatory change would generate economic savings exceeding $310 billion for U.S. households.

Against this backdrop, the head of the EPA projected that coal production destined for the power generation sector would increase to more than ten times its current volume. Revitalizing the coal mining industry is one of the commitments made by the current federal administration, marking a departure from previously adopted climate regulations.

In China, solar power surpasses coal in installed capacity.

RFI.fr, 09/01/2026

Sinopsis: Solar energy has just reached a historic milestone in China: its installations can now supply more electric power than the country's coal-fired power plants combined. However, this theoretical capacity does not match the electricity actually generated, and China's system remains largely organized around coal.

By the end of July, photovoltaic panels accounted for an installed capacity-defined as the maximum active power a generation or storage module can deliver to the electrical grid-slightly higher than that of coal-fired plants, at 1.286 billion kilowatts. Solar energy now represents nearly one-third of the country's total electric capacity, marking a meteoric rise.

Venezuela: Barinas rolls out its climate change risk map.

Diario El Universal, 09/06/2026

Sinopsis: The Barinas Health Executive Secretariat turned theory into community practice during an intensive week of fieldwork; aiming to continue training and project development for the defense of biodiversity, teams deployed to apply their knowledge alongside the "Popular Power" (grassroots organizations), ensuring communities are prepared for climate change.

At the Dr. Samuel Darío Maldonado Maternal and Child Hospital, 101 people received training on hypertension prevention, while 40 screenings and 80 anthropometric assessments were conducted. Additionally, training in Psychological First Aid was successfully delivered by psychologist Isabel Ortiz as part of an inter-institutional partnership promoting mental health as a cornerstone of well-being. The participants' response highlighted the need for these tools in the current context.

Apocalyptic scene: extreme drought in a river leaves thousands of dead fish exposed.

RT, 09/04/2026

Sinopsis: An unusual phenomenon at the Karet weir on the Juwana River in Indonesia left millions of fish crowded at the surface following a sharp drop in water levels and the near-drying up of the riverbed. Videos circulating on social media show the fish struggling to survive in the mud, while locals gather them in baskets and, in many cases, process them as feed for other species.

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