28 October 2009 | Interviews | Climate Justice and Energy
Amid Droughts and Floods
Interview with Jose Santos Guevara from El Salvador
1:39 minutes
Download: MP3 (1.1 Mb)
Approximately 10 thousand Salvadoran people from 29 communities of the area of Bajo Lempa have been witnesses during the past years of substantial changes in their daily lives caused by the effects of global warming. These peasants whose livelihood is corn, now live amid extreme droughts and big floods and earthquakes.
This is what leader Jose Santos Guevara, from the Association of Communities of Bajo Lempa said in an interview with Real World Radio. Santos Guevara submitted this situation to the International Climate Justice Tribunal, held in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
The people affected by climate change who came to the Tribunal from El Salvador, denounced the lack of action of the past administrations of the country, who have not applied prevention policies to mitigate the effects of climate change, which are devastating for family economies.
On the contrary, according to Santos Guevara, the Executive Power promotes the building of huge highways, hydroelectric plants, open-pit mining and deforestation.
A study conducted last year by local organizations concluded that 45 per cent of the inhabitants of Bajo Lempa suffer from some kind of illness, mainly caused by drinking polluted water. One of the most common conditions is kidney and respiratory failure.
These communities have been struggling for years, mobilizing to the capital city of the country, San Salvador, to submit their claims to the authorities.
